Clara Son

Period 7 Day 1

English II
McGee/Romano

The Book Thief Part One: Passage One

Throughout this particular passage of The Book Thief, Markus Zusak writes in the
perspective of Death viewing the interactions between Liesel, the Hubermanns, and himself.
From these interactions, Zusak defines a few literary elements such as conflict and theme within
the passage. One, being the characterization of Liesel Meminger and Hans Hubermann. To begin
with, Liesel, naturally, was bathed in anxiety. She refused to take a bath even though she had
not been clean for a long time and she literally did smell like a saumensch. There was no way
she was getting into any bath, or into bed for that matter. Liesel is still not comfortable around
the Hubermanns, and an air of strangeness and foreignness around them still remains. In fact, she
is not willing to strip down, let alone fall asleep in front of them. These actions would signify the
exposure of her at her most vulnerable moments. Liesel is still edgy around her new foster
parents and she is not willing to give the Hubermanns her trust. The level of distrust that was felt
towards Rosa is shown as, she was twisted into one corner of the closetlike washroom,
clutching for the nonexistent arms of the wall for some level of support- A refusal of even
letting Rosa lay a single finger on her. Despite seeming like an illiterate saumensch in most eyes,
Death views her as a human child- so much cannier at times than the stupefyingly ponderous
adult. While the rest of society looks upon her foster father as an unspecial and unimportant
person, Liesel understands, that Hans Hubermann was worth a lot. Just by observing his
strange eyes. Additionally, the phrase stupefyingly ponderous adult, shows the disbelief Death
feels at how people who tend to be older and more mature tend to miss out on the smaller
details.They think too much instead of just seeing what is in front of them.
Furthermore, the first description applied to Hans Hubermann is, His gentle voice made
its way in, as if slipping through a crowd. This phrase, along with the language of how it is
worded, illustrates the gentle softness yet firmness of his voice that corresponds with his
personality. Hans is not loud and obnoxious, but quiet and considerate. Hubermann does not
stand out and he Appears as merely part of the background, even in he was standing at the front
of a crowd. Also, the theme, do not judge someone by their appearance, but by their content, is
presented. To most of the townsmen, Hubermann is barely visible. He was always there. Not
noticeable. Not important or particularly valuable. Only Liesel bothered to pry into Hans pages
rather than just examining his cover. Moreover, Death also sees the worth and strong presence of
Hans in the way he states,the frustration of that appearance, as you can imagine, was its
complete misleading, lets say. Regardless of his appearance, Hans also proves to be skilled in
dealing and communicating with children. When Liesel is being harassed by Rosa for not
obeying her orders for taking a bath, Hans steps forward and takes Liesel into his responsibility.
Rather than using the technique of abusement like Rosa, Hans takes a different approach and
asks Liesel, You know how to roll a cigarette? From this approach, one could derive that
unlike his wife, Hans is more gentle, sympathetic, and offers a paternal feeling. Instead of

forcefully demanding the girl to become sanitary and odorless, for the next hour or so, they sat
in the rising pool of darkness, playing with tobacco and cigarette papers and Hans Hubermann
smoking them. Here the theme, friendship can be found in more than one way and beyond any
age gap, is also present. Despite the large distance in age between the two characters, there is a
sense of trust, understanding, and bonding that grows between them.
Moreover, Markzus Zusak also includes two conflicts within the passage. One
humourous conflict and another more grave conflict. The first conflict that is presented is a
humorous conflict between Liesel and Rosa. Liesel refuses to take a bath, although she is
covered in dirt and most likely has not been clean for a very long time. Nonetheless, Liesels
small rebellion only lead to nothing but dry paint, difficult breath, and the deluge of abuse from
Rosa. Additionally, from the choice of the word deluge, Death also describes the impatient
and tough personality of Rosa. Another conflict that is present, and actually has been present for
a while, is one between Hans Hubermann and Death. Deaths one and only job is to take the
souls of the once living and carry them away. However, Death humorously mentions that Hans,
had already cheated me in one world war but would later be put into another (as a perverse kind
of reward), where he would somehow manage to avoid me again. From the words cheated
and avoid, the personality of Death is slightly exposed, for it shows how he sees life as a game
in which one either loses to him or manages to escape his grasp. Nevertheless, not only does
Death think Hubermann is extremely lucky, he also sees Hubermann in a light of awe for being
able to avoid him not only once, but twice.