“Good novels take you to interesting places. Great novels take you where you need to go.”
Markus Zusak’s 2005 war novel, The Book Thief’s presentation of complex ideas and issues is a perfect example of one such “great novel.” The novel follows the story of a foster child, Liesel Meminger growing up in World War II Germany. With the help of warm-hearted foster father Hans Hubermann, Liesel learns to read, finding comfort in words and stories as well as building new relationships and learning important lessons about her world and humanity along the way. The Book Thief encourages readers to consider and embrace the darker and more confronting ideas and issues that fall outside their comfort zone by portraying the disturbing reality of world war two and human nature, exposing readers to the ugly dangers of government and certain ideologies while also entertaining through vicarious and dramatic experiences of Nazi Germany. Zusak effectively explores human duality while also emphasising the immense power and importance of words and literature, reminding us that the exceptional beauty and ugliness of humans can both co-exist in this seemingly chaotic and cruel world of ours. Through its unique perspective and writing style, The Book Thief makes us appreciate the power of words and stories to connect or destroy as well as educating us on the extent of the horrors of Nazi Germany.
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One of the most applaudable attributes of The Book Thief, is how it not only gives a “novel worthy” entertaining experience of Nazi Germany but also encourages readers to see the disturbing reality of that period in history, allowing us to confront the darker truths of history and reality by showcasing the ideas of supremacy as a terrible force of unimaginable cruelty. Through Death’s unique perspective, we are told about the “forty million people [Death] picked up by the time the whole thing was finished (Death)” (Pg. 359), educating the reader on the lengths of damage and destruction caused by certain dangerous ideologies. It also effectively creates an image of life for Jews during that time with the use of diction and connotations in sentences such as “the jew was filthy” (Pg. 434) or the comparison of the Jew to an animal in describing his “mane of hair.” Both examples carry connotations of “dirtiness” and are “disrespected” thus dehumanising them and demeaning their worth. By addressing confronting truths of war, describing realities of disturbing events during the Nazi Regime and painting this very real picture of the injustice and suffering faced by Jews in Nazi Germany, it exposes us to reality and takes us out of our comfort zones as we don’t see this type of thing as contemporary Australian readers. This gets us to see what is wrong with the world and how in today’s society there are troubling similarities between people such as Donald Trump compared to Hitler or Nazi Germany compared to current civil wars, reminding us to put a stop to this racial discrimination to avoid a similar repeat in history.
As we are made to wonder why Jews were treated so inhumanely during the time, The Book Thief also provides the answer to this question by highlighting how words had the power to both destroy and save humanity, especially in Nazi Germany. What is so acknowledgeable about The Book Thief’s usage books as a metaphor, is it shows the power of language to make a positive difference in the world, describing the very best and very worst ways language can be used and suggesting that words are one of the most powerful ways of communication. This is effectively done by juxtaposing its capacity of good with the evil symbolism held in “Mein Kampf,” as mentioned before, which was a book Hitler wrote to discriminate and scapegoat an entire population of Jews, using words to spread hate and prejudice towards the entire population, thus symbolising the worst qualities in humans. By this, we see how Hitler's rise to power was made possible, not by guns or money but by using his words to convey his message of hate to inflict this suffering upon Jewish people. Max paints over the pages of Mein Kampf and instead wrote stories for Liesel over it such as “The Word Shaker,” a story about their friendship and showed how Hitler used his words to create forests infected with Nazi ideology. Liesel instead grew her “word tree” to spread compassion and love, which grew the tallest and most powerful, becoming a refuge amid Nazi Germany. This juxtaposition between the trees demonstrates the idea that the power of friendship can overshadow words of hatred, showing that while words and stories can be used to inflict hate and prejudice amongst people such as the Jewish in Nazi Germany, they can also be used to transcend suffering and help humans find happiness in small moments of beauty and friendship.
The Book Thief encourages readers to engage with this intricate idea of human duality and our capacity for extreme good but also extreme evil. This is done by not only showing us the use of words for both good and evil but also through the manipulation of setting, contrasts, characterisation and Zusak’s unique writing style. Because the story is set in one of the darkest times in history where dangerous ideologies resulted in prejudice and destruction, even the smallest acts of kindness had immense effects. Take for example the quote “The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Pg. 809) as the Jews are marched through town to Dachau. Although Hans is punished immediately after, this scene’s contrast between an agonising setting and the selfless characterisation of Hans represents the kindness and selflessness that people are capable of, show the generosity he brings and beautifully highlighting the capacity for human kindness in a world full of darkness and hatred. In addition, not only does Zusak’s poetic writing style provide an “entertaining read” but it also makes us see how “beauty” and “ugly” co-exist in reality. The unusual narrator of “Death” is the perfect witness to grade humanity as it has “the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time (Pg. 992)” so is “always finding humans at their best and worst (Pg. 992).” Death’s sensory mixing in the narration of the phrase “chocolate coloured sky(Pg. 4)” or the paradoxical figurative language in “the brute strength of the man’s gentleness, (Pg.80)” demonstrate the simultaneous existence of opposites, such as light and dark or beauty and ugliness. Not only do these things encourage us to think outside our comfort zones and engage with deeper ideas about human nature and its duality but it also suggests these opposing factors can both coexist in one world, just like the evil and good of humanity.
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief holds a beautiful balance between the “entertaining” side to the novel as well as effectively educating its audience, encouraging deeper intellectual thought and higher order thinking between readers. The novel effectively highlights the importance and power of words and literature, and more importantly how you use them, showing that while it’s power can be abused and used for evil in times such as Nazi Germany, it is also used to heal, spread hope, build connections and to fight against the injustice and chaos that is the world surrounding them. Its description of Nazi Germany through Death’s special perspective teaches us about the unsettling truths of its time, allowing contemporary readers to get drawn out of their comfort zone of today’s society and instead into a different time in history to see humanity at its darkest. This awakening assists us become more educated of it’s injustice in order to prevent adapting some aspects of it’s disgusting behaviour into modern day society. The Book Thief also effectively showcases the haunting duality of human nature and our capacity for both good and evil, most commonly at the same time. The Book Thief encourages readers to step out of their comfort zones and instead dwell deeper into more complex and confronting ideas, reassuringly showing how that at even one of the darkest times in history, human capacity for kindness and love is able to shine through and triumph.
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