Humans Haunt Me — The Book Thief
A reluctant reader of tragedy, I still picked The Book Thief to read on a good winter day. Perhaps it’s my gradual acceptance of the topic or perhaps it’s my changing prerogative to life. Whatever the cause, I was finally courageous enough to read a book on war, misery and death. What moved me to pick the book was the story of a little girl who unknowingly impressed death. What was it about her that moved Death so much? Moreover, I was curious to know Death’s perspective of humans. And I have to say, the Book Thief did a good job.
Why Am I Talking About the Book Here?
Don’t mistake this as a book review. I am not a literary critic and hold no expert opinion. However, I would just like to derive and share some insights and lessons learnt after reading it. This article is a mere reflection of thoughts on life, on work and on the human courage inspired by the book. I believe sharing these reflections will enable all of us to be better people and develop better relationships with those around us. If each of us were to realise the unpredictability of life, we would leave our grudges, we would lessen our struggles, we would cherish our moments of living and we would see beyond the horizon.
Lessons I Learnt from the Book Thief
Liesel Meminger is a little girl who lost her family to the war brought upon by Hitler. She is sent to a couple in Germany who are to be her foster parents. In the years she lives with them, her foster father teaches her to read and write. A man of little knowledge himself, he is still able to help her read through a book she picked up while at her brother’s funeral. For Liesel, words became the saving grace. She created new friends, she calmed war nerves, she learned to live while reading the lives of others. But Liesel’s character is not the only haunting aspect of this novel — it’s the fact that Death himself walks us through time. What does Death think of the war? How does Death deal with human bloodshed, human despair and human hope? Death — the character we all fear is actually fearful of us!
The book taught me much needed lessons on resilience and kindness, friendship and hope, love and war, about life and death. Some powerful scenes in the book taught me amazing lessons that I’d like to share here.
Helping Each Other with What You Have
In a particularly powerful scene, Liesel was huddled in a small basement with forty other people who were taking cover for an expected bombing. During the time, everyone was afraid and there was chaos. In the midst of all these, Liesel took out one of her books and began reading. She read on and on without waiting for people to pay attention. Twenty minutes into the reading, suddenly even the children stopped crying and paid attention to her. People momentarily forgot their predicament and clinged on to Liesel’s every word until the safety alarm began ringing again. What follows after becomes a routine. Every time there was a basement grouping, Liesel was there to read. This made me realise that we can help anyone we want to, using what we have best. Good with words? Write. Good with music? Play. Good with arts? Paint. Good with money? Invest. What did Liesel have to comfort people? Nothing but her books.
It’s OK Even If You are a Fool
This one requires courage. Liesel’s father took a huge risk when he ventured to give a Jewish prisoner of war a scrap of bread. For this he was whipped heavily. Unfortunately, the prisoner died on the spot out of starvation; but before his death he smiled with gratitude. Lisesel’s father cursed himself for days after that incident calling himself an idiot and expecting the Nazi soldiers to appearing at his doorstep any day to arrest him. They didn’t. It’s OK to do something idiotic once in a while for people. You may not get the reward for it and neither will the person you helped survive, but atleast you were able to make a difference. In the grand scheme of things, it’s the little things that count.
Never Let Anyone Intimidate You
Liesel’s father was sent off to serve the army during a recruitment phase. There he was a man every loved, except for one particular guy who despised him. The guy’s idiotic disposition cost him his life. He argued to get a front seat and pushed Liesel’s father off the seat who without a fight, went to the back seat. Little did they both know that the bus would meet an accident and only the man sitting at that spot would lose his life. Lesson learnt? Arguing with people who make your life miserable is a waste of your own precious energy. Let them meet their fate.
You Can Never be too Prepared for Life
We are always taught to be prepared, to assess the un-foreseen, to gauge risks and prevent them. Yet, we can never be too prepared for it. The alarm didn’t ring the day the bomb dropped on the town. There was no warning and there was no running to a shelter. Everyone died in their sleep. Their months and weeks of preparation went to waste. We can’t ever be too prepared for life. We can only live each day as it comes.
Why is this Book Important in this Day and Age?
Because this is mankind’s best age in history — and yet the most dangerous. We are technologically advanced, we’ve beaten life-threatening diseases (and continue to do so) and we’ve heightened our education rate. The cost of all this is the gradual decrease of compassion and empathy. While we are mightily successful, we’ve unconsciously agreed to be nihilists because it’s so much easier to pretend to know nothing than to care. We may have a thousand friends on our social channels, but we may be agonisingly lonely. We may have everything, yet nothing. On the other hand, there are books like these that show us the unpredictability of life and the consequences of our actions and of human hate, jealousy and misuse of power. The war we inflict on each other, the hate we allow to control our thoughts results in tragedy and destruction.
After having read the Book Thief, I think I’ve begun to appreciate life more. I’ve begun to look past the troubles and work for the best. Sure, I falter sometimes; sure I even fail at being hopeful but deep down I know that life’s too short to worry. Life is now — love while you still can, and be happy while you still can. Because remember, Death is haunted by humans.
