the book thief essay prompts

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The Book Thief Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Many characters in this novel suffer from recurring nightmares. Choose two characters who suffer from nightmares and describe the visions they have. How do these recurring nightmares affect the way these characters interact with the world and each other?

Essay Topic 2

Both Liesel and Hans have an artistic talent that brings peace to stressful situations. First, describe both Liesel and Hans' talents. Then, describe at least one situation when these characters use their artistic skill in the attempts to calm a crowd. What is the effect of their attempts?

Essay Topic 3

Rudy and Liesel have an interesting and dynamic relationship from the moment they meet. First, describe how Liesel and Rudy meet. Then, describe how the relationship between these two children changes over the course of the novel. Choose at least two major incidents from the novel and explain how these incidents affected the relationship between...

(read more Essay Topics)

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October 17, 2021

13 Lessons to Teach The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What It’s About? Get full lesson HERE !

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a  heart wrenching novel about the horrors of the Holocaust. The Book Thief is about a young man who barely survives the Holocaust amongst the many who perish in the novel and in history.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: How to Teach It! Vocabulary

I start by passing out a vocabulary sheet in which students have the page number and the vocabulary word. Students are to write a simple synonym for the definition. I like to keep definitions as simple as possible because when you use long definitions there is a low chance of student retention.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: How to Teach It! Journal Responses

Second, I have multiple journal responses that I use throughout the unit that are engaging and assess student comprehension.

• Some of the examples are to write a letter to a character. Tell them how you are similar or different. Tell them something you admire about them and why. This puts the students through the thought process of what empathy is like.
• Another journal response can be to Create a mock interview between yourself and a character. Create interview questions, practice and be prepared to present in front of the class.
• Students can Predict what will happen in the next chapter and craft a chapter from a character’s perspective in first person point of view. Be prepared to share the chapter with your classmates.
• Or, choose a significant incident in the book and write a journal entry from a character’s point-of-view
• You can ask them If you were given the opportunity to ask the author 5 questions what would they be? Write the questions below and explain why you want the answers to these questions.
• To assess setting students can create the setting in a drawing below. Be specific with details.
• Lastly draw a primary character and at least one secondary character in the box below. Be accurate in your drawing.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: How to Teach It!: Reading Comprehension

• Visualize-I ask students to draw a symbol that best represents the book.
• Summarize-Students will summarize the book, a chapter, or a section of the book.
• Clarify-Students are to analyze where they lack an understanding of the book. They are to ask themselves, what do I need to re-read in order to fully comprehend the material?
• Connect-students ask themselves how the material connects to other material in the book and to other texts they have read.
• Respond-Students analyze how the author uses literary devices in the work and why.
• Question-Students are to make a list of questions they have for the author for further understanding.
• : Costa’s Question Cues

Next I have students create a list of high order thinking questions using Costa’s question cues. Some of Costa’s question stems begin with the following:

• Compare/contrast

You can collect these questions and answers and use them for a Socratic Seminar or a Four Corner Discussion. Pass out a list of the questions for students to work on at home. Have students return with their questions and answers. Elect two leaders to lead the discussion. Remain as an observer and allow for a meaningful discussion about the book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Connections

I like to take connections with the book a step deeper because of the importance of engaging the students by connecting them with the material. I have students look up quotes of things that happen in the book that remind them of something from their own lives. They write the quote and begin a connection with something like, “This reminds me of a time that….” Students catalogue the quotes and connections as they read through the book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Purpose of Reading

It is important to note the purpose of reading a text. Students are always asking “what is the point of this?” and there is only a positive outcome if a teacher takes the time to answer this question. Some purpose of reading questions can be:

• What are the characters’ motives or goals?
• What is the conflict?
• What am I visualizing?
• What is the message the author is trying to convey?
• What mood is the author creating?
• What problem is the character facing?
• How is the plot developing the story?
• Why did the author write this story?
• What themes are addressed in this text?
• What is your emotional response to the text?

Through analyzing and discussing the answers to these questions, you can come to a consensus as to what the purpose is of reading a text-even if it’s just for fun! In the case of The Book Thief it brings awareness of the adversities of the Holocaust.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Sentence Starters

The next assignment I have students complete throughout the reading are sentence starters. Sentence starters help students to analyze their own thinking and wonderment. Some examples of sentence starters are:

• I wonder…
• I was surprised that…
• I don’t really understand…
• I was reminded that…

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Exposition Writing

Some practice with writing an exposition can be done by simply using a statement and backing it up with evidence. For example, if we are to look at the statement “Authoritarianism is traumatizing” then the evidence to back it up.

Teach The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Compare/Contrast Characters

Another assignment worthy of a teacher’s attention is to compare contrast characters physical and emotional descriptions. You can utilize a graphic organizer to effectively list information.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Close Reading Questions

It is highly effective to take a close reading passage from the book and have students analyze it by answering a list of carefully crafted sentences. A list of close reading sentences can look like this:

• What does this passage mean to you?
• Why do you think it is important to the text as a whole?
• What confuses you about the passage?
• Why is understanding this passage important to your response to the book as a whole?
• How does the passage connect to other ideas in the book?
• How does the author feeling about the ideas, characters or events they are presenting?
• Do the characters remind you of anyone else in fiction, history, or anyone else in your life?
• What is revealed about the characters you have read in this passage?

The Book Thief: Have Fun With Learning! Roll the Dice Activity

It is crucial that students have some fun while learning. A simple way to create some fun is by creating a “roll the dice” activity sheet. On a sheet of paper create the following activities:

• Paraphrase learned information in one sentence.
• Create a bookmark for today’s learning.
• Write original lyrics to a song that relates to today’s topic.
• Write four what if questions about the topic
• Create vocabulary cards for the five most essential terms
• Write an acrostic poem about the topic
• Write a letter to a family member or friend about the topic
• Create an analogy for today’s topic and an image
• Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast information
• Summarize what you learned today to three classmates

Have students role dye and whichever number they land on they will complete as a group. If you only have once set of dye, you can roll for the whole class.

A One-Pager Assignment Project

The purpose of the one-pager assignment is to take a close look at the novel and analyze its themes, characters, quotes, etc.

The top half should focus on symbolism and themes using words and images. The bottom half should focus on key characters from the text and how they develop.

You may also use other symbols, drawings and words as you wish.

The border is themes. Students can get creative and maximize their efforts with a one-pager assessment.

Create a Plot Structure Diagram

Create a plot structure diagram using the mountain analogy with the following:

• Rising action
• Falling action

6-Panel StoryBoard

Students can get a little creative and create a six-panel storyboard where they illustrate and write about a scene. They can also do an extension of a paragraph or the book.

Philosophical Chairs Discussion

Philosophical chair discussions are important in that they not only teach students to take a critical look at a topic but they learn how to express their opinions and evidence about the topic effectively. A great philosophical chairs discussion topic for this book is Countries should have helped to stop the Holocaust sooner. Have students choose a side, write about their opinions using evidence from the text and share their work in an articulate manner.

A thorough final assessment can be the essay. For this particular book I would do a literary analysis or if you want to extend the philosophical chairs discussion, you can use the same topic from the philosophical chairs discussion.

However you teach “The Book Thief” you are doing your students a service as it is a book worthy of attention and analysis. Get this full lesson in my TpT. Click HERE for the full lesson. To Read a blog post on March click HERE

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The Book Thief

By markus zusak, the book thief study guide.

Markus Zusak began his career as a successful writer of young adult fiction, but for his fifth novel, Zusak set out to relate the experiences of his parents growing up during World War II for an adult audience. Zusak has said that much of the inspiration for The Book Thief came from the stories his parents would tell him when he was a child.

Zusak's father, a house painter, was an Austrian who spent the war in Vienna, which in 1945 was besieged and captured by the Soviet Red Army. Zusak's mother was a German who grew up in Munich, where she witnessed firsthand both the intense bombing of that city by Allied planes and the degradation of the Jews during the Holocaust. Of his mother's influence, Zusak has said:

"Two stories my mother told me affected me a lot. The first was about Munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. The second was about something else she saw... One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him . . . Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are." ( http://www.randomhouse.com/features/markuszusak/author.html )

Both the bombing of Munich and the Holocaust, as expressed by Zusak's mother, figure strongly in The Book Thief. For example, Death 's emphasis on colors as a way of avoiding tragedy contrasts with the horrific and unavoidable redness of a firebombed city. Likewise, the scene of Jews being marched through town with just a singular act of kindness offered to them is a pivotal point in The Book Thief, one which encapsulates the novel's central tension between human kindness and human cruelty.

The Book Thief is also a novel about the power of words. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to power in no small part through the sheer power of words, delivered through violent speeches, propaganda, and Hitler's seminal book Mein Kampf. Hitler denounced the Jews, the Communists, and the influence of recent enemies like France as he delivered a message of nationalism, Aryan racial superiority, and the promise that he would remake Germany into a world power that would dominate Europe for the benefit of the German people. In the midst of a worldwide Great Depression, when the German economy lay in ruins after the nation suffered an embarrassing defeat in World War I, Hitler's message was persuasive -- and dangerous. After coming to power, Hitler pursued a policy of rapid militarization and the systematic extermination of those the Nazis considered to be social undesirables: communists, homosexuals, the disabled, gypsies, Poles, Soviets, opponents to the Nazi regime, and the Jews. Hitler ordered that these people be sent to death camps and murdered, and he used the German state machinery -- from the secret police who sought hidden Jews, to the conductors who drove the trains, to the guards who oversaw the concentration camps -- to achieve this end.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the German people were not necessarily intent on murdering millions of Jews and others. Yet Hitler's sheer persuasiveness, along with his total control of Germany's police and media, compelled average Germans to go along with the Holocaust. The Book Thief emphasizes both the danger of words and their potential redemptive value. On Hitler's birthday, Liesel Meminger defies the Nazis and steals a smoldering book from a public burning of banned literature. Her friend, the Jewish refugee Max Vandenburg , hides the map and key to a safe house in a copy of Mein Kampf. Later, Max rips out pages from the book, washes them in white paint, and draws on them a story that is entirely different from the virulent anti-Jew material that Hitler originally wrote. The Book Thief illustrates that just as words can impel human beings to commit horrific atrocities, words can counteract this vileness. Words can forge a remarkable friendship between a hidden Jew and a German girl, words can defy the Nazis when Hitler's propaganda is erased, and beauty and kindness are planted on his pages.

The Book Thief was published in 2006 in Zusak's native Australia as a work of adult fiction, but was marketed as a young adult novel by the American publisher Knopf. In just a few years after its initial publication, over a million copies of The Book Thief have been sold. In 2007 the novel received a Michael L. Printz Honor selection, a citation given for literary excellence in young adult literature.

The Book Thief Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Book Thief is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What Death mean when he says “one wild card was yet to be played.” And what is the wild card???

Death means that If anyone finds out a Jew is at Liesel's house, her parents could get taken away.Wild Card in this context means: a person or thing whose influence is unpredictable or whose qualities are uncertain.

What idea does Hans have after he discovers Liesel’a new book? Why do you think he does this?

When Hans discovers that Liesel doesn't know how to read, he begins teaching her the alphabet, and together they make their way through the book Liesel stole from the gravedigger.

What is Leisel's age?

In the beginning of the story Liesel is nine-year-old. By the time the story concludes, she is an old woman.

Study Guide for The Book Thief

The Book Thief study guide contains a biography of Markus Zusak, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Book Thief
• The Book Thief Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Book Thief

The Book Thief essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

• Liesel's Emotional Journey Through the Book Thief
• Zusak's Death Breaks the Mould
• Guilt in The Book Thief
• The Toil of Good and Evil: Multi-Faceted Kindness in The Book Thief
• Stealing the Narrative: The Irony of Reading in The Book Thief

Lesson Plan for The Book Thief

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Book Thief
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Book Thief Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Book Thief

• Introduction
• Recognition

The Book Thief

Markus zusak, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Markus Zusak's The Book Thief . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Book Thief: Introduction

The book thief: plot summary, the book thief: detailed summary & analysis, the book thief: themes, the book thief: quotes, the book thief: characters, the book thief: symbols, the book thief: theme wheel, brief biography of markus zusak.

Historical Context of The Book Thief

Other books related to the book thief.

• Full Title: The Book Thief
• When Written: 2002-2005
• Where Written: Sydney, Australia and Munich, Germany
• When Published: 2005
• Literary Period: Contemporary Fiction
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Setting: Fictional town of Molching, Germany, 1939-1943
• Climax: The fire-bombing of Molching
• Antagonist: Adolf Hitler, World War II and the Holocaust
• Point of View: First person omniscient, with Death as the narrator

Extra Credit for The Book Thief

Bread. Zusak was inspired to write The Book Thief by a story his mother told him, which involved a boy giving bread to a starving Jew who was being marched to a concentration camp. A Nazi soldier noticed and whipped both the boy and the Jew. This scene is recreated in The Book Thief with Hans Hubermann in the place of the boy.

Rudy. Zusak's favorite character from any of his books is Rudy Steiner, Liesel's best friend.

Themes and Analysis

The book thief, by markus zusak.

‘The Book Thief’ is a historical novel based on the events of the Holocaust and Second World War and the suffering and death experienced by people.

About the Book

Written by Juliet Ugo

Former Lecturer. Author of multiple books. Degree from University Of Nigeria, Nsukka.

When analyzing The Book Thief , there are several themes one needs to look at. The majority are themes of the power of words, kindness, and cruelty of humans, reading and writing, the duality of the Nazi era, mortality, and love.

The Book Thief Themes

The power of words.

In The Book Thief , we see that words and, in extension, stories are among the most powerful ways people connect. So many examples show how the words connect people up throughout the story. Through learning the alphabet and how to use it to make words, Liesel and Hans Hubermann began developing their deep bond. Liesel’s descriptions of the weather to Max later in the novel also help establish a bond between them. 

In the book, the greatest gift Max gives Liesel is words in the form of the ‘The Word Shaker,’ the story he writes for her. In the story he wrote, he suggests that words are the most powerful force there is. He said that Adolf Hitler uses just words and not guns or money or some other instrument to take over the world.

The story shows how Liesel has used words to create a refuge for herself amid Nazism and later uses words to calm her neighbors during the air raids by reading from her book. Again, the power of words is seen in the book she left behind, giving her a connection to Death as we saw at the end of the story.

The Kindness and Cruelty of Humans

We see the various degrees of human cruelty and kindness in the novel, from the slight to the most extreme examples.

One of the small acts of kindness we see in the novel includes hiding and caring for Max by the Hubermanns even at great risk to themselves, Rudy giving the teddy bear to the dying pilot, Ilsa Hermann inviting Liesel into her library. Liesel is specially kind to Max, and the two share a strong bond. Because of the political context of the time, with hatred and violence against Jews being rampant, Max finds Liesel’s kindness to be extraordinary. On the contrary, we also see acts of cruelty, like the treatment of Rudy by Viktor Chemmel and Franz Deutscher. Again, the concentration camps linger unseen in the book’s background as the most extreme example of cruelty.

There was a scene that showed both kindness and cruelty at once. There, Hans Hubermann tries to help a weak Jew suffering hunger and deprivation, being marched through town on the way to Dachau. Hans reaches out to him and gives him a piece of bread, a small act of great kindness. Immediately though, one of the Nazi soldiers mercilessly whips Hans and the Jewish man, a great act of cruelty heightened by the fact that it comes in response to Hans’s kindness.

We can not analyze the themes in The Book Thief without talking of mortality as Death is the book’s narrator. The book shows us that mortality is very present in the lives of each character as Death introduces the book to the reader. All through the novel, the deaths of the main characters reaffirm the presence of mortality. Since The Book Thief story takes place during World War II, Death and genocide are almost omnipresent.

Death is presented in a less distant and threatening manner as he narrates and explains the reasons behind each character’s destruction. Again, Death expatiates how he feels that he must take each character’s life, so there is a sense of care instead of fear. At a point Death states, ‘even Death has a heart.’

Reading and Writing

We see language, writing, and reading presented as symbols of expression and freedom all through the novel. Reading and writing provide identity and personal liberation to those characters who have them and provide a framework for Liesel’s coming of age. At the start of the story, shortly after her brother’s funeral, Liesel finds a book in the snow, but she cannot read. Learning under her foster father Hans, she slowly learns to read and write. By the time the novel comes to an end, her character arc has been shaped by her progress in reading, writing and learning a language. 

Writing and reading skills also serve as social markers since wealthy citizens are literate, owning books and even their libraries. On the other hand, the poor and illiterate do not own books or libraries. Rosa Huberman’s harsh and, at times, scathing remarks towards her family and others are an example of the despairing lives of the poorer classes. In contrast, Liesel’s repeated rescues of books from Nazi bonfires show her reclaiming freedom and also refusal to accept being controlled by the all-pervasive state.

The Dualities of Nazi-era Germany

We notice that the characters often have two sides or faces starting from the time Rudy paints himself black in imitation of Jesse Owens.

Superficially, Rudy looks like an ideal Aryan, such that the Nazis try to recruit him into a special training center. However, deep inside him, he is similar to an African-American, which directly contradicts Nazi ideology. Max also does something similar when he travels from Stuttgart to Molching when he pretends to be a non-Jewish or gentile German, calmly reading MKPF, while on the inside, he is a terrified Jew who finds the book despicable. This clearly shows the theme of duality in the book.

The Hubermanns are part of the theme and started living double lives immediately after they started hiding Max.

To their neighbors and friends, they pretend to be law-abiding citizens to their friends and neighbors; they harbor their dangerous secret inside. Hans teaches Liesel about this double face after he slaps her for saying she hates Hitler in public. He told her that she can hate inside the house but once they are outside, she must behave in a certain way. In fact, duality is a theme of life in general for Liesel and Rudy as they both spend a lot of time engaged in typical teenage activities like playing soccer in the street. However, these moments are broken up with events like the parade of Jews through town or the bombings that threaten and ultimately destroy Himmel Street. 

In spite of the fact that war, Death, and loss caused a lot of damage to Liesel and the others, love is seen as an agent of change and freedom. This is because love is the only way of forming a family where real freedom exists. Liesel got the best of her traumas by learning to love and be loved by her foster family and her friends. At the start of the novel, Liesel is traumatized by the Death of her brother and her separation from her only family and the larger issues of war-torn Germany and the destruction wrought by the Nazi party. 

Liesel’s relationship with her foster father Hans helps create healing and growth reflected in the relational dynamic between the Hubermann family and Max. The Hubermanns’ association with Max defies the Nazi regime in a society governed by policies that presume to judge who is really human. Furthermore, the love that Max and Liesel develop through their friendship creates a strong contrast to the fascist hate in the story’s backdrop.

Analysis of Key Moments in Animal Farm

• When Liesel’s brother died. This event marked the start of the story, which led her to foster parents. It also started Liesel’s stealing of books when she picks up The Grave Digger’s Handbook at the site of her brother’s burial.
• Arrival on Himmel. This event sets the stage for the rest of the book as it marks Liesel coming to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann after the loss of her family.
• Early school failure. Liesel didn’t succeed in school when she tried earlier and she became determined to learn how to read.
• Book burning day. The event of burning books on Hitler’s birthday helped Hans discover that Liesel is stealing books. 
• Arrival of Max Vandenburg on Himmel Street. This event changes the Hubermann’s lives when Max arrives on their doorstep in 1940. Hiding him put their lives in immense danger.
• Max writing The Standover Man for Liesel. This event helped to bring Max and Liesel together and they not only read words but also share them.
• Giving bread to the Jew. The event of Han giving bread to a weak Jew is significant because it leads to Max’s departure and Hans being sent away to fight in the war.
• Rudy idolizing a black man despite his perfect Aryan features. Rudy used the Jesse Owens event to exemplify the views of the main characters of the book.
• The Nazi recruiting Rudy. The Nazis noticed Rudy’s physical and mental capacities and therefore recruited him to go to school to become the perfect German. His parents refuse, and Alex Steiner is sent to war.
• Bombing of Himmel Story. This is a major event in the book where Liesel’s street is bombed and she lost most of her friends and family.
• Death of Liesel. This marked the final major event in the book when death came to her soul. 

Style, Tone, and Figurative Language

The style and language of The Book Thief is simple because it was primarily meant for young adults. He used a lot of foreshadowing to give the reader a sense of what is coming up in the story.

In the book, the narrator of the story, Death, uses foreshadowing in many different events to keep the reader focused on how the characters meet their ends. In Death’s side notes, foreshadowing is constantly scattered throughout the book in boldface text. A good example is when Death alludes to the death of Rudy, who is Liesel’s best friend. …He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.” 

The tone of The Book Thief is serious most of the time and mocking or hopeful the rest of the times. When you have death talking about humans in the time of war, the tone will be serious and somber. Death spends a lot of time mocking, or making fun of, humans. For instance, when Death talks about humans and destruction in the quote above, he is making fun of how people like to see things get destroyed.

In the book, we see so many figurative languages used in The Book Thief . These are vivid and stimulating word choices that author’s use to add color and meaning to their work. In the book we have many of the likes of simile, metaphor, contrast, hyperbole, personification, etc. Even the narrator, death, is personified. Here are examples of other figurative languages used in the book. 

She would wake up swimming in her bed, screaming, and drowning in the flood of sheets.

This quote from The Book Thief shows metaphor as the figurative language when death was describing the nightmare Liesel was having.

She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenberg. Certainly, her brother practically died in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew.

Here, the figurative language is contrast as death is trying to tell the readers that any hardship is better than being a jew.

Within seconds, snow was carved into her skin.

The figurative language used is hyperbole. Sure, snow was all over her body but it was extreme exaggeration to say it carved into her skin.

Analysis of Symbols

The Book Thief uses symbols extensively because it is not just a story about a little girl. It is an important historical novel that delved into the suffering of people who lived in Germany during World War II. The story has a lot of lessons especially in mortality, kindness and love and the symbols embody all these.

Giving bread anywhere is a sign of care and comfort. Once you give bread to somebody, you have shown absolute compassion for that person. You have also comforted the person and probably solved his hunger issues. It is a symbol of empathy in the story and it was clearly demonstrated by Max when he offered bread to the weak Jew as they were marching to the gas chamber.

The accordion in the novel was inherited by Hans Hubermann from Max’s father during World War I and it became part of Han’s identity. He played regularly to those around him to give them comfort. He plays it during trying times to give comfort and care to those who hear it. Example is when Liesel realises that her mother is not coming back again and when she first came to their house.

Books were a source of comfort to Liesel and later Max. It is another major symbol in The Book Thief and it was the source of Liesel’s transformation from a weak girl to an empowered young woman. She developed a great relationship over books when she learned how to read and write and thus got the power she needed from the books. This power helped her to develop a strong character, mature emotionally and became kinder and more understanding to those around her.

What is the main theme of The Book Thief ?

The Book Thief has many themes and they include love and kindness as expressed by Liesel and her foster family; literacy and power, as seen when Liesel learns to read and explore the world of words, cruelty and suffering as experienced by the Jews in the hands of the Nazis.

What is an example of a theme?

In most literature work, we have themes that the author uses to pass his message across. Some of the common themes that run through them are love, mortality, war, peace, revenge, grace, betrayal, fatherhood, patriotism, life, isolation, cruelty, motherhood, forgiveness, treachery, wartime loss, rich versus poor, and appearance versus reality.

Is survival a theme in The Book Thief ?

There are many themes in The Book Thief like love, mortality, kindness, etc. One of the themes you will find in the book is the theme of survival. Most of the major characters in the book namely Liesel, Max, Rudy, the Hubermanns, passed through many awful ordeals but they still survived. 

How do you identify a theme?

A theme is the idea the writer wishes to convey about an event, subject, or person. It is from the theme that you learn about the author’s view of the world. To identify the theme, you have to be sure that you have first identified the plot of the story, the way the story characterization, and the primary conflict in the story.

What are the steps in analyzing a theme?

Generally, here are the ways in which you can begin to analyze the theme of any literature you read. First, you look for recurring images in the story or poem, then ask questions about the author’s message. Through your answers, you’ll be able to identify the different tools the author uses to express the theme

About Juliet Ugo

Juliet Ugo is an experienced content writer and a literature expert with a passion for the written word with over a decade of experience. She is particularly interested in analyzing books, and her insightful interpretations of various genres have made her a well-known authority in the field.

Cite This Page

Ugo, Juliet " The Book Thief Themes and Analysis 📖 " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/markus-zusak/the-book-thief/themes-analysis/ . Accessed 2 April 2024.

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The Book Thief

80 pages • 2 hours read

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Keeping secrets , especially from family and friends, can be particularly difficult and potentially damaging to our loved ones. Imagine you must keep an important secret from your friends. What effects could this have on you and your relationships? Is it bad to keep secrets ? Are there any times in which keeping a secret could be the right thing to do?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to think creatively about their answers and incorporate examples. Many might say that keeping secrets is never a good thing, but encourage students to think about conflicts in history or scenarios regarding security or personal safety. Then connect the resulting discussion to the situation with Liesel and Max. Invite additional or revised responses.

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Post-Reading Analysis

The Narrator uses first-person narration to tell the story of The Book Thief . Examine the effectiveness of his narration style, as well as his use of foreshadowing. Do you think first-person narration was an effective tool for this particular story? Why or why not?

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Book Thief — The Book Thief: a Literary Analysis of Death

The Book Thief: a Literary Analysis of Death

• Categories: The Book Thief

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Words: 619 |

Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 619 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Death as the narrator, death and the power of storytelling.

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