Liesel’s younger brother dies while they are on the train going to Munich to live with …show more content…
Hans is portrayed as the accordion, because he is an instrument of comfort for the characters. “Sometimes I think my papa is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes.” (Zusak 527) Liesel thinks of her papa as an accordion, but not literally. Zusak displays Liesel’s view of Hans being an accordion metaphorically. The reader may begin to notice Zusak, portraying Hans as an accordion. Liesel is not the only character who thinks that Hans is being portrayed as the accordion. As Hans goes to Essen, he leaves his accordion. Rosa Hubermann wishes for Hans to bring his accordion with him but he proceeds without it. While he is gone, Rosa copes with his absence by holding his accordion tightly to her chest. This is another example symbolizing that Hans is an accordion. Rosa finds comfort in his accordion just as Liesel does. At the end of the Novel Himmel Street is bombed unexpectedly, because of this bombing Liesel loses many influential people in her life including parents. “Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones. Papa was an accordion! But his bellows were all empty.” (Zusak 537) Liesel once again thinks that Hans is an accordion. Even as Hans is no longer able to comfort Liesel as her life goes on, she will have his accordion to comfort her forever.
In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses the elements of emotion, figurative language and imagery to display Hans Hubermann. Hans is the accordion, the comfort for Liesel and an instrument of emotion for the reader. Imagery is one of the most vital parts of this novel, because it allows the reader to illustrate what the author is portraying. Zusak personifies Hans to represent an accordion, and to show comfort to Liesel. Imagery and figurative language shaped The Book Thief, into a novel that captivates the