The Book - Thief

A theme for “The Book Thief” is courage. Hans did a favor for an old friend who had save his life previously by taking his son in. It took real courage to keep his son in his house because his son is a Jew. If the Nazis found out Hans was keeping a Jew in his house, he would be punished severely or killed. Another act of courage was Max even making the trip to Hans’s house. Max could have been taken away and put into a concentration camp if he had gotten caught along the way to Hans’ house. Also Max didn’t even know if Hans was going to take him in anyways. This was courageous of him. Throughout this book, courage was a big factor in the character’s lives. Even Liesel and Rudy had shown courage when they gave bread to the Jews. They knew the consequences if they gave the Jews bread when the Jews were “parading” down the street, but they still did it because they thought it was unfair for the Jews and wanted to help them. This was another act of courage shown in the book.

Another theme for the book is friendship and caring. Liesel became good friends with Max and Rudy. She cared about them both a lot. Max had gotten very sick from the snow and was constantly sleeping. Then he wouldn’t wake up. Liesel would read to him even though he’s not awake when she comes home from school every day. She would also leave him little presents so that Max would see them when he wakes up. Liesel also made sure to tell her mom to tell her when Max wakes up. This shows she cares about him a lot, and that he is a very good friend of hers. Another act that shows she values his friendship and cares about him is when Max had to leave because Hans was going away to work for Nazis as punishment for giving a Jew bread at the “parade”. Liesel became sad and always worried about him. She would check the river to see if she could catch a glimpse of him or when the “Jew Parade” came to town, she always check to see if he was there. One time, she did found him