The Book Thief Rebellion Essay

Words: 570
Pages: 3

Markus Zusak creates a tremendous valuable motif of rebellion in his novel, The Book Thief. Rebelling helps support the overall theme that people who fight for others bring hope and improvement for their society. There are many rebellious actions in this novel, but Liesel rebels the most out of all the characters, which explains why she is the main character. All of the character rebel against societal expectations and contribute to the theme of The Book Thief in one way or another, especially Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner, and Hans Hubermann. Liesel is referred to as the ‘Book Thief’ by Death because she often steals books and uses them in positive ways. Liesel Meminger steals her second piece of literature during Hitler’s birthday book burning …show more content…
Hans was part of the ten percent that did not show unflinching support for Adolf Hitler’s campaign. Even when Hitler was in power, Hans painted for Jewish customers and even painted over Nazi slurs on jewish stores. These acts were greatly frowned upon by others including his son who constantly fought and called his own father a coward. Hans Hubermann’s rebellious actions elevated on the day that Jews walked through the streets on their way to Dachau. While the Jews walked through, Hans gave a piece of bread to one Jew that was struggling to walk, “Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Zusak 394). The Jewish prisoner fell to his knees and thanked Hans, but subsequently both of the men were whipped by a soldier. Hans Hubermanns’ actions were rebellious because Germans were supposed to hate Jews. His actions gave hope to the Jewish prisoners by going against Hitler’s views and showing the Jews that people still cared for them. Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner, and Hans Hubermann rebel against societal expectations and contribute to the theme that people who fight for others bring hope and improvement for their society. The motif and actions of rebellion is extremely valuable in The Book Thief because everyone is conforming into beliefs that Jews are an inferior race and deserve inhumane treatment, and those that rebel are kindhearted,