The Book Thief Analysis Essay Example

Death picked it up. The book ends with Liesel dying, many years later, and Death returning ‘The Book Thief’’ to the book thief and saying he’s forever haunted by humans.

One of the major themes in the ‘The Book Thief’ is humanity and dehumanization. ‘The Book Thief’ was set in Germany during WWII, one of the most prominent events during WWII was the Holocaust. It’s quite evident most Germans believe that they’re their superior to everyone else, especially the Jewish. By burning books writing by their authors, writing slanderous things on walls about the, however it’s mostly implicated in Chapter 17 when Hans said; “It’s pathetic—how a man can stand by and do nothing as a whole nation cleans out the garbage and makes itself great.

He was referring to how Hans was yet to be accepted into the party and he truly did not seem interested in being accepted. The humanity side is mostly portrayed through Hans, he referred to himself many times as a ‘communist’ at a point in time where it was incredibly dangerous thing, he painted over the hateful comments made towards Jews on walls, he gave a dying one a piece of bread (an incredibly selfless act considering how Hans’ family had next to nothing to eat with minimal income). Hans, Liesel, and Rosa also hid a Jew, Max, in their basement to keep him from getting sent to a concentration camp

This is a book that can easily show you both sides of a coin because it isn’t narrated by a Jew or a German, it’s narrated by Death. It’s truly interesting because it gets its point across so clearly; World War

II was fair to no one. There was only loss and devastation, for both the Jewish and German. There’s no argument over who got the shorter end of the stick, but reading a book like this does make you think how many Germans were most likely oppressed into becoming part of the Nazi party vs how many truly believed in Hitler’s propaganda.

It’s an interesting read really, it’s why I originally picked it and why I would ever recommend this book, to anyone that can stomach how much loss there really is in this book. One of my favorite parts has to be the second to last chapter’s final page. Death is talking about how he wonders what page Liesel was on during the bombing on Himmel Street, because she had already finished the book and there were only so many blank pages left, and how she reads the last sentence of The Book Thief over and over again for many hours, ‘I have hated the words and I have loved the, and I hope I have made them right’.