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Chendi Liu
Mrs. Barnes
Honors ELA 8
28 September 2015
Unearthing True Emotions and Values
Albus Dumbledore once said, Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times,
when one only remembers to turn on the light (Prizoner of Azkaban Movie). Dumbledore
wanted to express his belief that people can find what they feel even in the darkest of times.
Markus Zusaks The Book Thief is the story of an adventurous, young girl living in Nazi
Germany with a passion for reading. She lives with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, spends much
time hanging out or stealing with Rudy Steiner, and hides a Jew in her basement. In The Catcher
in the Rye, J.D. Salinger gives a record of the choices that Holden Caulfield made roaming
around New York. He is a seventeen year old with a red hunting hat that has flunked out of yet
another school and thinks about going away permanently because he will never understand the
people around him. Both narrations are about growing up and discovering their true emotions.
The authors of The Book Thief and The Catcher in the Rye use plot, character development, and
symbolism to certify how in the toughest times, people can discover how they truly feel and the
things they value in their lives.
Zusak and Salinger both use plot development as well as thoughts and actions to show
that people can discover who they are when put in harsh situations. Salinger uses Holdens
thoughts and dialogue to develop an internal conflict that shapes Holdens identity. In the climax
of the story, Holden talks to Phoebe about why he flunked out of school. A million reasons why.
It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys... Even the

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couple of nice teachers on the faculty, they were phonies, too (Salinger 185). Any one who is
mature is trivial in Holdens eyes. You shouldve seen this one old guy that was about fifty... He
kept talking to us the whole time, telling us how when he was at Pencey they were the happiest
days of his life, and giving us a lot of advice for the future and all (Salinger 186). Although
most people would say that the Pencey alumni was sincere, Holden considers him to be shallow.
It becomes obvious that Holden values genuine people but his grasp of genuinity differs from the
conceptions of most others. Holdens background helps him become conscious that he struggles
to understand the ones around him.
Zusak uses the exposition to exhibit Liesel Memingers shyness, nervousness and her
loneliness. ...her thoughts couldnt help turning toward her mother...It took nearly fifteen
minutes to coax her from the car... A gang of tears trudged from her eyes as she held on and
refused to go inside (Zusak 26-28). Liesels thoughts and actions show how she was afraid and
unsure of herself. However as the events develop, Liesel finds that she is strong and she
discovers her emotions, varying from true love to pure hatred. The first time that Liesel feels
hatred is when she realizes what happened to her mother. The Fhrer Liesel realizes and then
asks Hans Is my mother a communist? and continues with Did the Fhrer take her away?
and she finishes with I hate the Fhrer (Zusak 115). Liesel is stronger than the words that are
given to her to hold her down. She can see above the fog that the Nazis have covered Germany
with. Liesel can see what is truly happening. Zusak continues as he shows the love that Liesel
finds within herself. As Liesel sits beside a comatose Max, she is overwhelmed with emotions of
love, and sadness. ...even the sound of Mamas arrival at her back did not stop her from silently
crying. It didnt stop her from pulling a lump of salt water from her eye and feeding it onto Max
Vandenburgs face (Zusak 324). Liesel even risks her life to be with Max maybe just one last

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time. The book thief stepped onto the road. Never had movement been such a burden. Never
had a heart been so definite and bid in her adolescent chest. She stepped forward and said, very
quietly, Hes looking for me (Zusak 509-510). Liesel discovers the depths of her love for Max
as well as the anguish that she feels from being away from him. She also realizes her love for her
foster parents. Goodbye, Papa, you saved me. You taught me to read. No one can play like you.
Ill never drink champagne. No one can play like you (Zusak 538-539). As Liesel cries on, the
reader can see how being in Nazi Germany helped Liesel discover the love that she feels as well
as the hate. Both authors use the difficult places their characters are in to help them find their true
feelings and values.
Zusak and Salinger use character development of several characters to demonstrate that
there will always be hope and that there is always something to live for. Liesel discovers her
passion for books that all started with Papa discovering the book that Liesel had stolen. ...when
he reached under and pulled at the fabric, something loosened and landed with a thud (Zusak
63). Liesel discovers continuously how she cannot resist the urge to read. The threesome of
books poked their noses out. Liesel moved in (Zusak 120). She didnt care about the food... It
was the book she wanted. The Whistler (Zusak 287). Even though every time she knew that she
might get caught, Liesel stole the books because she valued them more than she cared about the
risk. Liesel also realizes that she loves Rudy Steiner. Liesel crouched above him. Kiss him,
Liesel, kiss him. Are you all right, Rudy? Rudy? (Zusak 455). Perhaps it was the sudden
bumpiness of love she felt for him. Or had she always loved him? Its likely. Restricted as she
was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her... (Zusak 518). Again and again, Liesel gets the
opportunity to kiss Rudy or tell him that she loves him. However, she misses her opportunity to
do it when he is alive. The tears grappled with her face. Rudy please, wake up, Goddamn it,

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wake up, I love you. Come on, Rudy, come on, Jesse Owens, dont you know I love you, wake
up, wake up, wake up... (Zusak 535). And of course He tasted like regret for she never got
the chance to tell him the she loved him while he was alive. Zusak also develops Death, the
narrator. Death starts out trying to ignore the survivors. The survivors. Theyre the ones I cant
stand to look at (Zusak 5). How could that woman walk? How could she move? Thats the sort
of thing Ill never know, or comprehend-what humans are capable of (Zusak 25). Slowly as
World War II progresses, Death finds that he is not human and does not feel the way that
humans do:
...in all the years of Hitlers reign, no person was able to serve the Fhrer as loyally as
me. A human doesnt have a heart like mine. The human heart is a line, whereas my own
is a circle,..Im always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their
beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both (Zusak 291).
By the end, Death has a disgust for the human population and realizes that he will never
understand them. He distinctly separates himself from the human race for he has become aware
of the fact that he is anything but human.
Salinger also uses character development to unfold how the characters find themselves
when they are in tough times. As Holdens story begins, he is a lonesome seventeen year old and
even questions his virginity. ...you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where
the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can (Salinger 82). As
he is by himself in his hotel room, he agrees to let the doorman send a girl up to his room.
However, when she is there, he does nothing but sit (Salinger 108). Holden lets others influence
him and eventually he realizes it. As Luce told him about being gay, ...you could turn into one
practically overnight, if you had all the traits and all...I kept waiting to turn into a flit or

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something (Salinger 159). As he reflects back on his times, Holden realizes how stupid that was.
At the start of the book, he calls many people phonies. This word genuinely shows that Holden
views anyone who is mature and honest as superficial. God, I love it when a kids nice and
polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most kids are. They really are
(Salinger 133). In Holdens eyes, children are perfect. Yet when he looks at adults, all he sees is
superficial people. By the end, he comes to realize that what he does not understand are the
adults. People never think anything is anything really... How would you know you werent
being a phony? (Salinger 190). Of course, Holden is referring to the mature, adults of the world.
Zusak and Salinger utilize character development to present the way that their characters
discover their feelings. In The Book Thief and The Catcher in the Rye, Liesel and Holden
discover their love and hatred. Liesel loves books, Max, Rudy, and her foster parents but hates
the Fhrer, Hitler. Holden discovers that he loves the innocence in children and hates mature
adults.
Zusak and Salinger both use many symbols to help the reader see how the characters of
their stories are finding who they truly are and what they value. In Zusaks novel, Liesel has an
immense love for books and they teach her how powerful words can be. When the mayors wife
fires Rosa, Liesel learns how words can hurt a person. The mayors wifes arms. They hung.
Her face slipped. Liesel, however, did not buckle. She sprayed her words directly into the
womans eyes (Zusak 252). Liesel felt the way that Ilsa Hermanns words hurt her and she
turned back and returned that hurt onto Ilsa. As death observes, When she came to write her
story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words started to mean not just
something, but everything? (Zusak 30). Another symbol that is present throughout The Book
Thief is Hans Hubermanns accordion. From the start of the book, the accordion symbolized.

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The sound of the accordion was, in fact, also the announcement of safety. Daylight (Zusak 38).
As the story progressed, the accordion came to represent a refuge as Max Vandenburg asked
Hans, Do you still play the accordion? (Zusak 173). That one single question represented if
Hans was still willing to help out Erik Vandenburg's family. The answer of Of course I do was
what saved Max and kept him alive until the end of the story. To Hans, he realizes that he would
never turn down Max and this action emboldens Hans feelings against Hitler and the Nazi Party.
The accordion, above all, was a constant symbol of hope. Will you play us something when you
come home? (Zusak 425). This question...... The accordion was a representation of the love that
Liesel feels for Hans.
Unlike Zusak who has a symbol of love and hope, Salinger has a symbol for alienation,
Holdens red hunting hat. On the surface, the hat is a symbol for uniqueness and individuality.
Id put on my red hunting cap when I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off
before I checked in. I didnt want to look like a screwball or something (Salinger 68). Holden is
very self-conscious of his hat but also constantly wears it. This act mirrors Holdens internal
conflict of solitude and his need for a companion. Salinger also uses the lyrics from Robert
Burns song Comin Thro the Rye to symbolize how he feels about adolescence and adulthood.
I thought it was If a body catch a body... I keep picturing all these little kids playing
some game in this big field of rye... Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I
have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if theyre
running and they dont look where theyre going I have to come out from somewhere and
catch them (Salinger 191).
When Holden describes a child falling off a cliff, he is really describing a child falling out of
innocence and into the adult world. Both authors use symbols that represent their cast finding

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their emotions and their values in the world. While Liesel finds a depth in the strength of words,
Holden finds that what he values is the innocence of the young.
While some may argue that symbolism in Zusaks The Book Thief and Salingers The
Catcher in the Rye do not help the characters find their emotion and values, they do not
understand the true potential in these symbols. Even though others may disagree, it is obvious
that Papa's accordion symbolizes love, strength, and hope. ...there was no denying the fact that
Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husbands accordion tied to her
chest. Her fingers hovered above the keys. She did not move (Zusak 428-429). For Rosa, being
in the presence of her husbands accordion was what gave her the strength to go one every day.
In The Catcher in the Rye, the hunting hat is a strong symbol for Holdens need for a companion
while isolating himself from the world. Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and
gave it to her (Salinger 198-199). When Holden gave his hat to Phoebe, he is taking a step into
letting someone into his life. The hat symbolizes the transformation in Holden. Therefore, it is
evident that in both The Book Thief and The Catcher in the Rye, the authors use symbolism to
show how the characters find their true feelings.
In tough times, people truly discover who they are and what they value. Markus Zusak
and J.D. Salinger show this through plot, character development and symbolism. Zusak and
Salinger both use thoughts and action to show how their characters find their emotions. They
also use character development of several characters to show the characters find their true
feelings and values. Throughout the novels, Zusak and Salinger use multiple symbols to
demonstrate the characters discovering themselves and their values. People should keep this in
mind the next time they face an obstacle. Rising to the challenge may be as easy as turning on a

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light. People have great power and can find their true emotions and values in even the darkest
times.

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Works Cited
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown, 1945. Print.
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.