Because of words, meaningful new relationships can be formed and sustained between individuals. When Liesel Meminger first arrived at Himmel Street, she was extremely nervous, knowing nothing about her adoptive parents, the Hubermanns. Following a nightmare where she wet the bed, Hans, her adoptive father, washed her sheets and found among them The Grave Digger's Handbook, a book she had stolen. Hans agreed to read Liesel the book, but found that as she had some difficulty reading, she also had to be taught the alphabet. This began their nightly routine of reading The Grave Digger's Handbook, interspersed with Hans teaching Liesel the alphabet and words. Rosa, Liesel’s adoptive mother, once remarked after one of Liesel’s reading lessons in
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By reading to Liesel, an activity which she is passionate about, Hans is able to get Liesel to relax, and start to trust him. This repeated activity of nighttime reading established an enjoyable pattern between Hans and Liesel. Through this pattern, which benefitted Liesel by her learning to read, and Hans by growing closer and being able to provide for his daughter, Hans and Liesel grew closer, bonding over reading and words. This faughter-daughter relationship between them is new, and not a pattern of interaction that previously existed between Hans and Liesel. Relationships in history have also been formed on the basis of bonding over words. Renowned essayist Joan Didion met her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, in 1958, and they married 1964. While both Didion and Dunne were already established authors at their first meeting, both penned their more well-known novels during the course of their marriage, with Didion writing Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and Dunne writing The Red, White and …show more content…
For example, while the Hubermanns kept Max in their basement, Max wrote a book, entitled The Word Shaker. In it, he detailed many of his thoughts that occurred during his stay with the Hubermanns, including details about Rudy’s hair and the snowman built in the basement. Before leaving, Max gave Rosa the book, saying that The Word Shaker should be given to Liesel when she was “ready” (Zusak 443). After an air raid that happened a few days before Christmas, Rosa gave Liesel the book. On page 117, Liesel came upon a fairytale-like story also entitled The Word Shaker. In the story, a young Adolf Hitler decides that he will rule the world with words, and planted and grew forests of words. These words were fed to the people of Germany, and the supply of words grew so large that people had to be hired to pick the words from the trees. The best word shakers, according to Max, “understood the true power of words” (Zusak 446). While Max does directly reference part of his inspiration, like mentioning the Führer and having the words actually represent words, many of the elements in Max’s story serve as metaphors. The words planted by the Führer that grow into trees represent the spreading of harmful propaganda about Jewish people created by Hitler. As Hitler planted more words and gave more speeches spreading hatred against Jewish people, the citizens of Germany
By reading to Liesel, an activity which she is passionate about, Hans is able to get Liesel to relax, and start to trust him. This repeated activity of nighttime reading established an enjoyable pattern between Hans and Liesel. Through this pattern, which benefitted Liesel by her learning to read, and Hans by growing closer and being able to provide for his daughter, Hans and Liesel grew closer, bonding over reading and words. This faughter-daughter relationship between them is new, and not a pattern of interaction that previously existed between Hans and Liesel. Relationships in history have also been formed on the basis of bonding over words. Renowned essayist Joan Didion met her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, in 1958, and they married 1964. While both Didion and Dunne were already established authors at their first meeting, both penned their more well-known novels during the course of their marriage, with Didion writing Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and Dunne writing The Red, White and …show more content…
For example, while the Hubermanns kept Max in their basement, Max wrote a book, entitled The Word Shaker. In it, he detailed many of his thoughts that occurred during his stay with the Hubermanns, including details about Rudy’s hair and the snowman built in the basement. Before leaving, Max gave Rosa the book, saying that The Word Shaker should be given to Liesel when she was “ready” (Zusak 443). After an air raid that happened a few days before Christmas, Rosa gave Liesel the book. On page 117, Liesel came upon a fairytale-like story also entitled The Word Shaker. In the story, a young Adolf Hitler decides that he will rule the world with words, and planted and grew forests of words. These words were fed to the people of Germany, and the supply of words grew so large that people had to be hired to pick the words from the trees. The best word shakers, according to Max, “understood the true power of words” (Zusak 446). While Max does directly reference part of his inspiration, like mentioning the Führer and having the words actually represent words, many of the elements in Max’s story serve as metaphors. The words planted by the Führer that grow into trees represent the spreading of harmful propaganda about Jewish people created by Hitler. As Hitler planted more words and gave more speeches spreading hatred against Jewish people, the citizens of Germany