The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
The Power of Literature
1.Literature has the power to save lives
Mein Kampf
• Saves Max’s life by providing him with the
appearance of a Nazi German.
• “My Struggle” is ironic as it is now Max’s
Struggle
“Mein Kampf. Of all the things to save me”
-Max
The dream carrier
• Steals this book from the Mayors library to
read to Max while he is sick.
• About a young boy who wants to be a priest.
• Represents Max’s longing for a new life and
Liesels desperation for Max to wake up.
“She gave The Dream Carrier to Max as
If the words alone could nourish him”
The Book Thief
• Liesel’s book that she writes about her life
• Saves her life as she is in the basement when there
street is bombed and she survives
• Shows her struggle through the
war and the end of her old life.
“She was still holding desperately
on to the words who had saved her life”
“I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I
hope I have made them right”
2.Literature is a source of
power
The Word Shaker
• Max writes this book about Hitler’s rise to
power through words
• Shows the two sides of words; Liesels good,
loving side and Hitler's manipulative, evil side.
“The Fuhrer decided that he would rule the
world with words”
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The standover man
• A book that Max writes about how powerless he
has felt his whole life until he meet Liesel.
• He writes over Mein Kampf and in doing so
exercises power over Hitler by erasing his words,
and therefore his source of power, and replacing
them with his own.
• He draws himself as a bird because he longs to
have the freedom that a bird has as well as now
identifying himself as what Liesel percieves him
as.
“His hair is like feathers”
3.Literature gives people hope
The Gravediggers Handbook
• Finds it at her brothers funeral
• Helps her to understand that death is a regular
occurrence and reassures her that her brother
was buried correctly.
• It becomes her last link to her brother and
mother and represents her old life with her
family
“The books meaning. 1. The last time she saw her
brother. 2. The last time she saw her mother.”
The shoulder shrug
• About a Jewish man who is portrayed in a good
light.
Teaches Liesel that Jewish people are humans
and teaches her compassion towards them.
This sets her up to meet Max and accept him as
part of the family.
• Also gives her a distraction from her nightmares
“She was soon pleased she was awake and able
to read”
The whistler
• Story about a detective and a serial killer
Gives the people of Himmel street hope and a
distraction from the bomb raids
Ironic that a book about violence gives them
hope when faced with the real possibility of their
own deaths.
• Becomes a symbol of hope in everyday life for
Liesel
“She liked to feel it in her hand”
The Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Is given to Liesel from Ilsa in an
attempt to fix their relationship
Liesel appreciates it as words are what defines her
• Gives Ilsa hope as it creates closure for the death
of her son
• Helps improve Liesels knowledge of words
“I hope you find this dictionary as useful as you
read your stolen books” - Ilsa
The Last Human Stranger
• Stole from the Mayors library
• Represents the end of her nightmares and the point
where she is at a peaceful point on her life
• Foreshadows the events to come
“There were people everywhere on the city street, but
the stranger could not have been more alone if it had
been empty”
This is how Liesel feels when her street is bombed and filled
with dead bodies of her loved ones, leaving her alone.
She becomes “The last human stranger”.