The Power of Words

The Power of Words
Words and stories hold tremendous value in the novel, which suggests that they are among the most powerful ways in which people connect with one another. Numerous examples of the ways words connect people turn up throughout the story. Learning the alphabet and how to create words is how Liesel and Hans Hubermann begin to develop their deep bond. Later, Liesel’s descriptions of the weather outside to Max also help to establish a bond between them. The greatest gift Max gives Liesel in the novel is words in the form of the “The Word Shaker,” the story he writes for her. In it, he suggests that words are the most powerful force there is, indicated by the fact that Hitler uses words and not guns or money or some other instrument to take over the world. The story essentially dramatizes the way Liesel has used words to create a refuge for herself in the midst of Nazism, and Max was able to find shelter in her words as well. Liesel later uses words to calm her neighbors during the air raids by reading from her book, and she gives Frau Holtzapfel some comfort with her private readings to her. Ultimately, it’s Liesel’s words in the book she leaves behind after the bombing that establish the emotional connection Death feels to her, and the novel itself creates a connection between the reader and the characters of the story.
Although the novel doesn’t explore the idea as deeply, it also makes clear that words hold the power to spread ideas, and it suggests that power can be dangerous. Again, Max suggests this notion in the book he leaves for Liesel when he says Hitler used words to conquer the world. It’s quite a statement given the amount of suffering we see as a result of Hitler’s control, and it shows that something as insubstantial as words can have drastic real-life consequences. The book burning Liesel witnesses also raises this idea. The Nazis burned books to keep people away from certain ideas, as if those ideas would spread like an infection....