HOMEWORK

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
THE POWER OF LOVE AS REPRESENTED THROUGH
SYMPATHY IN MARKUS ZUSAK’S THE BOOK THIEF

ILHAMDI HAFIZ SOFYAN

Introduction

The Book Thief is a novel written by Australian author Markus Zusak. This novel is a
young-adult novel that gives a fresh insight to the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
It was regarded as a novel that has innocent sensibility despite its post-modern elements and
ambitious narrative, which includes typographical symbols, illustration and handwritten
passage (Brace, 2006). One of the unique characteristics of this novel is its portrayal of
Death, which narrates story although in a fashion that makes it look like as Death jumps into
the story and makes an observation or tells the reader the future outcome of the action at
present (“Concept Analysis The Book Thief by Markus Zusak,” p. 1). The Death portrayed in
this novel is different from the modern iteration of Grim Reaper in the popular culture, which
characterized as a menacing-looking skeleton in black robe holding a giant scythe. Instead,
Death here was represented as a kind, gentle entity who could feel sympathy for its victims.
Although Death narration is more like telling instead of showing, the book itself didn’t tell a
story about Death principally (Green, 2006).

The novel tells the story of Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who lives in Germany
during World War II, and her struggle to find her way to the innocence of her childhood
amidst the destruction of the war. In the Europe, the war broke out on September 1939 when
Germany invaded Poland under the false pretext that Poland had sabotage Germany near its
border (Evans, 2010). In Germany itself, Liesel had found a new family and befriended a boy
named Rudy Steiner who obsessed with American. Her life is described as cheerful and
carefree despite the routine she had to go through and the economic situation at the time.
However, several years later, when political situation in Germany began to deteriorate, a
Jewish man named Max came to her house and was hidden by her foster parents in order to
avoid Holocaust. The Holocaust was genocide collaborated by the Nazis during Hitler’s
regime. During Holocaust, about six million Jews were systematically killed by the Nazi
mostly in extermination camp as the result of the party’s puritan ideology (Gerlach, 2016). As
the result of hiding a Jewish man in their house, Liesel and her foster parents, the
Hubermanns, were haunted by paranoia and constant fear that the Nazi would found them.
Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father who has developed a close relationship with Liesel,
teaches her to read in secret. Realizing how powerful a book and the writings inside it, Liesel
began to not only stealing books that were banned by Nazi, but also write her own stories.
 After reading the novel, I found that one of the most prominent themes in this novel is
the power of love, which is represented through the act of sympathy. This act can be found in
many instances in the novel, like, between age, gender, and background. From this novel, we
can say that Markus Zusak tried to tell us the nature of war through different perspective. The
irony in this novel, which can found in one of Death’s narration, show us that war is not a
fate, but instead a creation of humans. Through this novel, Zusak tries to show us that we can
love other instead of hating and we can sympathize with them regardless of their
circumstances.

In this paper, I would like to analyze the theme of the novel. One of the most
prominent themes in this novel is the power of love, which is represented in the novel
through sympathy. In the novel, we can see how each of the main characters has their own
characteristics and unique ways of showing their compassion. In order to show how
sympathy was presented in this novel, I would like to analyze the interaction between the
characters in order to discover the different kinds of sympathy in this novel.

Discussion

According to the Dictionary of Cambridge, ‘sympathy’ can be defined as “(an

expression) of understanding and care for someone else’s suffering.” From this definition, we
can draw a correlation that ‘sympathy’ is closely tied with ‘understanding’ and ‘care’ in
regards of someone’s misfortune. Sympathy can also be correlated with ‘feelings’, as the
word itself derived from Greek words syn “together” and pathos “feeling” which means
“fellow-feeling” (Tear & Michalska, 2010). There are several reasons that caused a person to
experience sympathy. The specific conditions that need to occur in order to get an experience
of sympathy usually includes the attention to a subject, believing that a person/group in a
state of need, and specific characteristics of a given situation (Dickert & Slovic, 2009). From
the beginning of the novel, we can see the hardships that must be endured by Liesel. In the
first part, as Liesel was on her way to Munich, we can see that her brother has been dead and
her mother had to leave her with the Hubermanns because of political circumstances. When
Death says, “The boy didn’t make it” (p. 12), we can see how the story tried to make its
reader sympathize with Liesel. From this instance, we can see how sympathy is a prevalent
element that this novel tried to present. In the novel, sympathy can be grouped into the
‘sympathy between ages’, ‘the sympathy between genders’, and ‘the sympathy between
backgrounds’.
 In the novel, we can see that ‘the sympathy between ages’ is the most emphasized
kind of sympathy. This kind of sympathy can be seen in the interaction between Liesel, the
Hubermanns, and Max Vandenburg. As stated in the novel, after witnesses her brother’s
death, Liesel began to develop a trauma that always haunted her during her sleep. When she
first arrived in Himmel Street, Hans Hubermann was the first person that wanted to befriend
her. His first interaction with her is when he asked her gently to roll a cigarette for him.
Liesel immediately knows that her foster father was a good person as she described his eyes
to be “made of kindness” (p. 20). Hans showed his sympathy to Liesel mostly in form of
being a father figure to her. On an occasion, he sincerely taught her how to read The Grave
Digger Handbook during the high of the midnight despite of his lack of education (pp. 40-
43). Another instance can be found in an interaction between her and Rosa Hubermann, her
foster mother. Despite her harsh and profane tendencies, she could also show some kind of
sympathy towards Liesel. In one of the occasion, after which Liesel tried to communicate
with her ‘real mother’ through mail and fail, she discovered by Rosa Hubermann tipped the
money collected from their customers. Although Rosa punished her for lying to her, however
she reached for her and apologized for what happened to Liesel’s real mother (p. 65). This
scene shows that although in her anger, Rosa could still understand Liesel’s circumstances
and sympathize with her. Perhaps the most prominent example of ‘the sympathy between
ages’ can be found in the interaction between Liesel and Max Vandenburg. During one
occasion, when Max fallen ill and considered dead by her family Liesel is the only person
who sympathize with him and wished for his health. Both of the characters share the same
sympathy due to their circumstances of losing family as the result of the ongoing war (p. 139-
142).

The second kind of sympathy is ‘the sympathy between genders’. Although gender is
the least discussed element in this novel, however, it is worth to note that the novel itself
shown ‘the sympathy between genders’ as shown in the interaction between Liesel and Rudy
Steiner. In the novel, Rudy Steiner is Liesel closest friend, which often play and doing
mischief with her. Midway through the story, we can see that when Rudy performed his
“three acts of stupidity” Liesel sympathize him when he was beaten down by Franz
Deutscher (pp. 206-207).

The last kind of sympathy is ‘the sympathy between backgrounds’. This kind of
sympathy can be found in many instances due to the contrast between characters. If we sort
one by one, we can put the characters in the following fashion; Liesel, an orphan whose
parents were communist; the Hubermanns, who were on the side of Adolf Hitler but disliked
his policy towards Non-Germans; Max Vandenburg, a Jewish fist-fighter who had taken
refuge in the Hubermanns’ house. The most prominent example of ‘the sympathy between
backgrounds’ can be seen in the interaction between the Hubermanns and Max Vandenburg.
Hans Hubermann, having knowing that Max was the son of his comrade during the First
World War allows him to take refuge in his house despite the danger that could result from
his decision (p. 131). Other instance can also be found in the interaction between Max and
Walter Kugler, of which the latter was a member of Nazi Party (pp. 128-129).

Conclusion

After reading The Book Thief, we can see how the characters in the novel showed
their love towards people from different ages, genders, and backgrounds through sympathy.
This novel reminds us that war is not the fate of humanity, but rather the results of humans’
actions, of which the different circumstances could create friction in humanity. Through this
novel, Markus Zusak invited us to care have compassion with others, because, if even the
death can have heart (p. 167), then we as human should have too.
 Bibliography

Brace, M. (2006). The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Retrieved May 28, 2017, from
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-book-thief-by-
markus-zusak-430360.html

Concept Analysis The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. (n.d.).

Decety, J., & Michalska, K. J. (2009). Neurodevelopmental Changes in the Circuits

Underlying Empathy and Sympathy from Childhood to Adulthood. Developmental
Science,13(6), 886-899. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00940.x

Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2009). Attentional mechanisms in the generation of sympathy.
Judgment and Decision Making. 4(4): 297–306.

Evans, R. J. (2010). The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Press.

Gerlach, C. (2016). The Extermination of the European Jews. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Green, J. (2006). Fighting for Their Lives. Retrieved May 28, 2017, from
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Zusak, M. (2016). The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.