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Kristin Cromer 12/11/13
Topic: Stolen Books in Markus Zusak's The Book Thief |
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Explanation:
Mein Kampf was one of Hitler's autobiographical stories. It was obviously an important and favored book by the Germans. It was symbolic and brought strength and pride to them. That is how it was in the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak as well. Books were used not only to read, but also to comfort and teach the characters. While most books were stolen, some were even given as gifts to the book thief. The author not only makes sure each book significant to Liesel is noted, but he even explains what each of the books symbolize and the meaning it has to her. The reoccurence and repitition of the books is used to help tell the story of Liesel. For example, the the books were to entertain, comfort, and teach, as well as being gifted and stolen.
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Works Cited
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Alfred A. Knopf. New York: 2005 |
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| "She would choose a handful of books and read small segments of each, until one afternoon, she found one she could not put down. It was called The Whistler" (213). |
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| "As it turned out, his rescue owed itself to some reading and writing, and a book called The Shoulder Shrug" (213). |
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| "Occasionally he brought the copy of Mein Kampf and read it next to the flames, seething at the content" (217). |
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| "One evening, Hans, Max, and Liesel were sitting in front of the fire. Mama was in the kitchen. Max was reading Mein Kampf again" (218). |
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| "In front of her, Liesel read The Whistler, pages twenty-two and twenty-three" (246). |
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| "She'd gone through The Mud Men four times now and was enjoying her reaquantice with The Shoulder Shrug. Also, each night before bed, she would open a fail-safe guide to grave digging. Buried deep inside it, The Standover Man resided" (246). |
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| "Liesel, as she always did, showed up at Grande Strasse and read from The Whistler on the floor of the mayor's library" (259). |
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| "From that day on, Liesel read The Whistler aloud to Max as he occupied her bed" (319). |
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| "Unlike the other items, she did not place the leaf on the bedside table. She pinned it to the closed curtain, just before reading the final thirty-four pages of The Whistler" (323). |
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| "In place of The Whistler, she'd read The Standover Man several times at Max's bedside. That was only a few minutes per reading. She'd also tried The Shoulder Shrug, even The Grave Digger's Handbook, but none of it seemed quite right" (325). |
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| "No one came, no one interrupted, and Liesel read four of the very short chapters of A Song in the Dark, and she was happy" (366). |
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| "With Mama's permission, Liesel stayed with him till morning, reading A Song in the Dark as he sketched and wrote in his book" (378). |
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| "The reading sessions included Wednesday now as well, and they'd finished the water-abridged version of The Whistler and were on to The Dream Carrier" (439). |
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| "Liesel went through The Word Shaker many times, from the story itself to the many sketches and commentaries on either side of it" (452). |
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| "No, I didn't discover any of that until I came back a few months later and read something called The Book Thief" (503). |
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| "There's a multitude of stories (a mere handful, as I have previously suggested) that I allow to distract me as I work, just as the colors do. I pick them up in the unluckiest, unlikeliest places and I make sure to remember them as I go about my work. The Book Theif is one such story" (549). |
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| "On her first night with the Hubermanns, she had hidden her last link to him- The Grave Digger's Handbook- under the mattress, and occasionally she would pull it out and hold it" (38). |
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| "Breathing, breathing, she started to read, but not from the book in front of her. It was something from The Grave Digger's Handbook. Chapter three: "In the Event of Snow." She'd memorized it from her papa's voice" (77). |
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| "Liesel confirmed. "The train." She gulped the air until she was ready, and they began reading the eleventh chapter of The Gravedigger's Handbook" (86). |
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| "Reading The Shoulder Shrug between two and three o'clock each morning, post-nightmare, or during the afternoon, in the basement" (133). |
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| "The Shoulder Shrug, she decided, was excellent. Each night, when she calmed herself from her nightmare, she was soon pleased that she was awake and able to read" (142). |
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| "In front of him, he read from the copy of Mein Kampf. His savior" (157). |
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| "In one hand, he held his suitcase. The other was still holding Mein Kampf. Both were heavy, and both were handled with a gentle secretion of sweat" (169). |
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| "His fingers smelled of suitcase, metal, Mein Kampf, and survival" (185). |
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| "Liesel, as was her habit these days, was carrying The Whistler. She liked to feel it in her hand" (300). |
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| "She gave The Dream Carrier to Max as if the words alone could nourish him" (328). |
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| "Rosa released her, and for comfort, to shut out the din of the basement, Liesel opened one of her books and began to read. The book on top of the pile was The Whistler and she spoke it aloud to help her concentrate" (381). |
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| "Out of respect, the adults kept everyone quiet, and Liesel finished chapter one of The Whistler" (382). |
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| "There was the smell of a freshly cut coffin. Black dresses. Enormous suitcases under the eyes. Liesel stood like the rest, on the grass. She read to Frau Holtzapfel the same afternoon. The Dream Carrier, her neighbor's favorite" (506). |
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| "With great trepidation, she opened The Book Thief and turned the pages. "I can't believe..." Even though the text had faded, she was able to read her words. The fingers of her soul touched the story that was written so long ago in her Himmel Street basement" (549). |
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| "Then he read the title, with concentration, aloud: "The Grave Digger's Handbook." So that's what it's called, Liesel thought" (64). |
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| "Looking back, Liesel could tell exactly what her papa was thinking when he scanned the first page of The Grave Digger's Handbook. As he realized the difficulty of the text, he was clearly aware that such a book was hardly ideal. There were words in there that he'd have trouble with himself" (66). |
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| "At home, she was well into reading The Grave Digger's Handbook with Papa. They would circle the words she couldn't understand and take them down to the basement the next day" (75). |
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| "I don't want you slacking off. Go and get one of your books. How about The Shoulder Shrug? The disturbing element in all of this was that when she came back, book in hand, Papa was motioning that she should follow him down to their old workroom. The basement" (214). |
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| "In the night, just a few hours later, Liesel awoke and wondered at the height of her heart. (She had learned that expression from The Dream Carrier, which was essentially the complete antithesis of The Whistler - a book about an abandoned child who wanted to be a priest.) She sat up and sucked deeply at the nighttime air" (330). |
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| "At the end of an afternoon that had contained much excitement, much beautiful evil, one blood-soaked ankle, and a slap from a trusted hand, Liesel Meminger attained her second success story. The Shoulder Shrug. It was a blue book with red writing engraved on the cover, and there was a small picture of a cuckoo bird under the title, also red. When she looked back, Liesel was not ashamed to have stolen it" (84). |
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| "They began to leave the scene of the crime, and the book was well and truly burning her now. The Shoulder Shrug had applied itself to her rib cage" (122). |
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| "He reached over and grabbed hold of The Shoulder Shrug. No explanation was required. It was obvious that the girl had stolen it from the fire" (125). |
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| "It was the book she wanted. The Whistler. She wouldn't tolerate having it given to her by a lonely, pathetic old woman. Stealing it, on the other hand, seemed a little more acceptable. Stealing it, in a sick kind of sense, was like earning it" (287). |
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| "She knew the one she wanted - the exact position - but when she made it to The Whistler's usual place on the shelf, it was not there. A slight gap was in its place. From above, she heard footsteps" (288). |
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| "There was a giant length of a moment then, the eternity of split-second decision. Her eyes scanned the toom and she could see The Whistler, sitting patiently on the mayor's desk. "Hurry up," Rudy warned her. But very calmly and cleanly, Liesel walked over, picked up the book, and made her way cautiously out" (289). |
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| '"Well, well, if it isn't Rudy Steiner and his little whore." Very smoothly, he met them and snatched The Whistler from Liesel's group. "What are we reading"' (301)? |
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| "An extra darkeness climbed through the window behind her. The smell of dust and theft loitered in the background, and she saw it. The book was red, with black writing on the spine. The Dream Carrier" (327). |
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| "Liesel placed The Dream Carrier beneath her jacket and began reading it the minute she returned home" (328). |
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| "This is the part where Liesel finishes The Dream Carrrier and steals a story called A Song in the Dark. As always, it was taken from the mayor's house" (365). |
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| "Typically, many of the titles tempted her, but after a good minute or two in the room, she settled for A Song in the Dark, most likely because the book was green, and she did not yet own a book of that color. The engraved writing on the cover was white, and there was a small insignia of a flute between the title and the name of the author. She climbed with it from the window, saying thanks on her way out" (366). |
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| "Unfurling the paper, she unwrapped two small books. The first one, Faust the Dog, was written by a man named Mattheus Ottleberg" (88). |
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| "The second book was called The Lighthouse and was written by a woman, Ingrid Rippinstien" (89). |
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| "Midway through May 1940, Mein Kampf arrived, with a key taped to the inside cover" (195). |
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| "When Max came out, he was holding Mein Kampf. Upon his arrival, he'd offered it back to Hans Hubermann but was told he could keep it" (210). |
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| "In February 1941, for her twelfth brithday, Liesel received another used book, and she was gratedul. It was called The Mud Men and was about a very strange father and son" (221). |
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| "Next to the wall, The Standover Man sat, numb and gratified, like a beautiful itch at Liesel meminger's feet" (238). |
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| "This time, when she offered Liesel The Whistler, she insisited on the girl taking it" (259). |
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| "In her hand, The Whistler tightened. "So you give me the book," the girl said, "for pity - to make yourself feel better...." The fact that she'd also been offered the book prior to that day mattered little" (261). |
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| "She threw The Whistler at the woman's slippered feet, hearing the clack of it as it landed on the cement. "I don't want your miserable book..." Now she managed it. She fell silent" (263). |
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| "When she raised her head, she could read the title. The Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus. Briefly, she turned to Rudy and mouthed the words, It's a dictionary. He shrugged and held out his arms" (367). |
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