Gartenhaus 1

Lauren Gartenhaus
Mrs. Barnes
Honors English 8
28 September 2015
Literary Analysis
George Bernard Shaw once stated, Progress is impossible without change, and those
who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
and The Giver by Lois Lowry, the characters transform through friendships, experiences, and in
the case of The Book Thief, they change through the power of books. In The Book Thief, Liesel
Memingers love for books, her friendships with Rudy Steiner, and her experiences with a young
Jewish man, Max Vandenburg, help to shape her into the person she becomes. The confidence
she gains from learning to read, the help she gets from Rudy during everyday life, and the love
she receives from Max help shape her into a confident young woman. In The Giver, Jonas is
given the job Receiver. The job of the receiver is to keep all of the memories that the community
has tried to eliminate through sameness. As part of his job, he visits The Giver, the man of the
community who is given all of the memories. When Jonas starts receiving memories, he begins
to understand the significance of his job and he also begins to understand the problems with
converting the community to sameness, which means everyone must follow strict rules and they
must all behave in the same manner . This helped shape Jonas into The Receiver he was meant to
be. Jonas begins to do things some would not even dream of because he stands up for what he
believes. Through character development, symbolism, and conflict, both authors help create the
theme that when people stand up for what they believe, they will find their true selves.

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In both The Book Thief and The Giver, the character development helps demonstrate the
theme. In the beginning of The Book Thief, Liesel constantly faces a struggle in using her words
to express her emotions. This is clearly evident when Liesel tries to read in front of the class for
the first time and she does not succeed. A boy from school, Ludwig Schmeikl, began to taunt her
and she reacted with violence.
Im having trouble with this word. Could you read it for me...She stood up and took the
book from him, and as he smiled over his shoulder at some other kids, she threw it away
and kicked him as hard as she could in the vicinity of the groin...When he was set upon,
he was slapped and clawed and obliterated by a girl who was utterly consumed by rage
(Zusak 78).
This shows the lack of confidence Liesel had with her words and the lack of confidence she had
in herself when she first arrived at her new home. She became so agitated with the bully that
instead of using her words to stand up for herself she used the only thing she felt confident in:
violence. Later in the story, the mayors wife, Ilsa Hermann, gives Liesel a note saying they
would no longer be using Rosa for their laundry services. This time instead of using violence to
express her anger or simply backing down she uses the reading skills she developed from Hans
to demonstrate her anger through words. Liesel says to Ilsa
You give me this Saumensch of a book and think itll make everything good when I go
and tell my mama that weve just lost our last one? While you sit here in your
mansion...Its about time that you do your own stinking washing anyway. Its about time
you faced the fact that your son is dead (Zusak 262).
Although Liesel uses hurtful words, she shows she has developed the ability to use her words
instead of acting with violence. By standing up for what she believes, this demonstrates that she

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has found her true self. When she rants to Ilsa about the mistreatment she has bestowed upon the
Hubermanns, Liesel is showing how she is now able to use the power of words. In The Giver,
character development is evident through Jonas encounters with The Giver. At first Jonas did
nothing, but act as everyone else did. He followed all of the rules, did everything he was
supposed to, and always shared his feelings just like was demanded of him. This evening he
almost would have preferred to keep his feelings hidden. But it was, of course, against the rules
(Lowry 9). This shows how at first he did everything in the manner that was expected of him due
to his fear of breaking the rules. Later in the text, he starts to experience a memory of Christmas
and he starts expressing to The Giver and his parents his feelings of love which is against the
rules. Father? Mother...I have a question to ask you...Do you love me? (Lowry 126-127). By
asking this question he shows that he is willing to start breaking the rules and he shows how he
has developed much more confidence in himself. The development of both Liesel and Jonas
helps establish the theme.
Symbolism was key for both authors to prove their themes. In both stories, colors were
used to show the change in emotions. The change in emotions that Liesel and Jonas both faced
helped display how when people stand up for what they believe, they will find their true selves.
At the beginning of The Book Thief when Liesels brother dies, the author states,
With one eye open, one still in a dream, The Book Thief-also known as Liesel
Meminger-could see without question that her younger brother, Werner, was now
sideways and dead. His blue eyes stared at the floor. Seeing nothing (Zusak 20).
As the story continues, the colors begin to represent the joy in Liesels live when the text states
Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster fathers eyes. They were made of kindness, and
silver. Like soft silver, melting. Liesel, upon seeing those eyes, understood that Hans Hubermann

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was worth a lot (Zusak 34). At the beginning of the story the lifeless blue in her brothers eyes
brought her great sadness, but as the story progressed and she began to see the silver in her
papas eyes, she was able to experience true joy. In The Giver, the gray color of sameness
represents the lack of joy in the community, but as time goes on and Jonas begins to experiences
colors, he begins to feel a sense of fulfillment a joy and he begins to think the community needs
to experience the colors. In the text it states,
Your beginning to see the color red... It was so-oh, I wish language were more precise!
The red was so beautiful...Why cant everyone see them? Why did colors disappear?
Our people made the choice to go to Sameness...We relinquished color when we
relinquished sunshine and did away with differences We shouldnt have! (Lowry 95).
This conversation between the Giver and Jonas proves the symbolism of the colors because as
his emotions change from seeing the colors, Jonas begins to think others should see the colors
too. Eventually he stands up for the elimination of sameness which shows him finding his true
self. Both authors symbolize colors to prove the theme.
Some may argue that the symbolism in The Book Thief and The Giver does not prove the
theme, but they fail to understand that the change of emotions the colors represent proves that
when people stand up for what they believe, they will find their true selves. At first in The Book
Thief, the white color when her brother dies represents sadness. Death states Yes it was white. It
felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. As you might expect someone had
died...Tears were frozen to the book thiefs face (Zusak 6-8). This yet again shows how the
white around Liesel represented all of the sadness about her brother. The white just seemed to
bring out the tears in her eyes. As the story progressed however, the color she sees when she
finishes The Grave Digger's Handbook represents more joy in her memories with her brother. In

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the text it says Liesel still held the book. She gripped it tighter as the snow turned orange. On
one of the rooftops, she could see a small boy, sitting, looking at the sky (Zusak 87). Later in
the story when she finishes the book that reminded her of her brother and she begins to see a new
color, she begins to remember the love she felt for him and the great things that happened before
his death. She finally was able to start getting past all of the bad memories of his death. In The
Giver, at first as stated previously, Jonas was scared of the red, but as the story went on and he
began to learn more about the other colors such as green and yellow he began to realize the joy
the colors brought. In the text it says, There were colored lights: red and green and yellow,
twinkling from a tree which was oddly, inside the room...He could smell things cooking, and
heard soft laughter...There were cries of delight. They hugged one another (Lowry 123). As he
learns about Christmas and the colors associated with the joyous holiday he begins to understand
everything great about those colors. This causes him to stand up for his beliefs that everyone
should experience colors which demonstrates the theme yet again. Although some may say the
colors do not represent the theme conveyed in these book, it is clear they do.
In both novels, the conflict is key in determining the theme. In The Book Thief the
conflict has to do with Liesel dealing with the struggles of everyday life in Nazi Germany. When
she first is introduced to Max Vandenburg, it immediately puts the family in grave danger.
Max Vandenburg promised that he would never sleep in Liesels room again. What was
he thinking the first night...The basement was the only place for him as far as he was
concerned. Forget the cold and loneliness. He was a Jew, and if there was one place he
was destined to exist, it was a basement or any other such venue of hidden survival
(Zusak 207).

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Although having a Jew in the house is a huge problem and Liesel understands how big of a deal
it would be if they were caught, Liesel stands up for what she believes during the Jewish march
when she handed out bread to those in need. In the text it says, Liesel couldnt help herself.
There was a trace of a grin on her face as she and Rudy Steiner, her best friend, handed out the
pieces of bread on the road (Zusak 440). This shows how even though the conflict at the time is
truly helping a Jewish person, she stands up for what she believes and shows the maturity she has
gained by giving those poor, innocent people the only thing she could. The conflict helped shape
her into a helpful and kind women. At the beginning of The Giver, the text states, Better to steer
clear of an occasion governed by a rule which would be easy to break (Lowry 27). At first
Jonas, like everyone else in the community would not dare break a rule and he believes that
sameness is what keeps the community in order. By the end of the story, Jonas feels very
different about sameness. In the text, The Giver says,
The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. Its the loneliness of it.
Memories need to be shared...And having you here with me over the past year has made
me realize that things must change. For years Ive felt that they should, but it seemed so
hopeless... (Lowry 155).
Jonas begins to then help The Giver think of a way to fix the problem of sameness and in the text
it says, It was possible, what they had planned. Barely possible. If it failed, he would very likely
have been killed. But what did that matter? If he stayed, his life was no longer worth living
(Lowry 155). This shows how at first Jonas was facing conflict about whether sameness was
right, but by the end he thought it was wrong and he helped formulate a plan to ultimately put an
end to sameness. In both novels, the conflict plays a huge role in showcasing the theme.

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Throughout both The Book Thief and The Giver, the authors use character development,
symbolism, and conflict to prove when people stand up for what they believe, they will find their
true selves. As the characters begin to cope with the events and conflicts of the times, they show
that when people stand up for what they believe, they will find their true selves. Also, the
symbolism of colors shows the change of emotions the characters feel. These changes in emotion
cause them to stand up for their opinions, which again enhances the theme. As the characters
begin to experience new things and get a better understanding of life, they also begin to show
when people stand up for what they believe, they find themselves. As George Bernard Shaw
explained, nothing can be achieved unless people change.
Works Cited
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1993. Print.