Theme of Guilt in The Book Thief Essay Sample

đź“ŚCategory: Books, The Book Thief
đź“ŚWords: 732
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 16 March 2022

“If only he’d turned for one last look at his family as he left the apartments. Perhaps then the guilt would have not been so heavy.” (p.193) That excerpt from Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief talks about Max Vanderburg. Max is a Jew hiding out in Nazi occupied Germany. He is hiding out with the main character Liesel Meminger and her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Max, who is guilt-filled and anguished has left his family for safety in the middle of the chaos that is Germany during World War 2. Max’s guilt however is channeled more positively towards Liesel and her adopted family and propels him to have a great impact on them all.

Guilt, one of the many occurring themes in the novel. Weighs on Max and especially plays a big role in Liesel’s life. “It was the beginning of the best Christmas ever. Little food. No presents. But there was a snowman in their basement.” (p.311) That quote from Death our narrator, shows how Max and Liesel bond and how the whole family becomes filled with hope just off one tiny event. The guilt Max feels for hiding in the Hubermann’s house is enormous; he feels at fault for all the actions that Liesel, Rosa, and Hans must take to hide him. Max wants to have some normality in this dark and stressful time where death is rampant. Another key point is on Liesel’s 12th birthday; as an illustration at first Max has no present for Liesel for her birthday and feels horrible about it. He creates a book from the pages of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” and gives that to Liesel. In that book the quote from page 235 which says “Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday. It was she who gave a present to me. It makes me understand that the best stand-over man I’ve known is no man at all.” (p.235). It is this action from Max that makes Liesel understand how powerful words truly are. As a result, she reads more often and even starts to write her own book which ultimately saves her life. 

To tie into the first point something that cannot be overlooked is the books that Max creates. While he created the one from the pages of Mein Kampf, he creates multiple. Feeling at fault for Liesel’s innocence and childhood being infringed upon he creates “The Word Shaker” the book leaves a lasting impression on Liesel. One example being “The best world shakers are the ones who understand the true power of words.” (p.446). The emotion Max feels and what he is trying to convey through his anguish is just a lesson to Liesel that words are extremely powerful and mean something. Hitler alone convinced an entire country just by words alone. In addition, on page 447, Max writes “AT THAT moment the word shaker twisted free. She ran. She boarded the tree and even as the Führer hammered at the trunk with his ax, she climbed until she reached the highest ax branches. The voices and ax beats continued clouds walked by-like white monsters afraid but stubborn, the word shaker remained. They waited for the tree to fall, but it would not budge.” (p.447). Max wants to teach Liesel the priceless lesson that she can stand up to anything even the Führer himself which in this time is seen as impossible.

Furthermore, how Max’s guilt positively impacts and helps the characters around him. As an example, during the story Liesel and Max share the fact they both have reoccurring nightmares. Max’s nightmares are about his family and leaving them and Liesel’s are about leaving her mother and her dead brother. While it doesn’t go into detail, they sat around the fireplace one night and talked about them to each other. Later on, it states “The only thing that changed was Liesel told her papa that she should be old enough now for her to cope with the dreams on her own.” (p.220). Coupled with the quote where papa says “Thank God! He halfway grinned. At least now I can get some proper sleep. That chair was killing me. He put his arm around the girl and walked into the kitchen.” (p.221). While this quote is more lighthearted and not as seriousness as the book as a whole. We can tell that Papa and Max are delighted for Liesel that she’s becoming stronger, happier, and healthier person.

The yearning guilt Max has affected him in many ways; however, he did not let that negatively impact his attitude, outlook on others and life as a whole. He takes the negative and turns it around to impact the people around him and leaves longing impressions.

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