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The Book Thief - Coggle Diagram
The Book Thief
Themes
Death
Death plays a big role in this book whether it was people dying or people coming close to dying. The first death was Liesel's brother on the train. Hans Hubberman comes close to dying twice but is saved because of another person. At the end of the book everyone on Himmel street dies besides Liesel and Alex Steiner because he was away at war. The last death is when Liesel dies of old age.
War
This book is based around Germany during WWII. There are cut rations, blackened windows, hiding in basements, and bombings of cities. There are also parades of jews being marched towards conecentration camp as well as the Hubbermans hiding a jew in their basement.
Kindness
All characters of the book are kind at some point through the story. Hans was kind enough to hide the jew even though it was putting himself in danger. Rosa helped take care of Max when he was sick, and Liesel brought him presents. Max was kind enough to draw and write for Liesel so that she could have something to read. These are only a few examples of kindness throughout the book and there are many more.
Guilt
Characters throughout this book feel guilt for their actions. Liesel feels guilty for stealing books and Hans feels guilt for giving the jewish person bread.
Knowledge
Liesel gains knowledge from Hans by learning to read and write. She also learns about the social structure of germany and that the jewish people are not being treated fair because of Hitler.
Thievery
Liesel and Rudy steal multiple items with the gang and just on their own. The first time they stole was with arthur burg because they were hungry and just wanted something to eat. They then move onto stealing books and other items so they cure their hunger for stealing
Power of Words
Throughout the book we realize the power of words. Liesel learns that whenever she reads books with her papa and then later when she reads to everyone in the basement. One thing that Max helped her learn was that Hitler came to power by using only words.
Figurative Language
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Death is always talking about the colors that he sees when collecting souls whether it was about the sky or the state that society was in.
Hans Hubbermans eyes are talked about in how they are silver and when death takes his souls they talk about how his eyes started to rust over.
there is figurative language in Han's accordion talking about how it breathes like a human and was lifeless whenever Hans was not around.
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Symbolism
Bread
The bread symbolizes caring and empathy because it is what Hans and Liesel gave to the jews who were walking to the concentration camp
Books
Books symbolize knowledge and power. We see books open up a whole new world for Liesel and it shows her how twisted society really is. She learns that knowledge and the power of words are very strong.
Accordian
The accordion symbolizes comfort and compassion. Hans played the accordion to cheer people up and help them when they were down.
Death
Death symbolizes a greater power in this book and views everything that is going on. He sees the war and people struggling and the terrible treatment of the jews. All he can do is just watch and carry the souls of people who have died.
Setting
Himmel Street
Himmel street is where a lot of the conversation between Rudy and Liesel would take place. They would play a lot of soccer in the street and make friends with the other neighbors who lived on the street.
Mayor's Library
The mayor's library is where Liesel would read and Ilsa Herman would watch her while she would do it. After Ilsa Herman stopped paying for Rosa to do the washing, Liesel no longer went to the library. From time to time she would go steal a book from the library even though that is what Ilsa Herman wanted her to do.
Hubberman's basement
The Hubberman's basement is where Liesel learned to read and write with Hans Hubberman. They would spend long hours there working under the light of a kerosene lamp. Later it would be the home of Max where Liesel would befriend him and Max would spend his time down there writing stories that he could give to Liesel. One time Liesel brought snow to the basement where they had a miniature snowball fight and built a snow man.
Characters
Side
Alex Steiner
Alex Steiner is Rudy's father and owns a tailor shop. He does not hate the jews but still follows nazi rules. One day the nazi officers came to take Rudy to this special school for a prestigious group of soldiers. Alex refuses to let them take Rudy and instead Alex ends up having to go fight in the war. Alex survived the Himmel street bombing because he was away at war.
Viktor Chemmel
Viktor Chemmel was the second leader of the gang and was a much worse leader than Arthur Burg. He stole because he wanted to and not because he needed it. Whenever they stole he only gave the bad leftovers to Rudy and Liesel even though they did just as much work. Viktor can symbolize Hitler in this story.
Arthur Burg
Arthur Burg was the first leader of the gang that would steal stuff. He would share the profits evenly and was a rather nice to Liesel and Rudy whenever when they first started to join.
Frau Holtzapfel
Frau Holzapfel was a woman who lived down the street who would spit on the Hubberman's door everyday because of a long time feud with Rosa. She finally stops spitting whenever Liesel agrees to come read her books. She loses one son to war and is distraught after that and then loses her other son to suicide where she is completely crushed and there is nothing left of her as a human.
Frau Diller
Frau Diller is the shop owner just down the street. She is a devout Nazi and follows everything that Nazis are supposed to do. Frau Diller will not sell you anything unless you heil Hitler to the picture on the wall. Overall, she is a very cold woman.
Liesel's brother died on the train while travelling with her mother to the foster home. There is not much known about him besides that he shows up in LIesel's nightmares and is a figament of Liesel's imagination while at Ilsa Hermans house.
Main
Liesel
Liesel is the main character of the story, coming into the Hubberman's house as a foster daughter. She learns that she loves to read and slowly grows to love her parents more and more. On rare occasions she steals books so that she has something new to read. Whenever Max comes she has to keep him secret from everyone and befriends him during his time in the basement. Liesel's best friend is Rudy and they get into mischief from time to time but they always have each others back.
Max
Max is the jewish man who came to live with the Hubbermans becuase of a promise that Hans Humberman had made long ago. While staying he constructed books for Liesel to read and at one point gets very sick. He gets better and ends up having to leave becuase Hans Hubberman publicly helped a jewish prisoner, putting Max's life in danger.
Rudy
Rudy is Liesel's best friend who lives just down the street. They steal together, play soccer and do other things. Rudy tends to get in trouble at his hitler youth program until he transfers to a different group. He is very athletic and has most likely had a crush on Liesel since she moved in. In the end Rudy ends up dying during a bombing raid and Liesel kisses him.
Hans
Hans Hubberman is Liesel's foster father. He was a soldier in the first world war where he should have died but a friend took his place. He made a promise to the family and later in the book, keeps the promise by hiding max in his basement. Hans plays the accordion and is a painter. He supports Liesel when she has bad dreams and stays in her room all night to comfort her. He does not support the nazi cause but still follows the rules. One day he accidentally breaks the rules and feeds a jew while they were walking to a concentration camp. Hans is sent off to the second world war where he is luckily saved again and is sent home becuase of a broken leg.
Death
Death is the narrator of this story and is the collector of souls who have died. He sees Liesel grow up and steal the books along with many other things on Himmel street. He is an overseer of everything and describes lots of things with colors. He does not like WWII and is tired from all the souls he has to collect. He does not like that people die and is compassionate when he takes the souls from people.
Rosa
Rosa Hubberman is the mother of Liesel and is often described as a wardrobe of a woman. She is very harsh and uses a great amount of curse word to everyone including Liesel. She is a terrible cook but does a good job taking care of Max when he is sick.
Ilsa Herman
Ilsa Herman is the mayor's wife who lives in the wealthier part of town. She has a vast amount of books in her library that Liesel would read in whenever they had Rosa do the laundry. Her son had died and she mopes around her house and is always thinking about him when sitting with Liesel while she was reading. Whenever she could not pay Liesel to do the washing she started leaving the window open so that Liesel could come and take books. Throughout the rest of the text they slowly became friends again.
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Historical Context
WWII
This book takes place during WWII. The Germans were on their conquest to take over Europe and had blamed the jewish people for all their financial problems. The Jewish people were being taken from their communities and homes, being sent to concentration camps were they would most likely die.
Author's Purpose
Markus Zusak wrote this book to share the stories that his parents told him about growing up in Austria and Germany during WWII
Dialogue
There is a lot of dialogue throughout this whole book with each character interacting differently depending on who they are around. I am not really sure how to organize this part at the moment but will fill it out once I have more details.