Challenge overcoming in ‘the book thief’ by markus zusak

How can everyone be falling apart while you are still standing strong? The people around Liesel are falling apart and struggling but Liesel overcomes everything to remain strong. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel always seems to prevail despite the challenges thrown at her, whilst everyone around her fails. Liesel prevails throughout the story by appreciating the little things, chasing after what she loves, and everyone around Liesel is trying to chase their big dreams and are only looking out for the big joys like money a new house etc., but Liesel was only looking for the little things that matter in life which keeps her happy along the way. In the novel it says, “ December 24 been hungry and cold…” We have to make a snowman”. Despite having no food and a cold house, Liesel made the best of it. Everyone else was only focusing on food and presents, but all she wanted to do was enjoy Christmas and have a good time with the snow. Her mom later makes her clean it up, this is a small instance of Rosa failing because she has just made Christmas a bitter day for herself and others, she was not learning to enjoy the simple things like Liesel. Liesel decides that presents don’t need to be given and food wasn’t urgent, but Christmas only comes once a year so she set her priorities straight. Liesel does everything she can to achieve her goals of reading and writing, while her parents don’t seem to be doing the same. In the novel, the narrator says, “ Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning”.

Liesel is willing to spend sleepless nights learning and practicing to read. Her dad gave up on painting to become a Nazi, Rosa let her laundry company go and tried nothing else. Yet, Liesel doesn’t give up even through being raised in a house of people who didn’t try the right solutions. Liesel is never willing to give up which makes her special enough to prevail. Setting aside the hardships reading had given her, like having to steal, being teased by kids for not being able to read, and more, she still never let that stop her from learning what would later save her life. Liesel has always done what she loved, it came before everything… even before family. It’s saved her life in the best way possible, it’s saved everything she loved about life except the people. In the novel Death says, “…the girl…writing a book down there that he hoped to read…”. If she hadn’t been doing what she loved like no other, it would’ve been the end. Everyone was out trying to make ends meet and wasting the little time they had left, not knowing that they didn’t need to work so hard to have a happy ending. If they could all go back and live life like she did, maybe it wouldn’t have turned out the same, but Liesel followed her heart through and through. She prevailed because she followed her heart, every heart will take a person so many more places in life than their mind will, Liesel was no exception. Liesel did nothing else but her passion, nobody else followed their hearts like she did.

In the novel The Book Thief Liesel overcome every challenge by following her heart while others failed. Liesel stood strong while others fell apart and failed their goals. Looking at most successful people, they made it because they did what they believed in, not because others said it would be better for them.