There are two major themes in this novel. One is how kind and how cruel people are capable of being. Everyone has two sides to them and Liesel realizes this throughout the book. Even some of the nicest people in the novel have a cruel side to them. Just like how some of the meanest characters have a nice side to them. Some of this nicest people; including Hans, Max, and Rudy, and they all have a mean side that is brought to the surface at least one for each of them. Hans, one of Liesel’s most favorite of people, hits her. It only happened once but went something like this, “He clenched his eyes. Then opened them. He slapped Liesel Meminger squarely in the face,” (Zusak 116). It was quite unexpected coming from one of the kindest men in the novel. However, he is not the only one where a kind person has revealed their small cruel side. Max Vandenburg, the Jewish man in the basement that quickly becomes close with Liesel, fights for fun and also left his family behind. He was a boxer, because he enjoyed it. Also, his last memory of his family is their faces on the day he had to leave them. It haunts him, their expressions and the fact that when he went back for them they were all gone. A different side than the loving, friendly, unselfish man that is him now. One last person we see the not so nice side of is Rudy Steiner, Liesel’s best friend. Liesel and Rudy steal things together, such as food and books. However, one day Liesel and Rudy see this boy, Otto Sturm, and develop a plan to steal his food. They make the road slippery so he falls off his bike and they steal the food. At first they think he is dead, which he is not, and they still run off with his food. Nice people can be cruel, but maybe not as cruel as naturally cruel people like Hitler and the Nazis. Another major theme of this novel is the “power of words” (Zusak 147). Liesel slowly discovers the power of words throughout the book. She learns how much words can hurt people like with the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann, and how much they can comfort people, like during the bombings while she read out loud in the basement. She learns how persuading words can be, like during the speech given by the Nazi on Hitler’s birthday and how everyone is convinced by what he is saying. Also, how dangerous they can be, having to do with Hitler as well and how you must always speak good of him in public. There is also the aspect of secrets. Nobody in this novel tells the entire truth. Liesel could have told Rudy how she felt before he died. Someone could have found out about Max hiding in the Hubermann basement. Even Liesel’s mother didn’t tell her the real reason she could no longer take care of them. Just some simple words could change so much.