The Book Thief - Ideas

Writers often set out to encourage readers to look at controversial issues or ideas in a new way.
Analyze how the writer of a text you have studied made you think about an issue or idea in a new way.

In our society, where we are influenced by the British empire and Hollywood, our view on Nazi Germany is prejudiced. We stereotype all Germans to be as ruthless as Hitler. When reading books like the Diary of Anne Frank, everyone remembers the perils Anne faces but many of us forget the name of the lady who helped the Franks. Australian author, Markus Zusak has written a story about the holocaust but in a totally new way. “The Book Thief” shows Germans in a new light. The book shows them as humans whose nation was also torn apart by Allied bombings.

The novel is centered and follows the story of a young German fostered girl named Liesel. Liesel’s best friend is the all German boy Rudy. Rudy is a charismatic boy who “...isn’t afraid   to make decisions.” He is athletic and smart. He was even selected to join an “..elite force of Germans...” But his parents decided against it. However, Rudy knew that what was happening to the Jews was bad and unfair. So, when a group of dying, hungry, barely human Jews were being marched to a concentration camp, Rudy and Liesel risked it all to lay out some bread for the prisoners. As Liesel watched Rudy lay out the bread, she asked herself; “Was this Germany?” When she heard Rudy’s stomach rumble she repeated “Was this Nazi Germany?” Rudy was a boy who never had enough to eat, he was one of eight children in a poor family. He stole food, his stomach was grumbling and yet he was giving away bread to the “..nasty Jews..” He did this because he knew that those people were Jews and prisoners, but they were people first and foremost. The author made me think about how wrongly we stereotype all Germans by showing Rudy as compassionate towards the Jewish prisoners.

Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father, was a middle class German...