Discovery In The Book Thief

“Discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes”. Although discoveries themselves may vary, they usually all bring about a changed perspective. The novel ‘The book thief’ by Markus Zusak, which is written in a non-linear way, significantly portrays the phenomena of the discovery. The book thief is about Liesel, a young girl who is taken in by a German family during the Nazi regime. Through a close analysis of ‘The book, thief contains insights on discovery arise. Firstly, Knowledge gained through a process of discovery can change an individual’s perception of society, Secondly, the discovery of both sides of a story can give an individual a more balanced perspective and thirdly, the discovery of a person’s hidden virtues can lead …show more content…
At the start of the novel, it was clear that Liesel followed Hitler’s rule because she was ignorant about Hitler’s ‘motive. She has been told that Hitler was trying to make Germany a better nation. “the book thief had been dreaming about the ‘Fuhrer’… she was listening contentedly to the torrent of words that were spilling from his mouth”. The metaphor has been used to convey that she used to follow Hitler’s rule because that’s all she knew. She began to learn the other side starting with the book burning. She realized it was Hitler’s people who took her mum away from her due to her being a communist. “The words were thrown at the steps and Liesel could feel the slush of anger, stirring hotly in her stomach, I hate the Fuhrer”. Alliteration in this shows us the anger Liesel was feeling and it is physically hurting her so much that it was basically eating her alive. The repetition of ‘s’sound is like a fire emphasising the anger rising inside her. Although she used to think Hitler was great, the realisation of the other side of what was going on changed her perspective towards Hitler and towards the people around