The film “The Book Thief,” directed by Brian Percival, portrays the life of Liesel Meminger, a girl living in Nazi Germany with her adaptive parents, and emphasizes the themes of knowledge and education.
The film takes place during World War II. The main character, Liesel Meminger, is an orphan when she arrives at the home of her adoptive parents, Hans and Rosa. She doesn’t know how to write or read, and the family’s situation becomes harder when they hide a Jewish boy, whose father saved Hans’s life.
Right from the beginning, Liesel steals a book from her brother’s gravesite to bring to Germany with her. Later, when Meminger is asked to write her name on the chalkboard, she writes three X’s, which forces her and her father to have to learn how to read and write. While walking out of school with her neighbor, Rudy Steiner, he asks if she remembers how to get home. Her response is “just because I can’t read, doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” insinuating that she is educated.
Book burnings, as seen in the film, were not uncommon in the Nazi’s twisted tyranny. According to PBS, “university students in 34 university towns across Germany burned over 25,000 books,” including all works that didn’t conform to Hitler and the Nazi party’s way of thinking.
The Nazi party encouraged the public to burn books in order to eliminate any potentially subversive thought, thus making sure that the people would not question the views and beliefs of Hitler. As is seen in the film’s book burning scene, civilians were forced to burn books at a bonfire. The more knowledgeable you are, the more you will start to question society and possibly go against the ideologies of the people in power. By contrast, uneducated individuals will ultimately follow people who are in power without question.
Meminger and Steiner eventually begin to scream out “I hate Hitler” over and over again. This is the big turning point in the movie, because it signals that they are starting to question the dictator’s authority. Percival, best known for movies such as “About a Girl” and “Pleasureland,” has made a film that perfectly captures the Nazi’s nightmarish society. Depicting a sensitive subject such as the Holocaust can be difficult, but showing it through the eyes of a child lightens the mood slightly.
Ultimately, “The Book Thief” shows that having knowledge and being educated is still relevant in 2016. It is still important for society to gain knowledge, through experiences or through education. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, knowledge is simply information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education.
With the 2016 presidential election quickly approaching, it is thus vital for Americans to have knowledge about candidates, their principles, and what their plans are for America.
Not knowing what policies each candidate will pursue in office is negligence on the part of the American people. Having knowledge will allow us to form our own opinions on this upcoming presidential election, making it easier to vote on Nov. 8.
On CNN.com, you can test your knowledge on the upcoming election with the “How much do you know about presidential elections?” quiz. I suggest that you do so. After all, the candidate who ends up taking power will occupy the world’s most powerful office for four years – and the policies, and ideas, they impose will likely last even longer.