Durbin, 1

Trevor Durbin
Mrs. Rutan
AP Literature and Composition
1 August 2016

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak depicts a story of a girls struggle against the Nazi party of

Germany during World War II. The main character Liesels conflicts come from Liesels family refusing

to give in to the Nazi Partys brainwashing. Throughout the book Liesel goes through a transformation

from a girl who cant read or write at all to realizing that words are the weapon that Hitler uses against the

German people and that words are the way that she can make a difference and resist Hitlers reign of

terror.

The action that Liesels family takes to harbor a Jewish man in their own basement is the single

most dangerous thing a family could do in Nazi Germany in World War II. Liesels father, Hans,

demonstrates his passion to rebel against the Nazi Party and fight the Partys tyrannical power by

sheltering Max, simply because Maxs father saved his life, and Hans believes that it is only fair to pay

back that favor.

Every night, I wait in the dark and the Fhrer comes down these steps. He walks down

and he and I, we fight for hours.

Liesel was standing now. Who wins?

At first, he was going to answer that no one did, but then he noticed the paint cans, the

drop sheets, and the growing pile of newspapers in the periphery of his vision. He watched the

words, the long cloud, and the figures on the wall.

I do, he said (255)

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Max may lose the physical fight in the dream, all the citizens of Germany versus him, but he sees it

differently. To Max, the real fight is not a boxing match between him and Hitler, it is the struggle that

Hitler has banished a group of people in their own country into concentration camps simply because they

are different. Max sees his fight with Hitler as the struggle to avoid being thrown in a concentration

camp. Max looks around at the basement and sees all the accommodations the Hubermanns have made to

make sure he is hidden from the Nazis and realizes that he is winning the fight.

Hitler had some very different views about the world, that is obvious to the reader. But for Hitler

to be able to act on these radical views, he had to convince the people. Hitler was able to subtly alter the

beliefs of the German people through his propaganda. Hitler was so good at doing this, he effectively

brainwashed most of Germany so that he had extremely high support going into war.

Yes, the Fhrer decided that he would rule the world with words. I will never fire a

gun, he devised. I will not have to. Still, he was not rash. Lets allow him that much. He was

not a stupid man at all. His first plan of attack was to plant the words in as many areas of his

homeland as possible.

He planted them day and night, and cultivated them.

He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout

Germany. It was a nation of farmed thoughts. (445)

This excerpt from Maxs book, The Word Shaker, explains how Hitler planned to gain the support of the

Germans to eventually rule the world. Hitler said I will never fire a gun, (445) and he never needed to

because he was able to use words to brainwash most of the country. Hitler planted the words in society,

ingraining his ideas into the peoples minds. As his ideas grew, people started absorbing more of his
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ideas and sharing them with others. The part of the story about Liesel, depicted as the best word shaker,

tells the story of Liesel and Maxs friendship. Liesel plants the word friendship, Max and Liesels

friendship, and it grows to be the biggest tree in the forest. Hitler tries to cut down the tree but it cannot

be cut down as long as Liesel stays in it, as long as she doesnt give up on their friendship. Once Liesel

leaves the tree, the tree falls. The tree cannot destroy the whole forest but it makes a new path; their

friendship cannot destroy Hitlers reich, but it can make a change in it.

In the beginning of the book, Liesel cannot read or write. Throughout her journey learning

reading and writing, she learns the importance of words and what words can do. After reading Maxs

book The Word Shaker and seeing how badly the people of Germany treat her best friend Max, Liesel

realizes that words are Hitlers weapon and she starts to believe words are her enemy. She shows this

when she is ripping apart the book in Mrs. Hermanns library.

The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldnt be any of this.

Without words, the Fhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for

consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better (521)

Liesel had been learning words and reading for the past few years and she loved it. She once had no

words, but when she learned words and learned to read, words became her favorite thing in the world.

Then, Liesel sees her precious words used for bad. She sees Hitler use words to turn people against

members of their communities that they have known their whole lives. Hitler used words to try and turn

everyone against her best friend. When Liesel sees Max with all the rest of the prisoners going to a

concentration camp, she finally realizes what Hitlers words have done to the Jews. She says I wanted to
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kill the words. (522) Even though words are her life, her favorite thing, she realizes that the words are

Hitlers weapon. She wants to destroy the words, to destroy Hitler, to get her friend back.

In the beginning of The Book Thief, Liesel is weak because she cannot read or write. As the

book progresses and she learns to read and write, she realizes how powerful words can be and the extreme

importance of words. Eventually she realizes that words are the weapon of the enemy, Hitler. She sees

Hitlers words in affect when she sees Max among the Jews heading to a concentration camp. She sees

the effects of Hitlers words on her best friend and wants to destroy them. Eventually, Liesel can see that

words have to be her weapon too. She sees that she needs to use words to resist and destroy Hitler.