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Amazon.ca describes this book as a "dark and powerfully absorbing novel, brilliantly executed". It's narrator calls it "just as small story, really." Jump in with both feet and surrender to one of the most gripping, unusual, hilarious books I've read in years. It's a book about books, about hate, about love, and about how words can be our most powerful weapons.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Characters
Here's where you can post about the various characters. Who are they? What do you know about them? How do they act? How are they connected? How do they change?
In the novel, Hans acts like a protector for Liesel. Not only is he the father figure in her life, but he also plays the role of a close friend. Examples of this are how he keeps her secrets about the books she has stolen and by going out of his way and staying up late each night teaching her how to read. Since the very beginning of the book, Liesel has had a strong connection with Hans and trusts him in ways that she cannot even trust her best friend, Rudy. (Ex- Max staying in her home)
Death as a character was very grim towards the beginning of the story, but he did mention that he could be cheerful. Throughout the story you begin to view him as more of a person and less of an entity, he has a personality and a sense of humor. He is amused by human activities and remarks and can even feel pity for people. I think as we continue reading we will find that there is more to death than we thought.
Rudy, is a very brave, and young character. He stands up for Tommy at Hitler Youth. He is also brave because of his sad, and mostly failed attempts to get Liesel to kiss him. Personally, I think that if a boy that age wanted to kiss a girl, he wouldn't flat out ask for one. He would probably sheepishly hide and probably avoid Liesel, but he is persistant and everytime he is shot down, instead of fearing rejection he embraces it, and each time continues to ask. Another example of Rudy's bravery is when he leaves Liesels shoes in the Mayors house, and goes back to get them, chancing being caught.
From what I have read, death cannot be seen or interact with humans. I think that he knows that humans can never see him but he keeps on wishing someone does so he won’t be lonely and might have at least one friend. Death in my perspective is a very lonely depressing person who doesn’t enjoy his job but also doesn’t hate it, he just realises that he is the only one who can do it, so he does it and acts how someone who takes peoples souls should act.
Hans is the best character in the book, so far. He is like that cool uncle, but he's your dad. He lets Liesel get away with things normal parents wouldn't. He always empathizes with Liesel, never judging her. He doesn't judge that she wets the bed after a nightmare, or that she takes books. He realizes she can't help the bed wetting, and he knows how much Liesel loves the books, and I think he lets her steal the books because he feels bad he can't buy them for her. I also think he loves Liesel more than his biological son. He wants to connect with her the way he can't with his son.
I thnk that Rosa is a very interesting character. You would not want to be the subject of her wrath but I imagine that watching her go at someone else would be hilarious. She seems to be the type of character that you would find annoying in daily life but would be invaluable in a crisis.
Ilsa Hermann, the mayors wife, had a son named Johann Hermann who died on a battlefield in WW1. She doesn't want to think he was suffering in his last moments so she tells herself that he froze to death. For a mother to lose a child is one of the greatest sorrows there is and Ilsa tries to abate her grief by "making her suffering her triumph". As her self-inflicted suffering she leaves all her windows open and doesn't heat her house. In my opinion this is her way of freezing to death, of easing her guilt/sorrow. However she does have a very clear sense of what is right and wrong, in spite of being on the wrong side of the war and her letting Liesel steal her books is her way of saying sorry for having to fire Rosa. In the end she also takes Liesel in when all her family and friends are dead. It is sort of suggested that she does this against her husbands wishes because it's Ilsa who sits by Liesel and gets her as soon as she hears about the girl who survived the Himmel street bombing. The mayor isn't the main focus at all in this part and its almost as though he is disapproving of Ilsa taking in the riffraff.
Death is by far one my favorite characters in the Book Thief. I find it slightly depressing that Death doesn't have anyone to share his job or relieve him when he wants a break. It's interesting how he uses details and colors as distractions to keep himself from going completely bonkers. In the beginning of the book he explains how the soul looks when its released from the body and how each one creates a different sky or color. Its quite obvious right from the start that he has a special interest in Liesel and he even says that up until then he'd never made a mistake.(The mistake being; getting interested in living humans lives) It seems as though he follows her story to try and understand the war and all the destruction a little better. Another reason that I think is just as plausible is that he didn't want be alone anymore, and by having her story tucked into his pocket, he could read it and feel like he was there with her. In his mind, even before they met, I think that they were friends and as much as he wanted her to go on living and writing her story, he was also looking forward to the day when they would meet and he could talk to her about everything they witnessed together.
I agree with Death that Rudy can be quite stupid at times but i think that his idiotic acts are also acts of bravery and having been better executed could have resulted in much more desirable outcomes. For instance, the time he threw a rock at Franz Deutscher, now THAT was stupid but he did hold his ground and let the Hitler Youth leader know that he wasn't afraid of him. Another example of Rudy's bravery was when he saw Liesel getting whipped in the street and as soon as she made the decision that nearly cost her life/ would have gotten her a horrible beating, he tackled her and held her to the ground until the Jews were out of sight. In my eyes, this incident not only shows his bravery (to hold Liesel down would not be an easy thing to do) but also that he is a very good friend and a reliable one at that. Also, on the subject of his stupidity, if Rudy wanted to steal a potato or any other type of food, he should NEVER go for the biggest one. I can't see the bravery in that one but the other two, it definitely took some guts to do that. Not going to the Hitler Youth meetings was out of kindness for Tommy because if Tommy had kept going he would surely have gotten whooped many more times and the laps around the field were not the best thing for boys on the brink of starvation to do. Thankfully, on that occasion his older brother intervened and with some luck got both boys into the airforce hitler youth? I'm not sure what it was called... Anyway Rudy, while stupid, does have his occasions where his iodiocy becomes bravery.
Hans is potrayed as a saint in the story and I think that it is because Zusak is trying to show that not all germans were evil Nazis bent on Jew killing. I think that he was trying to show a side to Nazi germany that we do not get to see by using Hans Hubermann to express the opinions of those who did not agree with Hitler. He is trying to demonstrate that they were human as well.
Hans is a character in this book that is portrayed as a nice guy. He always tries his best to help everyone as best he can. He does this by helping Liesel with reading her books, helped that Jewish man that was on the ground by giving him bread and painting other people's windows for a low price. In my opinion, the author did this to show that there are still Germans that can make a difference and help the Jews, even in the roughest times. Like in the parade, Hans helped the man by giving him a piece of bread, even though he was scared that the Nazis would later come after him. So this goes to show that taking courage to help someone can make a big difference just like what Hans does every time.
The character that stands out the most for me is Liesel and she is obviosly the main protagonist character in the book. In my oppinion there must be something special about Liesel if Death is following her. One thing that stands out about Liesel to me is that she is very mysterious and has many sides to her. she seems like a nice, sweet and inocent girl that has been through alot like her parents being taken away from her and her brother dying but really she acts very taugh. She also appears as tough because she has a tom boyish appereance and has beaten up two boys. I think she truly is kind but she feels that she has to act strong and look strong to hide her fear and lonelynees. I think she also feels weak and lonely because she has lost her bilogical parents and her only sibling and now her life has totally changed unexpectingly. She has a very strict and agressive foster mother, very little to eat at home and she is in the middle of a war. I think she is stealing books and food to hide her pain to make her feel like she has something for herself and to prove herself she is worthy and strong. Although i am not really far in the book i have noticed a huge change in her character. She is becoming a criminal, which could be a reason why Death is following her. I get alittle confused as i am reading because there is so many people dieing during war, terrible disasters are happening and people are dieing nomatter how kind or mean they are but Liesel is a thief and a criminal and she has not get caught or has died.....yet for her actions. To me people who do bad things usually get it back somehow in return, i guese she has someone looking over her shoulder. I like that Liesel was not an outcast. She immediately became known and became a best friend to a boy named Rudy when she moved to Molching. I am interested to read more about her character and how she deals with problems around her during this terrible time.
Rosa was a character that was known for her big mouth and over reacting to almost anything. With the arrival of Max at the household Rosa really changed, she became very calm and on top of the situation although she was still the same Rosa she was much calmer. A comment from Death “An attribute of Rosa Hubermann, she was a good woman for a crisis.”
Liesel seems like she's a shy girl, but at the same time she's very optimistic. When Max arrives at their home, she avoids him for a while but soon warms up to him. She was optimistic in the situation because even though he was a Jew, she still believed he would be someone she could confide in with her nightmares. Because they had their nightly nightmares in common, they could relate and it was easier for Liesel to understand and befriend Max, a Jew.
Max changes constantly throughout the story from Jewish fist fighter to quiet, scared shadow to someone Liesel can count on to tell her the hard truths. When Max first enters Death's narrative he is already the scared shadow of a man but he flashes back to when he fought in the street and got back up after every beating. In my opinion, while Max is portrayed as terrified during most of the novel, he has a heart of gold. Max's sketches are his way of letting out the anger he feels towards Hitler and eventually become his way of telling Liesel a bit of how one person can become so feared and worshiped by thousands of people that they will do things they know are wrong.
Rudy is the type of character in this book who tries to do the bravest acts of courage all throughout the story. For example, he went ahead and gave the Jewish people on the street in the third parade bread, because he saw that they were starving. He gave the bread even though he saw what had happened to Liesel's foster dad(Hans). Another example would be when he went to the farm and tried to steal some fruits from the farmer. He could have been caught but he went anyway. My last example was when he was about to attempt to kill Hitler. He did not just because of Liesel, so he backed off. In all of these examples, he showed acts of courage by going beyond what a normal person would do.
On page 198, upon looking at a new stranger that has arrived in her house (who we know is Max Vandenburg) and at her foster parents who seem to know what is going on, Leisel wonders "Who were these people?". This is in reference to her foster parents, and it is interesting that in that moment, with a strange man in her house whom she knows nothing about, Leisel chooses to question her foster parents. Not the complete stranger, but the two people she's been living with for quite some time. It is interesting to me that she does this; I think it gives us some insight into the kind of person that Leisel is - how she thinks sort of and what she holds importiant.
I found that the difference between Aurthur Berg and Viktor Chemmel is immense and somewhat terrifying. The first leader of the "thieves" was fair and if you had been caught on a fence, Aurthur would have gone back for you. The second boy was already well fed and had a sadistic streak. He wouldn't spare a second glance over his shoulder if you got left behind. Liesel notices the difference in the two as soon as she meets Viktor and so does Rudy. I think the author did this to show you that there are people who steal to live, and then there are people who steal for because they're genuinely bad, for a little thrill, or for greed. Viktor is one of the latter and its quite apparent that Aurthur was the former. Before his exit in the story- as he moves to Cologne- he gives Liesel and Rudy a bag of chestnuts as a parting gift. Viktor would not have done that and in fact, the first and last time they steal with him, he throws them a withered old apple as their share of the loot. I thought it was a major contrast from Aurthur who gave them a dozen apples to share. This contrast also seemed to apply to the Germans in general, like it was a physical example of the fact that there were Nazis who enjoyed their work and Nazis who did it because they wanted to survive and this was what they needed to do to ensure that.
Ilsa Hermann, is a character in this book that is kind of careless. One reason is that she always allows Liesel to just walk in and not notify her. But when she did find out that Liesel was coming in regularly, Ilsa only sent a letter that said I hope you will tell me next time that you come in. She did not care if she comes in or not without telling her. Another example would be that she didn't care about keeping Rosa as a worker. She just fired her not thinking about how much more they need to work to get money and how many other people are left to actually hire them.
Rosa Hubermann is Leisel's foster mother. Rosa is very abusive towards Leisel with the wooden spoon and abusive language. Also Rosa is always scolding and criticizing Leisel.
Max is a character in this novel that is very nice and respectful to almost everyone. The Germans think that he is not a nice guy just because he is Jewish. But his actions throughout the book, prove that is a very nice guy. For example, when he first moved into the home, he was always quiet when he slept so that he wouldn't wake up Liesel and disturb her. Another example would be when he actually cared about Liesel when he saw her in the parade. He tried to stop her from being seen with him so that the guards don't hurt her. But she didn't listen and she got hurt anyway. Another example of Max being nice was when he left the Hubbermans home so that they wouldn't jeopardize his safety and the Hubbermans. This was very nice of him to do for that family, considering that the Nazis are looking all over for him.
Of all of the characters in the book, I think that Max is the most brave and selfless. It would take a lot of courage to abandon the relative saftey of the Hubermann's basement and walk back out into the dangers of Nazi germany. What I think really defines his character though is that he left not because he was worried that he would be found after Hans' actions at the parade of Jews, but because he was worried about what would happen to Liesel and the Hubermann's if he was found in their basement. To put the good of others above your own life like he did is quite admirable (at least in my opinion).
I love getting to know Max. I was wondering how a book about WWII without a jewish perspective. He had my attention when he had the daydream about his fight with Hitler and then said he won to Liesel. I think he said he won because he could stand on his own but Hitler needed everyone to beon his side. This intrepritation shows how strong a jewish person had to be in those hard times.
Liesel is a character in this book that is really interesting because she is one of the few characters in this story that actually accepts things even in the worst circumstances. For example, at first she did not like Max at first, but later on she accepted that she has to live with him even if he is a Jew. Another example of her accepting things was when she accepted the fact that she couldn't read. She didn't discourage herself, instead she worked hard and actually read with her parents and later became a very good reader. Another example of acceptance from Liesel was when she accepted the fact that she could not see her father anymore because he was helping in the war, she didn't cry about it or anything. Acceptance is a good trait about Liesel because a lot of the other characters would not accept the fact that something new happened. One example would be her mother. She never accepts anything new, instead she always gets mad. For example, when she was fired from the mayor, she was all mad about what happened.
Death's character is really different then most characters in other books. Although we don’t know Death, he gives us clues to his appearance and the way he writes to us is slowly making me understand him a little more. Death's character helps the book make more sense but puts a dark side to the book. In my opinion Death does not have a job he lives for what he does. Without people dying he would not be here, so he does not really have a job, besides living. As we know Death cannot be seen, but the author makes Death's character as real as a human. I have noticed that Death asks many questions, but the thing is no-one could answer them. Death answers his own questions, which to me is really weird. I think death is portraying this book to be really suspenseful, but detailed cause Death knows what is going to happen. He has all the power in the book and is keeping us on our seats. I don’t think Death has really changed besides it’s like he is getting more excited and detailed as I read probably because he is excited to tell the ending of the story and is getting ready for the conclusion.
I think Hans is an amazing character and well put together, he seems to be more of a best friend to Liesel than anything else even though he is much older. An example of this would be when they made promises to each other. Liesel stole another book and somewhat felt comfortable telling Hans about it then suggesting not to tell Rosa. Hans then asked Liesel to keep all of his secrets he ever tells her.
Rosa Hubberman, is one of my favourite characters. She is the typical German women in some ways, because of the way she speaks, calling people sakeurl, and etc. But although she has a hard outershell, inside she seems more scared, and compassionate. An example of this is when Rosa, Hans, Liesel and everyone else are hiding in the celler. Liesel is holding Rosa's hand and Liesels hand is getting squished by Rosas. Although Rosa seems tough on the outside, on the inside shes just as scared as the rest of them.
I think rosa is the person that keeps everybody in order. without her hans and liesel would do as they please and would live happyly ever after, but then there would be no story so from what ive read rosa has caused hans and liesel to keep secrets about the grave diggers handbook and it makes the story more interesting.
I really like the character Erik Vandenburg. He saved Hans life. He heard the gun fire around them and nobely volunteered Hans to do the job of writing letters. He didn't want his friend to get hurt or die, like he and the rest of the group did on that very day.
In the story, I think Leisel has three main parts to her being happy. Books, Hans and Rudy. Learning how to be able to read books made Leisel quite happy because then she was able to read “The Grave Diggers Handbook” and she was able to move up into her own grade level instead of having to learn with kindergartners. The more she works on her reading with Hans, the better and better she gets and the happier she gets because it’s just that many more books she can read. Hans is also a contributor to Leisel’s happiness. The reason for this is because in her home, he is really the only one who shows affection and gives attention to Leisel. Hans is really the only one in the house who seems like he is there for Leisel, at whatever time she needs. Another character that contributes to Leisel’s happiness would be Rudy. Rudy will stick up for Leisel when the other kids are making fun of her, and he is always looking to make Leisel happy. In my opinion, these are the three contributions to Leisel’s happiness.
One character that sticks out to me is Rudy. He is so free-spirited and loves a challenge. When he meets Liesel, he asks for a kiss and she declines but this doesn’t stop Rudy from still asking many times in the future which shows his perseverance. He also rebels in the Jesse Owens incident and when he and Liesel and the gang of boys go to steal from the apple tree which shows how he loves a challenge. Whenever he’s around Liesel, he seems to make her happy. I love how they pick on each other in a joking way and always seem to be there for each other.
I think Rosa is a main contributor to the Hubermann house hold because I think that even though Rosa comes off a little harsh most times, all she wants is the best for everyone, for example, when she takes Max in when he needs. She gives him a place to sleep, and feeds him as much as she feeds everyone else.
Death seems to be the kind of person who is well read and takes alot of time to notice other people and how they feel. He gives a vary anti social and lonley tone when he speaks but also seems really intelligent. I think death is trying to find out things about himself through lisiel but he also seems to have a vary hard time seeing things of hwt he feels and truly loves.
Max Vandenburg is a 23 year old Jewish man who hides in the basement of the Hubermann's. Growing up he was a fighter and would never back down from no one. In the book Max shares common interests with Liesel by sharing their experienced nightmares which brings them closer as friends.
I think that Hans Hubermann is a very special character in the novel. The reason I think this is because he is a very compassionate, caring person. He is always there for Leisel, whether it is when she wakes up in the middle of the night or when he reads with her. He cares for everyone and doesn’t judge people based on their religion or race. Hans is willing to help and support and help all people.
Hans Hubermann is an important character to the novel. He is portrayed as the nice father towards Leisel. Leisel can really trust Hans and she knows that he is always there for her when she needs him. Hans is caring, loving and understanding towards Leisel. For example when she wanted to learn how to read, Hans stayed up at night and took time to help teach her. Hans is always there to comfort Leisel when she needs it, like in the middle of the night when she gets nightmares. He is someone Leisel can always count on.
I totally agree with Victoria that Hans is a very caring guy in the novel. Like she said, he doesn't judge according to race or religion. This is proven in the book because Hans Hubberman let a Jewish person live in his home, even though the Nazis are looking all over for him. He gave a lot of support for Max as well as he treated him like any other human being.
Although there isn't much in the book about Frau Diller, I find her rather irritating. That, of course, is only my opinion. She's not necesarily an irritating character, it's more the fact that she seems so cold and stoney, and makes everyone "heil hitler" or she won't serve them.(Yes, I purposely uncapitalized hitler, he doesn't deserve to be capitalized.) Also, she seems to look down on children, like when Rudy and Liesel come in to buy candy, and she knew they didn't have enough for more than one, and she pretended to get them some, but she did it meanly. Then, once Rudy and Liesel had enough money, she seemed dissapointed that she couldn't be mean again. Perhaps that's just the way she is with everyone though.
I think Max is one of my favourite characters, if not my top favourite. I like him because he's a curious character, in the way that he's very imaginative and creative, and he doubts himself even though he's really kind and caring and a lot stronger than he believes himself to be. Like Kyle said, he wouldn't back down from anyone. Not the Fuher. Not the Nazis. Not people he had/has to fight. Not even himself. I like how he can connect with Liesel so much, and that they share their nightmares and the power of words with each other, and continually give each other gifts. Even though he feels guilty about leaving his family behind, and for putting the Hubermanns in danger, for wanting to stay alive, he is still considerate of those people. He thinks about his family, and wishes that he could've held on to them, and in a way, the fact that he is so remorseful for even wanting to leave without them is a sort of an apology. He tries to be as discreet as possible while living with the Hubermanns, never doing more than he needs to in order to keep his prescence unknown. He tries to give back for the things he has taken. Another thing I like about him is how he gives up living with the Hubermanns after putting them in serious danger, even though it's more dangerous for him and he has a much higher chance of dying, which shows how selfless he really is.
At the point of the book I'm at, the character Rosa is being a boss. There is no other way to describe how cool she is being. I loved the part when Rosa stormed into Liesel's school and started screaming at her about the hair brush. At that point you start feeling horrible for Liesel because her foster mother is freaking out about something Liesel didn't do. However, then she whispers to Liesel that Max had woken up, and we see a side of her that we haven't really seen previously. We see a side of Rosa that is capable of joking around and having fun, and it was fun to see how she changed.
To me, Rudy is portrayed as a typical boy. He loves sports, as he is always running around playing soccer or running track, and he even pretends to be his favorite athletes. It's also funny how he always asks Liesel for a kiss, and he even performs valiant tasks for her, like jumping into the river to save her book. On the outside he acts tough, but on the inside he really cares about Liesel.
I think that Max and Liesel's (as well as the rest of the Hubermanns) friendship is very important to the novel. They are both from different backgrounds and are forbidden to communicate because of government rules, but they continue to do so while just keeping their relationship a secret. The Hubermanns are being very courageous by keeping Max hidden inside their basement and realize what would be done to Max if they do not protect him, along with what would be done to the Hubermanns for hiding him. As well, Max is very thankful and appreciative of what the Hubermann's are doing for him, and trys his best to repay them, though he has nothing. He creates gifts for Liesel with what little he has, and acts as an older brother to her.
Max seems like a character with a lot of motivation. He traveled very far to get to the Hubermann’s house while taking many risks getting there. He knew that the only chance at his life would be finding a home to hide in so this motivated him. While he is living in their basement, he begins doing push ups and sit ups to try and gain some strength and imagines fighting Hitler in a boxing ring. He later lets Liesel cut his hair for him because he trusts her most with his looks. Even though Rosa mentions that he will never be seen by anyone, I think that he secretly thinks that one day this will all be over and he will be able to live a normal life. If he didn’t believe this, I don’t think he would be trying to survive. If I was in his position and thought I’d never get out, I’d honestly probably rather be dead than have to live my whole life in a cold basement, alone and hated by so many.
I'm really intersted in why the mayor's wife acts the way she does. She seems like a complex character and everytime Liesel is with her, it seems as if she's hiding something. When Rosa got fired by the mayor and his wife, and Liesel came back to tell of the mayor's wife it seemed like she was extremely dissapointed or sad; like there's something much more important going on that Liesel can't and won't understand. I think this character is very mysterious and I'm interested to see what happans when and if Liesel runs into her again.
I think that Max is an original character in the book. The reason I think this is because he is fearless. He will not back down from a fight with anyone, no matter the age, height or size of the person. He is also willing to do anything to live. I say this because although he is Jewish, he was given a German ID card from one of his friends so he could stay alive. Although this plan might backfire, he went with it and is risking his life to live a little bit longer. Although he is a very “tough” character, he is also very caring and can relate too many of the other characters; such as Leisel. Leisel and Max share a connection due to the fact that they have nightmares every night about losing someone they loved and cared about. Whether that would be Leisel and losing the life of her brother on the train, or Max having nightmares about his family that he had to leave behind, or other things such as Hitler. They share this in common. This is what I think about Max.
Adding on Natalie's comment, I think that the friendship between Max and Liesel portrays a very good message meant from the book. Liesel is German and Max is Jewish. So the friendship between these two different opposing sides gives the message of that peace can still occur even in the roughest of times. So for Germans to come together with Jews is a big step in society because it is hard to let go of something that you are in control of. Like the torturing, stealing and humiliating of Jews. Since this friendship occurred with Liesel and Max it can happen with the rest of Germany.
I think that Rudy is a very caring character in the novel. The reason why I say caring would be because he cares for Leisel, and all the other people around him. One of the people he cares about is Leisel. The reason why I say this is because they are really good friends and he would stick up for her, no matter who is being mean to her. For example, when she first came to Molching, during one of the soccer games all of the kids were being mean to her. She was getting angry at this, but Rudy stuck up for her and told the other kids to leave her alone. He also cares about his family because he went with the older boys and Leisel to “get” different vegetables to feed his family. Leisel and Rudy also hurt a child to get his food (speck, vegetables....). This is why I think Rudy is a very caring person.
I feel like in a way Liesel and Death are some how connected because Death pretty much does not leave her alone, it's like he could be attached to her with out meaning to. They could possibly have been related ? depending on how old death really is. A father was never really mentioned for Liesel so maybe that could somehow be a connection ?
I think Max is a very important character because he grew a bond with the Hans family and he, living in a Jew’s house teaches a few messages in the story and helps develop a mood and tone. Throughout the whole entire book Max has always been on a thread to live. He has fought and fought his whole life to live and he has not giving up and hopefully he won’t. Max went through many fights, starvation and the guilt for leaving his family to try and save himself. Max is very strong to be able to stay strong after all he has been through. I think Max also feels bad for putting Hans’s family in danger, and he would do whatever they say to live. I think so far Max has not changed besides for the fact of feeling more comfortable around another family. Max is a great influence in this story and if he dies I don’t think Death’s point would be clear. I think one of Death’s points were to not give up and do whatever you can to become a better person or in this case live and take chances. I can’t wait to read more about Max and I hope he lives in the end.
In beginning, Rosa Hubermann comes across as cold and cruel. Once Max comes, she softens up a bit and isn`t as harsh. Although her character changes quite a bit, she still uses harsh language whenever she has the excuse. Throughout the story, we understand her better and that her aggresiveness and abuse isn`t meant as a bad thing but is her way of showing affection to those she cares for and loves most. (Most of the time.)
Max changes alot from when he first came to the Hubermann house. Max was shy, and loiked to stare at Leisel. Throughtout the times he is at the Hubermann house Max grows a special bond between him and Leisel. The bond is created by on Max, Leisel, and Hans sitting by the fire, reading and Max telling stories. One of the greatest bonds and how Max changes is on Leisels birthday she gives Max a hug and Max feels warm and cared for. Max goes from being scared and lonely, to growing to a caring, more happy as a friend person.
I think that Hans Hubermann is my favourite character. He is so good with Liesel and Max and he just does such a good job at being a parent. Even though his real son doesn’t really like him, he took Liesel into his own hands and treated her as if she was his own. And what I like the most about him is the fact that he isn’t for Hitler. He still helped Jewish people even after Hitler declared that they had to be banished and that Jews were bad people. I think that Hans taking care of Max is such a brave and noble thing to do because he himself knows that he could get taken away or killed but he made a promise to a friend and Hans intends to keep it. We also see how good of a man Hans is when the Jewish people are parading and there is a sick man dying and Hans goes to help him. The soldiers are right there, but Hans still does it because he is such a good person and knows this man needs help.
My thoughts on Liesel changed a lot throughout the book. At first I thought she was just a shy little girl who was very scared of all the things going on in her life. But when she became more comfortable with her new parents, and life, she opened up more and became more of an outgoing girl. Liesel is actually quite an amazing girl. She saw her own brother die, had to live with random strangers, took care of a Jewish person and her foster dad got taken away from her. Even though all of this happens Liesel still manages to have some fun and she does not get depressed or anything. This shows that she is a strong girl and can handle what life throws at her. I actually think any child that can go through war times with a smile on their face is a VERY brave individual and Liesel did just that. I don't know how someone could do that, but Liesel does it and I wish I could be more like her in some ways.
Hans Hubermann, in my opinion makes, some big changes throughout the story. In the beginning he comes across as a bit of a coward, when Death describes his service for the war. He also is also portrayed to be unintelligent, with his low education and he seems to be the type of man who wouldn’t stand up for what he believes in. When times begin to get tough, Hans shows his true nature. He shows his intelligence in his painting job and proves he’s not afraid to stand up to others when he gives the bread to the Jewish man, even if it was quite foolish.
Rudy Steiner is Liesel's best friend. He is well known for painting his face black with charcoal and running around a track and field track acting like Jesse Owens. He is also motivated throughout the whole novel by trying to impress Liesel and recieve a kiss from her.
Erik Vandenburg is Max's father who served in World War 1. Erik saved Hans' life by volunteering him to do a writing assingment on the day everyone else in the regiment are killed battle.
Liesel Meminger is nine years old, when her younger brother died and she is given to Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of Molching by her mother. Liesel is mentally destroyed by her brother's death and abandonment of her mother, but Hans proves to be an awesome loving foster parent were on the other hand Rosa seems to be an evil person who treats liesel like crap. As the book progresses liesel learns to read and write with some help from Hans. From just this information I have understood that Liesel is a very determined, brave, courageous little girl who can usually make the best out of situations.
Max is an important character to the novel. Because Max is Jewish, he is very vulnerable, scared and quiet. He has lost alot of people in his life, like his family and old friends. Now he has to be stuck down in the cold basement of the Hubermanns all day so nobody sees him. I think Max must feel very alone because he has nobody to lean on through this hard time in his life. The Hubermanns are the only ones Max can really depend on for his safety.
Frau Ilsa Hermann is actually very different than what I was expecting. Considering she's the mayors wife, I thought that she would be super strict and yell at Liesel for doing the things that she did. But when she allowed Liesel to come in and read in her library I was super surprised, I was even more surprised when she was okay with Liesel stealing her books. Although this surprised me, it also made me really happy and I started to like Illsa. Even though she is super quiet whenever Liesel is around you can tell that she likes Liesel because of how she allows her to read and steal and the fact that she came to Liesel's house that last time also showed that she cared about Liesel. Even though she isn't really a main character, I think that Ilsa is important because her house is where the book theif steals all her books from.
Rudy Steiner makes a lot of development throughout the story; in the beginning he is viewed as a crazy child obsessed with Jesse Owens. You begin to view him differently as the story progresses. He is very determined and gifted as he showed in the Hitler Youth carnival, winning three gold medals. Rudy is obviously a very loyal friend to Liesle Meminger and Tommy Muller standing up for both on more than one occasion. As Death said Rudy did not deserve to die the way he did, at least not at that age. In my opinion Rudy had the potential to accomplish great things, and would have, had he survived and had this story not been fiction.
Rudy Steiner is another one of my favourite characters. Even though he did some crazy things and didn't think properly at times, like the Jesse Owens incident, and trying to find his dad, etc., he was just a kid. Rudy was Liesel's best friend and he was the boy who became friends with the new kid. He showed her around and instantly they became friends. The thing about Rudy that sticks out the most to me is how even though Liesel made a fool of herself and threw herself into the Jews at Max, Rudy was still there to help her off the ground. That really shows me that he doesn't care about what other people think and he loves Liesel no matter what. He may have been a crazy kid but Rudy Steiner was still an outstanding person.
Liesle Meminger is a character that has been put through many hardships from an early age. She is a very adaptable and resilient person, and although she was put through all these hardships she managed to stay strong and pull on through. She had even to come to terms with some of her losses, like the loss of her brother. She lived her life to its fullest and was in my opinion a good person, despite her criminal ways. Her story even interested Death enough to carry it around with him for all those years.
I think the death of Liesel's brother has not weakened her, but made her so much stronger. Altough the novel had described her as traumatized about his death, it has inspired her to become mature and behave in a way that a grown up would, keeping in mind she was only 9 years old when the story was being told. She understood the situation that was going on in Germany, and accepted it and tried her best to help, for example the time when she helped Max, a Jewish man to get back up on his feet. The death of her brother inspired her to write a story about her life and who she is. She wrote the story to take out her emotions in hope someone would read it and help in the fight against the war.
Rosa Hubermann had to be one of the strongest women in any book. She went through so much in her life including Max's illness, Hans' conscription, and the air raids. Even though the events took a part on her and beat her down, she was still able to maintain order in the household. I think Rosa is a good woman and deserves everyone's appreaciation and respect.
The story of Rudy is so sad and emotional. Rudy is motivated throughout the novel by his love for Liesel; at one point he retrieves Liesel's book from the icy cold river and asks her for a kiss. By the end of the novel, Liesel has come to love Rudy as well. Unfortunatelly, Rudy dies in a air raid at the end of the novel, and Liesel kisses his corpse.
I think anyone who doesn't appreaciate Liesel's parents choice of giving her up doesn't understand their point of view. They knew what would happen; Liesel's father would be taken away by the Nazis for being a Communist, and Paula would meet the same fate. As Liesel comes to realize, by giving her daughter away, Paula saves her from persecution.
Frau Ilsa Hermann, I believe, is very important to the events of this novel and her presence not only adds mystery but excitement to the story. Liesel is interested, but seems to be almost scared of her- Why didn't she say anything about the stolen books? Why does she not talk about her son? I think that it's not only the need for more books to be read that brings Liesel back time and time again to the mayor's home, but the curiosity of finding out more about Frau.
Ilsa Hermann (The mayor's wife) played a huge part in this book. She gave liesel a huge amount of reading material and I imagine increased liesels literacy by a lot. Ilsa spent several years mourning the death of her son Johann. In my mind if I was her I would want to tell liesel about Johann and also if I was liesel I don’t know how I couldn’t ask about Johann. The relationship that Ilsa and liesel started off with was just based on books and reading but eventually turned into much more. I think that Ilsa was afraid of befriending liesel because she kept on thinking of Johann and did not want to lose another person so close to her.
Rosa is another character that I had mixed feelings about. At the beginning she seemed harsh and rude but by the end of it I had grown too really like Rosa. She's German, so she uses those harsh words and I also finally realize that she does really love Liesel and Hans. Even though she can be rude to Liesel, she is still an excellent mother and very caring. When Max wakes up and she goes to Liesel's school pretending to yell at her shows that Rosa does have some sense of humor and she does care about Max. I didn't think she'd be okay with having Max stay with them because he's Jewish but she ended up being okay with it and that surprised me. Rosa just uses a different way to show her love, instead of compliments and showing affection, she yells at Hans and calls him names. But, she does love him and you can tell just by exactly the names she calls him.
Rosas character is very unique. She comes off as this rude, mean, harsh person. She uses a lot of curse words but thats what can make her character funny in some ways. At first Liesel didn't understand Rosa that well, she just thought she is always like that, but when Max came to live with them, Leisel saw that Rosa does have a heart and can be very caring for someone. Now I can tell that Rosa really does love Leisel. I think Rosa shows her love for Leisel in a different way than most parents do.
Leisels character is one of the most important characters. She has lived a hard life, losing her brother and her mom giving her away to the Hubermanns, which she now really loves. Leisel also loves to read. Reading is something Hans and her do together. She can get so amazed by a book, she would do anything to get a new one, like steal them. Her character to me comes off as innocent, even though she has done some bad, shes got such a big heart. Everything that she has gone through in her life has made her stronger in so many ways.
I find Deaths character the most interesting. The way death has described his "job" makes him sound like he wishes he didn't have to be doing what he does to people. It seems like death can get bored with what he does. But the interesting part is that when people die, he seems interested in their story and doesn't just let them die for no reason. Death makes the novel more interesting and appealing to read. His character is very comical to the novel, for example when he makes comments about other characters. Before reading the book, I thought it would be a very dark and sad book to read because Death is the narrator. But my opinion has changed a lot, the book is still a bit sad, but it is mostly happy and filled with hope because death's the narrator.
One character that I find really interesting is Rudy Steiner. He seems like the kind of person who is always fun to be around and stands up for what he believes in. He also has a lot of spunk and even though he can sometimes be a little annoying, he always has good intentions. I think he's a really good friend for Liesel to have because he life has always been really stressful and Rudy is like a breath of fresh air and he has a lot of spunk. In my opinion, Rudy is one of the most interesting and funny characters in the story.
I really like Rosa as a character because she reminds me of that one family member that everyone has that's quite embarassing and really crazy but you love them anyways. Rosa loves Liesel, and even though she doesn't do it with much class, she is just trying to look out for her and do what's best for her family. She's also really funny and brings life and energy to the book, which at times, is exactly what it needs.
Reading about Hans hubermann in the book thief could not have come at a more perfect time because of some of my experiences. Last summer when i met my uncle whom i had never ever before seen we were in a little town in northern italy and i found out we were staying with my auntie and uncle whom i had never met. when the time came for me to finally have to talk to him turns out he wasn't as scary as i thought he liked a bunch of things i did and my god i love him to death and that's exactly who i think of whenever i read about Hans hubermann and how he loved liesel so much and did everything she could ever ask for. that really really really made the book for me how wise, gentle, funny and strong willed Hans is
Rudy Steiner what a guy. I think that Rudy was the perfect character for liesel to relate to, mostly at the beginning of the book when she was shy and lonley and confused. Rudy has always been outgoing and not afriad to speak his mind so he really opened liesel up and made her confortable in her new home. they are very different but oh so alike at the same time
Rudy and Liesel were mostly seen as a pair in the book. I think that Rudy's character was really necissary to accompany Liesel's because I think that Liesel did not have much depth. Liesel did not really evolve at any point except to enjoy books once she could read and to fall in love with Rudy. Rudy, on the other hand, was a far more interessting character. He had a strange back-story (the Jesse Owens incident) and showed different attributes at different times. At times he stole to feed himself and at others he gave food away. Under the charge of the first Hitler youth captain he was defiant but with the second one he tried his best to impress. His personality had the minor quirks that made it realistic, which was something that, in my opinion, Liesel did not have.
I thought that Liesel's mother was an interesting character. She is a bit misterious because you never really find out about who she is or much of what happens to her after she leaves liesel. She was brave though, to send away her last child to a better place and to try to get a better life for them. This would have been in the knoledge that she probably would not see tham again and would face her misery alone.
From all the characters in the book I found that Adolf Hitler was the most interesting. You don’t hear about him much in the book but all of propaganda and actions toward the holocaust is the main antagonist. In my eyes I see Hitler as the main character because without him liesel would have just been a girl with a diary (like that’s new) and all of the things that happened in this story good and bad could be tracked back to Adolf and his decisions.
A character that I would like to talk about is Hans. I think Hans's character is different. I don't really like his charater very much because I find his character kind of weird and creepy, although he seems very nice and caring towards Liesel. He got really close fast to Liesel and usually a female adult would care more for a child. I find it wierd that in the book he is talked about alot, but i don't think he is that important. He doesn't really teach a lesson, but that is why I find it wierd because the author choose his character to seem sensetive but actualy talented and strong inside. I don't quite understand why the author choose Hans to be the mysterious character. To me sence I am not quite done the book it seems like their is something that Hans is not telling us about himself or like he is hidding something.
Ilsa Hermann is a different character, a type of character I haven't seen much of in books I have read. She obviously really loved and misses her son, so I think she wanted to transfer some of her love for her son to Liesel. Liesel clearly had a very rough time in her life even though she was very young, and Ilsa Hermann wanted to give her something in her life that she really loved. I also really liked how she still cared for Liesel even after she blew up and yelled at her.
Rosa Huberman is the type of character that changes throughout the book. She is also the type of character that you change your opinion about very often and she has many sides that developed through the book. She seems very hard-headed, tough and mean, especially to Liesel, but I think she is doing that to show her affection towards Liesel. I think she is truly soft inside, but has a hard time showing and expressing her feelings. I think she obviously has a heart because she was putting herself in danger for having a Jew hidden in her house. I think she learned something and changes in the book. I think without Max, Rosa would not of changed because I think Max brought out her love more and I think she learned how to show her feelings in other ways rather than just being over protective by being aggressive. I think going through Max almost dying and living in fear made her realize she truly loves Liesel and I think she became more loving towards her loved ones.
Ilsa Hermann was the wife of the mayor. Before the war had started, she had employed Mrs. Hubermann to do her laundry (washing, ironing). Liesel was assigned to pick up and drop off the laundry to their customers, and Ilsa was one of them. Frau Hermann had witnessed Liesel take a book from the smoldering pile of ash from the giant fire in celebration of Hitler’s birthday. She knew Liesel liked books, and invited her into her library to read some of her books. When the war started, she discontinued her partnership with the Hubermanns. Liesel could not shake the memory of the library and its walls of books. She knew that the library window was usually open and used this to her advantage. She climbed through the window and stole a book. Eventually Frau Hermann realized Liesel was coming and taking books. She gave Liesel a little black book to write in. This gift saved her life because she was so enthralled with writing her life story in it. She was in the basement writing when the unexpected air raid happened and killed everyone on Himmel Street except her. I am not sure if Ilsa’s character changes during the course of the novel. The only development I see during the novel is that we get to hear more dialogue from her, most of it with Liesel. She always is described as a quiet, isolated woman.
I love reading about Hans Hubermann, he's one of those people that always says the right thing at the right time and brightens up the whole story. He's such a strong role model for Liesel and I find it so cool how he can not only be a father to Liesel, but also a friend. If Hans Hubermann wasn't in the story it wouldn't be the same at all because he effects Liesel in a lot of positive ways and if she didn't have him, she probably wouldn't have ended up as as good of a person. He's one of the characters in the book that adds some happiness and light to the dark story line and narration.
I think Hans Hubberman is a loving father type character, one whos relaxed, and actually enjoys his family, he seems like the father who would get your out of trouble, and cut you a break. Hes understanding and caring, and very pleasent.
I like Max, because hes so concering and caring, for the family, like Liesel, he makes her a book, he actually seems to have a deep care for them. And worries about them getting introuble for harbouring him.
I think Liesel is extremly brave, she goes from a totally different word, and lives with a totally different family, by herself, after loosing her brother. Its encourging how courageous she is.
Liesel is a very interesting character. I've always thought she was a very strong person right from the beginning of the book. I think many people would admire her courage, strength, determination, and compassion. I love that she can find the little joys in life and just live in the moment no matter the conditions or what is going on, she's been through so much pain and hard times yet she always stays level-headed. Also, her caring, kind nature helps a lot of characters in the story and Liesel continually shows good character through her love for others. And even though she is very kind and caring she never fails to stand up for what she believes in which is what makes her a very good character for the story to be centered around.
In the novel, Hans acts like a protector for Liesel. Not only is he the father figure in her life, but he also plays the role of a close friend. Examples of this are how he keeps her secrets about the books she has stolen and by going out of his way and staying up late each night teaching her how to read. Since the very beginning of the book, Liesel has had a strong connection with Hans and trusts him in ways that she cannot even trust her best friend, Rudy. (Ex- Max staying in her home)
ReplyDeleteDeath as a character was very grim towards the beginning of the story, but he did mention that he could be cheerful. Throughout the story you begin to view him as more of a person and less of an entity, he has a personality and a sense of humor. He is amused by human activities and remarks and can even feel pity for people. I think as we continue reading we will find that there is more to death than we thought.
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ReplyDeleteRudy, is a very brave, and young character. He stands up for Tommy at Hitler Youth. He is also brave because of his sad, and mostly failed attempts to get Liesel to kiss him. Personally, I think that if a boy that age wanted to kiss a girl, he wouldn't flat out ask for one. He would probably sheepishly hide and probably avoid Liesel, but he is persistant and everytime he is shot down, instead of fearing rejection he embraces it, and each time continues to ask. Another example of Rudy's bravery is when he leaves Liesels shoes in the Mayors house, and goes back to get them, chancing being caught.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, death cannot be seen or interact with humans. I think that he knows that humans can never see him but he keeps on wishing someone does so he won’t be lonely and might have at least one friend. Death in my perspective is a very lonely depressing person who doesn’t enjoy his job but also doesn’t hate it, he just realises that he is the only one who can do it, so he does it and acts how someone who takes peoples souls should act.
ReplyDeleteHans is the best character in the book, so far. He is like that cool uncle, but he's your dad. He lets Liesel get away with things normal parents wouldn't. He always empathizes with Liesel, never judging her. He doesn't judge that she wets the bed after a nightmare, or that she takes books. He realizes she can't help the bed wetting, and he knows how much Liesel loves the books, and I think he lets her steal the books because he feels bad he can't buy them for her. I also think he loves Liesel more than his biological son. He wants to connect with her the way he can't with his son.
ReplyDeleteI thnk that Rosa is a very interesting character. You would not want to be the subject of her wrath but I imagine that watching her go at someone else would be hilarious. She seems to be the type of character that you would find annoying in daily life but would be invaluable in a crisis.
ReplyDeleteIlsa Hermann, the mayors wife, had a son named Johann Hermann who died on a battlefield in WW1. She doesn't want to think he was suffering in his last moments so she tells herself that he froze to death. For a mother to lose a child is one of the greatest sorrows there is and Ilsa tries to abate her grief by "making her suffering her triumph". As her self-inflicted suffering she leaves all her windows open and doesn't heat her house. In my opinion this is her way of freezing to death, of easing her guilt/sorrow. However she does have a very clear sense of what is right and wrong, in spite of being on the wrong side of the war and her letting Liesel steal her books is her way of saying sorry for having to fire Rosa. In the end she also takes Liesel in when all her family and friends are dead. It is sort of suggested that she does this against her husbands wishes because it's Ilsa who sits by Liesel and gets her as soon as she hears about the girl who survived the Himmel street bombing. The mayor isn't the main focus at all in this part and its almost as though he is disapproving of Ilsa taking in the riffraff.
ReplyDeleteDeath is by far one my favorite characters in the Book Thief. I find it slightly depressing that Death doesn't have anyone to share his job or relieve him when he wants a break. It's interesting how he uses details and colors as distractions to keep himself from going completely bonkers. In the beginning of the book he explains how the soul looks when its released from the body and how each one creates a different sky or color. Its quite obvious right from the start that he has a special interest in Liesel and he even says that up until then he'd never made a mistake.(The mistake being; getting interested in living humans lives) It seems as though he follows her story to try and understand the war and all the destruction a little better. Another reason that I think is just as plausible is that he didn't want be alone anymore, and by having her story tucked into his pocket, he could read it and feel like he was there with her. In his mind, even before they met, I think that they were friends and as much as he wanted her to go on living and writing her story, he was also looking forward to the day when they would meet and he could talk to her about everything they witnessed together.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Death that Rudy can be quite stupid at times but i think that his idiotic acts are also acts of bravery and having been better executed could have resulted in much more desirable outcomes. For instance, the time he threw a rock at Franz Deutscher, now THAT was stupid but he did hold his ground and let the Hitler Youth leader know that he wasn't afraid of him. Another example of Rudy's bravery was when he saw Liesel getting whipped in the street and as soon as she made the decision that nearly cost her life/ would have gotten her a horrible beating, he tackled her and held her to the ground until the Jews were out of sight. In my eyes, this incident not only shows his bravery (to hold Liesel down would not be an easy thing to do) but also that he is a very good friend and a reliable one at that. Also, on the subject of his stupidity, if Rudy wanted to steal a potato or any other type of food, he should NEVER go for the biggest one. I can't see the bravery in that one but the other two, it definitely took some guts to do that. Not going to the Hitler Youth meetings was out of kindness for Tommy because if Tommy had kept going he would surely have gotten whooped many more times and the laps around the field were not the best thing for boys on the brink of starvation to do. Thankfully, on that occasion his older brother intervened and with some luck got both boys into the airforce hitler youth? I'm not sure what it was called... Anyway Rudy, while stupid, does have his occasions where his iodiocy becomes bravery.
ReplyDeleteHans is potrayed as a saint in the story and I think that it is because Zusak is trying to show that not all germans were evil Nazis bent on Jew killing. I think that he was trying to show a side to Nazi germany that we do not get to see by using Hans Hubermann to express the opinions of those who did not agree with Hitler. He is trying to demonstrate that they were human as well.
ReplyDeleteHans is a character in this book that is portrayed as a nice guy. He always tries his best to help everyone as best he can. He does this by helping Liesel with reading her books, helped that Jewish man that was on the ground by giving him bread and painting other people's windows for a low price. In my opinion, the author did this to show that there are still Germans that can make a difference and help the Jews, even in the roughest times. Like in the parade, Hans helped the man by giving him a piece of bread, even though he was scared that the Nazis would later come after him. So this goes to show that taking courage to help someone can make a big difference just like what Hans does every time.
ReplyDeleteThe character that stands out the most for me is Liesel and she is obviosly the main protagonist character in the book. In my oppinion there must be something special about Liesel if Death is following her. One thing that stands out about Liesel to me is that she is very mysterious and has many sides to her. she seems like a nice, sweet and inocent girl that has been through alot like her parents being taken away from her and her brother dying but really she acts very taugh. She also appears as tough because she has a tom boyish appereance and has beaten up two boys. I think she truly is kind but she feels that she has to act strong and look strong to hide her fear and lonelynees. I think she also feels weak and lonely because she has lost her bilogical parents and her only sibling and now her life has totally changed unexpectingly. She has a very strict and agressive foster mother, very little to eat at home and she is in the middle of a war. I think she is stealing books and food to hide her pain to make her feel like she has something for herself and to prove herself she is worthy and strong. Although i am not really far in the book i have noticed a huge change in her character. She is becoming a criminal, which could be a reason why Death is following her. I get alittle confused as i am reading because there is so many people dieing during war, terrible disasters are happening and people are dieing nomatter how kind or mean they are but Liesel is a thief and a criminal and she has not get caught or has died.....yet for her actions. To me people who do bad things usually get it back somehow in return, i guese she has someone looking over her shoulder. I like that Liesel was not an outcast. She immediately became known and became a best friend to a boy named Rudy when she moved to Molching. I am interested to read more about her character and how she deals with problems around her during this terrible time.
ReplyDeleteRosa was a character that was known for her big mouth and over reacting to almost anything. With the arrival of Max at the household Rosa really changed, she became very calm and on top of the situation although she was still the same Rosa she was much calmer. A comment from Death “An attribute of Rosa Hubermann, she was a good woman for a crisis.”
ReplyDeleteLiesel seems like she's a shy girl, but at the same time she's very optimistic. When Max arrives at their home, she avoids him for a while but soon warms up to him. She was optimistic in the situation because even though he was a Jew, she still believed he would be someone she could confide in with her nightmares. Because they had their nightly nightmares in common, they could relate and it was easier for Liesel to understand and befriend Max, a Jew.
ReplyDeleteMax changes constantly throughout the story from Jewish fist fighter to quiet, scared shadow to someone Liesel can count on to tell her the hard truths. When Max first enters Death's narrative he is already the scared shadow of a man but he flashes back to when he fought in the street and got back up after every beating. In my opinion, while Max is portrayed as terrified during most of the novel, he has a heart of gold. Max's sketches are his way of letting out the anger he feels towards Hitler and eventually become his way of telling Liesel a bit of how one person can become so feared and worshiped by thousands of people that they will do things they know are wrong.
ReplyDeleteRudy is the type of character in this book who tries to do the bravest acts of courage all throughout the story. For example, he went ahead and gave the Jewish people on the street in the third parade bread, because he saw that they were starving. He gave the bread even though he saw what had happened to Liesel's foster dad(Hans). Another example would be when he went to the farm and tried to steal some fruits from the farmer. He could have been caught but he went anyway. My last example was when he was about to attempt to kill Hitler. He did not just because of Liesel, so he backed off. In all of these examples, he showed acts of courage by going beyond what a normal person would do.
ReplyDeleteOn page 198, upon looking at a new stranger that has arrived in her house (who we know is Max Vandenburg) and at her foster parents who seem to know what is going on, Leisel wonders "Who were these people?". This is in reference to her foster parents, and it is interesting that in that moment, with a strange man in her house whom she knows nothing about, Leisel chooses to question her foster parents. Not the complete stranger, but the two people she's been living with for quite some time. It is interesting to me that she does this; I think it gives us some insight into the kind of person that Leisel is - how she thinks sort of and what she holds importiant.
ReplyDeleteI found that the difference between Aurthur Berg and Viktor Chemmel is immense and somewhat terrifying. The first leader of the "thieves" was fair and if you had been caught on a fence, Aurthur would have gone back for you. The second boy was already well fed and had a sadistic streak. He wouldn't spare a second glance over his shoulder if you got left behind. Liesel notices the difference in the two as soon as she meets Viktor and so does Rudy. I think the author did this to show you that there are people who steal to live, and then there are people who steal for because they're genuinely bad, for a little thrill, or for greed. Viktor is one of the latter and its quite apparent that Aurthur was the former. Before his exit in the story- as he moves to Cologne- he gives Liesel and Rudy a bag of chestnuts as a parting gift. Viktor would not have done that and in fact, the first and last time they steal with him, he throws them a withered old apple as their share of the loot. I thought it was a major contrast from Aurthur who gave them a dozen apples to share. This contrast also seemed to apply to the Germans in general, like it was a physical example of the fact that there were Nazis who enjoyed their work and Nazis who did it because they wanted to survive and this was what they needed to do to ensure that.
ReplyDeleteIlsa Hermann, is a character in this book that is kind of careless. One reason is that she always allows Liesel to just walk in and not notify her. But when she did find out that Liesel was coming in regularly, Ilsa only sent a letter that said I hope you will tell me next time that you come in. She did not care if she comes in or not without telling her. Another example would be that she didn't care about keeping Rosa as a worker. She just fired her not thinking about how much more they need to work to get money and how many other people are left to actually hire them.
ReplyDeleteRosa Hubermann is Leisel's foster mother. Rosa is very abusive towards Leisel with the wooden spoon and abusive language. Also Rosa is always scolding and criticizing Leisel.
ReplyDeleteArthur Berg is leader of a group that allows Rudy and Leisel to join his group in which they steal food from other peoples property.
ReplyDeleteMax is a character in this novel that is very nice and respectful to almost everyone. The Germans think that he is not a nice guy just because he is Jewish. But his actions throughout the book, prove that is a very nice guy. For example, when he first moved into the home, he was always quiet when he slept so that he wouldn't wake up Liesel and disturb her. Another example would be when he actually cared about Liesel when he saw her in the parade. He tried to stop her from being seen with him so that the guards don't hurt her. But she didn't listen and she got hurt anyway. Another example of Max being nice was when he left the Hubbermans home so that they wouldn't jeopardize his safety and the Hubbermans. This was very nice of him to do for that family, considering that the Nazis are looking all over for him.
ReplyDeleteOf all of the characters in the book, I think that Max is the most brave and selfless. It would take a lot of courage to abandon the relative saftey of the Hubermann's basement and walk back out into the dangers of Nazi germany.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think really defines his character though is that he left not because he was worried that he would be found after Hans' actions at the parade of Jews, but because he was worried about what would happen to Liesel and the Hubermann's if he was found in their basement. To put the good of others above your own life like he did is quite admirable (at least in my opinion).
I love getting to know Max. I was wondering how a book about WWII without a jewish perspective. He had my attention when he had the daydream about his fight with Hitler and then said he won to Liesel. I think he said he won because he could stand on his own but Hitler needed everyone to beon his side. This intrepritation shows how strong a jewish person had to be in those hard times.
ReplyDeleteLiesel is a character in this book that is really interesting because she is one of the few characters in this story that actually accepts things even in the worst circumstances. For example, at first she did not like Max at first, but later on she accepted that she has to live with him even if he is a Jew. Another example of her accepting things was when she accepted the fact that she couldn't read. She didn't discourage herself, instead she worked hard and actually read with her parents and later became a very good reader. Another example of acceptance from Liesel was when she accepted the fact that she could not see her father anymore because he was helping in the war, she didn't cry about it or anything. Acceptance is a good trait about Liesel because a lot of the other characters would not accept the fact that something new happened. One example would be her mother. She never accepts anything new, instead she always gets mad. For example, when she was fired from the mayor, she was all mad about what happened.
ReplyDeleteDeath's character is really different then most characters in other books. Although we don’t know Death, he gives us clues to his appearance and the way he writes to us is slowly making me understand him a little more. Death's character helps the book make more sense but puts a dark side to the book. In my opinion Death does not have a job he lives for what he does. Without people dying he would not be here, so he does not really have a job, besides living. As we know Death cannot be seen, but the author makes Death's character as real as a human. I have noticed that Death asks many questions, but the thing is no-one could answer them. Death answers his own questions, which to me is really weird. I think death is portraying this book to be really suspenseful, but detailed cause Death knows what is going to happen. He has all the power in the book and is keeping us on our seats. I don’t think Death has really changed besides it’s like he is getting more excited and detailed as I read probably because he is excited to tell the ending of the story and is getting ready for the conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI think Hans is an amazing character and well put together, he seems to be more of a best friend to Liesel than anything else even though he is much older. An example of this would be when they made promises to each other. Liesel stole another book and somewhat felt comfortable telling Hans about it then suggesting not to tell Rosa. Hans then asked Liesel to keep all of his secrets he ever tells her.
ReplyDeleteRosa Hubberman, is one of my favourite characters. She is the typical German women in some ways, because of the way she speaks, calling people sakeurl, and etc. But although she has a hard outershell, inside she seems more scared, and compassionate. An example of this is when Rosa, Hans, Liesel and everyone else are hiding in the celler. Liesel is holding Rosa's hand and Liesels hand is getting squished by Rosas. Although Rosa seems tough on the outside, on the inside shes just as scared as the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteI think rosa is the person that keeps everybody in order. without her hans and liesel would do as they please and would live happyly ever after, but then there would be no story so from what ive read rosa has caused hans and liesel to keep secrets about the grave diggers handbook and it makes the story more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI really like the character Erik Vandenburg. He saved Hans life. He heard the gun fire around them and nobely volunteered Hans to do the job of writing letters. He didn't want his friend to get hurt or die, like he and the rest of the group did on that very day.
ReplyDeleteIn the story, I think Leisel has three main parts to her being happy. Books, Hans and Rudy. Learning how to be able to read books made Leisel quite happy because then she was able to read “The Grave Diggers Handbook” and she was able to move up into her own grade level instead of having to learn with kindergartners. The more she works on her reading with Hans, the better and better she gets and the happier she gets because it’s just that many more books she can read.
ReplyDeleteHans is also a contributor to Leisel’s happiness. The reason for this is because in her home, he is really the only one who shows affection and gives attention to Leisel. Hans is really the only one in the house who seems like he is there for Leisel, at whatever time she needs.
Another character that contributes to Leisel’s happiness would be Rudy. Rudy will stick up for Leisel when the other kids are making fun of her, and he is always looking to make Leisel happy.
In my opinion, these are the three contributions to Leisel’s happiness.
One character that sticks out to me is Rudy. He is so free-spirited and loves a challenge. When he meets Liesel, he asks for a kiss and she declines but this doesn’t stop Rudy from still asking many times in the future which shows his perseverance. He also rebels in the Jesse Owens incident and when he and Liesel and the gang of boys go to steal from the apple tree which shows how he loves a challenge. Whenever he’s around Liesel, he seems to make her happy. I love how they pick on each other in a joking way and always seem to be there for each other.
ReplyDeleteI think Rosa is a main contributor to the Hubermann house hold because I think that even though Rosa comes off a little harsh most times, all she wants is the best for everyone, for example, when she takes Max in when he needs. She gives him a place to sleep, and feeds him as much as she feeds everyone else.
ReplyDeleteDeath seems to be the kind of person who is well read and takes alot of time to notice other people and how they feel. He gives a vary anti social and lonley tone when he speaks but also seems really intelligent. I think death is trying to find out things about himself through lisiel but he also seems to have a vary hard time seeing things of hwt he feels and truly loves.
ReplyDeleteMax Vandenburg is a 23 year old Jewish man who hides in the basement of the Hubermann's. Growing up he was a fighter and would never back down from no one. In the book Max shares common interests with Liesel by sharing their experienced nightmares which brings them closer as friends.
ReplyDeleteI think that Hans Hubermann is a very special character in the novel. The reason I think this is because he is a very compassionate, caring person. He is always there for Leisel, whether it is when she wakes up in the middle of the night or when he reads with her. He cares for everyone and doesn’t judge people based on their religion or race. Hans is willing to help and support and help all people.
ReplyDeleteHans Hubermann is an important character to the novel. He is portrayed as the nice father towards Leisel. Leisel can really trust Hans and she knows that he is always there for her when she needs him. Hans is caring, loving and understanding towards Leisel. For example when she wanted to learn how to read, Hans stayed up at night and took time to help teach her. Hans is always there to comfort Leisel when she needs it, like in the middle of the night when she gets nightmares. He is someone Leisel can always count on.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Victoria that Hans is a very caring guy in the novel. Like she said, he doesn't judge according to race or religion. This is proven in the book because Hans Hubberman let a Jewish person live in his home, even though the Nazis are looking all over for him. He gave a lot of support for Max as well as he treated him like any other human being.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there isn't much in the book about Frau Diller, I find her rather irritating. That, of course, is only my opinion. She's not necesarily an irritating character, it's more the fact that she seems so cold and stoney, and makes everyone "heil hitler" or she won't serve them.(Yes, I purposely uncapitalized hitler, he doesn't deserve to be capitalized.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, she seems to look down on children, like when Rudy and Liesel come in to buy candy, and she knew they didn't have enough for more than one, and she pretended to get them some, but she did it meanly. Then, once Rudy and Liesel had enough money, she seemed dissapointed that she couldn't be mean again. Perhaps that's just the way she is with everyone though.
I think Max is one of my favourite characters, if not my top favourite. I like him because he's a curious character, in the way that he's very imaginative and creative, and he doubts himself even though he's really kind and caring and a lot stronger than he believes himself to be. Like Kyle said, he wouldn't back down from anyone. Not the Fuher. Not the Nazis. Not people he had/has to fight. Not even himself.
ReplyDeleteI like how he can connect with Liesel so much, and that they share their nightmares and the power of words with each other, and continually give each other gifts.
Even though he feels guilty about leaving his family behind, and for putting the Hubermanns in danger, for wanting to stay alive, he is still considerate of those people. He thinks about his family, and wishes that he could've held on to them, and in a way, the fact that he is so remorseful for even wanting to leave without them is a sort of an apology. He tries to be as discreet as possible while living with the Hubermanns, never doing more than he needs to in order to keep his prescence unknown. He tries to give back for the things he has taken.
Another thing I like about him is how he gives up living with the Hubermanns after putting them in serious danger, even though it's more dangerous for him and he has a much higher chance of dying, which shows how selfless he really is.
At the point of the book I'm at, the character Rosa is being a boss. There is no other way to describe how cool she is being. I loved the part when Rosa stormed into Liesel's school and started screaming at her about the hair brush. At that point you start feeling horrible for Liesel because her foster mother is freaking out about something Liesel didn't do. However, then she whispers to Liesel that Max had woken up, and we see a side of her that we haven't really seen previously. We see a side of Rosa that is capable of joking around and having fun, and it was fun to see how she changed.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Rudy is portrayed as a typical boy. He loves sports, as he is always running around playing soccer or running track, and he even pretends to be his favorite athletes. It's also funny how he always asks Liesel for a kiss, and he even performs valiant tasks for her, like jumping into the river to save her book. On the outside he acts tough, but on the inside he really cares about Liesel.
ReplyDeleteI think that Max and Liesel's (as well as the rest of the Hubermanns) friendship is very important to the novel. They are both from different backgrounds and are forbidden to communicate because of government rules, but they continue to do so while just keeping their relationship a secret. The Hubermanns are being very courageous by keeping Max hidden inside their basement and realize what would be done to Max if they do not protect him, along with what would be done to the Hubermanns for hiding him.
ReplyDeleteAs well, Max is very thankful and appreciative of what the Hubermann's are doing for him, and trys his best to repay them, though he has nothing. He creates gifts for Liesel with what little he has, and acts as an older brother to her.
Max seems like a character with a lot of motivation. He traveled very far to get to the Hubermann’s house while taking many risks getting there. He knew that the only chance at his life would be finding a home to hide in so this motivated him. While he is living in their basement, he begins doing push ups and sit ups to try and gain some strength and imagines fighting Hitler in a boxing ring. He later lets Liesel cut his hair for him because he trusts her most with his looks. Even though Rosa mentions that he will never be seen by anyone, I think that he secretly thinks that one day this will all be over and he will be able to live a normal life. If he didn’t believe this, I don’t think he would be trying to survive. If I was in his position and thought I’d never get out, I’d honestly probably rather be dead than have to live my whole life in a cold basement, alone and hated by so many.
ReplyDeleteI'm really intersted in why the mayor's wife acts the way she does. She seems like a complex character and everytime Liesel is with her, it seems as if she's hiding something. When Rosa got fired by the mayor and his wife, and Liesel came back to tell of the mayor's wife it seemed like she was extremely dissapointed or sad; like there's something much more important going on that Liesel can't and won't understand. I think this character is very mysterious and I'm interested to see what happans when and if Liesel runs into her again.
ReplyDeleteI think that Max is an original character in the book. The reason I think this is because he is fearless. He will not back down from a fight with anyone, no matter the age, height or size of the person. He is also willing to do anything to live. I say this because although he is Jewish, he was given a German ID card from one of his friends so he could stay alive. Although this plan might backfire, he went with it and is risking his life to live a little bit longer. Although he is a very “tough” character, he is also very caring and can relate too many of the other characters; such as Leisel. Leisel and Max share a connection due to the fact that they have nightmares every night about losing someone they loved and cared about. Whether that would be Leisel and losing the life of her brother on the train, or Max having nightmares about his family that he had to leave behind, or other things such as Hitler. They share this in common. This is what I think about Max.
ReplyDeleteAdding on Natalie's comment, I think that the friendship between Max and Liesel portrays a very good message meant from the book. Liesel is German and Max is Jewish. So the friendship between these two different opposing sides gives the message of that peace can still occur even in the roughest of times. So for Germans to come together with Jews is a big step in society because it is hard to let go of something that you are in control of. Like the torturing, stealing and humiliating of Jews. Since this friendship occurred with Liesel and Max it can happen with the rest of Germany.
ReplyDeleteI think that Rudy is a very caring character in the novel. The reason why I say caring would be because he cares for Leisel, and all the other people around him. One of the people he cares about is Leisel. The reason why I say this is because they are really good friends and he would stick up for her, no matter who is being mean to her. For example, when she first came to Molching, during one of the soccer games all of the kids were being mean to her. She was getting angry at this, but Rudy stuck up for her and told the other kids to leave her alone. He also cares about his family because he went with the older boys and Leisel to “get” different vegetables to feed his family. Leisel and Rudy also hurt a child to get his food (speck, vegetables....). This is why I think Rudy is a very caring person.
ReplyDeleteI feel like in a way Liesel and Death are some how connected because Death pretty much does not leave her alone, it's like he could be attached to her with out meaning to. They could possibly have been related ? depending on how old death really is. A father was never really mentioned for Liesel so maybe that could somehow be a connection ?
ReplyDeleteI think Max is a very important character because he grew a bond with the Hans family and he, living in a Jew’s house teaches a few messages in the story and helps develop a mood and tone. Throughout the whole entire book Max has always been on a thread to live. He has fought and fought his whole life to live and he has not giving up and hopefully he won’t. Max went through many fights, starvation and the guilt for leaving his family to try and save himself. Max is very strong to be able to stay strong after all he has been through. I think Max also feels bad for putting Hans’s family in danger, and he would do whatever they say to live. I think so far Max has not changed besides for the fact of feeling more comfortable around another family. Max is a great influence in this story and if he dies I don’t think Death’s point would be clear. I think one of Death’s points were to not give up and do whatever you can to become a better person or in this case live and take chances. I can’t wait to read more about Max and I hope he lives in the end.
ReplyDeleteIn beginning, Rosa Hubermann comes across as cold and cruel. Once Max comes, she softens up a bit and isn`t as harsh. Although her character changes quite a bit, she still uses harsh language whenever she has the excuse. Throughout the story, we understand her better and that her aggresiveness and abuse isn`t meant as a bad thing but is her way of showing affection to those she cares for and loves most. (Most of the time.)
ReplyDeleteMax changes alot from when he first came to the Hubermann house. Max was shy, and loiked to stare at Leisel. Throughtout the times he is at the Hubermann house Max grows a special bond between him and Leisel. The bond is created by on Max, Leisel, and Hans sitting by the fire, reading and Max telling stories. One of the greatest bonds and how Max changes is on Leisels birthday she gives Max a hug and Max feels warm and cared for. Max goes from being scared and lonely, to growing to a caring, more happy as a friend person.
ReplyDeleteI think that Hans Hubermann is my favourite character. He is so good with Liesel and Max and he just does such a good job at being a parent. Even though his real son doesn’t really like him, he took Liesel into his own hands and treated her as if she was his own. And what I like the most about him is the fact that he isn’t for Hitler. He still helped Jewish people even after Hitler declared that they had to be banished and that Jews were bad people. I think that Hans taking care of Max is such a brave and noble thing to do because he himself knows that he could get taken away or killed but he made a promise to a friend and Hans intends to keep it. We also see how good of a man Hans is when the Jewish people are parading and there is a sick man dying and Hans goes to help him. The soldiers are right there, but Hans still does it because he is such a good person and knows this man needs help.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on Liesel changed a lot throughout the book. At first I thought she was just a shy little girl who was very scared of all the things going on in her life. But when she became more comfortable with her new parents, and life, she opened up more and became more of an outgoing girl. Liesel is actually quite an amazing girl. She saw her own brother die, had to live with random strangers, took care of a Jewish person and her foster dad got taken away from her. Even though all of this happens Liesel still manages to have some fun and she does not get depressed or anything. This shows that she is a strong girl and can handle what life throws at her. I actually think any child that can go through war times with a smile on their face is a VERY brave individual and Liesel did just that. I don't know how someone could do that, but Liesel does it and I wish I could be more like her in some ways.
ReplyDeleteHans Hubermann, in my opinion makes, some big changes throughout the story. In the beginning he comes across as a bit of a coward, when Death describes his service for the war. He also is also portrayed to be unintelligent, with his low education and he seems to be the type of man who wouldn’t stand up for what he believes in. When times begin to get tough, Hans shows his true nature. He shows his intelligence in his painting job and proves he’s not afraid to stand up to others when he gives the bread to the Jewish man, even if it was quite foolish.
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ReplyDeleteRudy Steiner is Liesel's best friend. He is well known for painting his face black with charcoal and running around a track and field track acting like Jesse Owens. He is also motivated throughout the whole novel by trying to impress Liesel and recieve a kiss from her.
ReplyDeleteErik Vandenburg is Max's father who served in World War 1. Erik saved Hans' life by volunteering him to do a writing assingment on the day everyone else in the regiment are killed battle.
ReplyDeleteLiesel Meminger is nine years old, when her younger brother died and she is given to Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of Molching by her mother. Liesel is mentally destroyed by her brother's death and abandonment of her mother, but Hans proves to be an awesome loving foster parent were on the other hand Rosa seems to be an evil person who treats liesel like crap. As the book progresses liesel learns to read and write with some help from Hans. From just this information I have understood that Liesel is a very determined, brave, courageous little girl who can usually make the best out of situations.
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ReplyDeleteMax is an important character to the novel. Because Max is Jewish, he is very vulnerable, scared and quiet. He has lost alot of people in his life, like his family and old friends. Now he has to be stuck down in the cold basement of the Hubermanns all day so nobody sees him. I think Max must feel very alone because he has nobody to lean on through this hard time in his life. The Hubermanns are the only ones Max can really depend on for his safety.
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ReplyDeleteFrau Ilsa Hermann is actually very different than what I was expecting. Considering she's the mayors wife, I thought that she would be super strict and yell at Liesel for doing the things that she did. But when she allowed Liesel to come in and read in her library I was super surprised, I was even more surprised when she was okay with Liesel stealing her books. Although this surprised me, it also made me really happy and I started to like Illsa. Even though she is super quiet whenever Liesel is around you can tell that she likes Liesel because of how she allows her to read and steal and the fact that she came to Liesel's house that last time also showed that she cared about Liesel. Even though she isn't really a main character, I think that Ilsa is important because her house is where the book theif steals all her books from.
ReplyDeleteRudy Steiner makes a lot of development throughout the story; in the beginning he is viewed as a crazy child obsessed with Jesse Owens. You begin to view him differently as the story progresses. He is very determined and gifted as he showed in the Hitler Youth carnival, winning three gold medals. Rudy is obviously a very loyal friend to Liesle Meminger and Tommy Muller standing up for both on more than one occasion. As Death said Rudy did not deserve to die the way he did, at least not at that age. In my opinion Rudy had the potential to accomplish great things, and would have, had he survived and had this story not been fiction.
ReplyDeleteRudy Steiner is another one of my favourite characters. Even though he did some crazy things and didn't think properly at times, like the Jesse Owens incident, and trying to find his dad, etc., he was just a kid. Rudy was Liesel's best friend and he was the boy who became friends with the new kid. He showed her around and instantly they became friends. The thing about Rudy that sticks out the most to me is how even though Liesel made a fool of herself and threw herself into the Jews at Max, Rudy was still there to help her off the ground. That really shows me that he doesn't care about what other people think and he loves Liesel no matter what. He may have been a crazy kid but Rudy Steiner was still an outstanding person.
ReplyDeleteLiesle Meminger is a character that has been put through many hardships from an early age. She is a very adaptable and resilient person, and although she was put through all these hardships she managed to stay strong and pull on through. She had even to come to terms with some of her losses, like the loss of her brother. She lived her life to its fullest and was in my opinion a good person, despite her criminal ways. Her story even interested Death enough to carry it around with him for all those years.
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ReplyDeleteI think the death of Liesel's brother has not weakened her, but made her so much stronger. Altough the novel had described her as traumatized about his death, it has inspired her to become mature and behave in a way that a grown up would, keeping in mind she was only 9 years old when the story was being told. She understood the situation that was going on in Germany, and accepted it and tried her best to help, for example the time when she helped Max, a Jewish man to get back up on his feet. The death of her brother inspired her to write a story about her life and who she is. She wrote the story to take out her emotions in hope someone would read it and help in the fight against the war.
ReplyDeleteRosa Hubermann had to be one of the strongest women in any book. She went through so much in her life including Max's illness, Hans' conscription, and the air raids. Even though the events took a part on her and beat her down, she was still able to maintain order in the household. I think Rosa is a good woman and deserves everyone's appreaciation and respect.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Rudy is so sad and emotional. Rudy is motivated throughout the novel by his love for Liesel; at one point he retrieves Liesel's book from the icy cold river and asks her for a kiss. By the end of the novel, Liesel has come to love Rudy as well. Unfortunatelly, Rudy dies in a air raid at the end of the novel, and Liesel kisses his corpse.
ReplyDeleteI think anyone who doesn't appreaciate Liesel's parents choice of giving her up doesn't understand their point of view. They knew what would happen; Liesel's father would be taken away by the Nazis for being a Communist, and Paula would meet the same fate. As Liesel comes to realize, by giving her daughter away, Paula saves her from persecution.
ReplyDeleteFrau Ilsa Hermann, I believe, is very important to the events of this novel and her presence not only adds mystery but excitement to the story. Liesel is interested, but seems to be almost scared of her- Why didn't she say anything about the stolen books? Why does she not talk about her son? I think that it's not only the need for more books to be read that brings Liesel back time and time again to the mayor's home, but the curiosity of finding out more about Frau.
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ReplyDeleteIlsa Hermann (The mayor's wife) played a huge part in this book. She gave liesel a huge amount of reading material and I imagine increased liesels literacy by a lot. Ilsa spent several years mourning the death of her son Johann. In my mind if I was her I would want to tell liesel about Johann and also if I was liesel I don’t know how I couldn’t ask about Johann. The relationship that Ilsa and liesel started off with was just based on books and reading but eventually turned into much more. I think that Ilsa was afraid of befriending liesel because she kept on thinking of Johann and did not want to lose another person so close to her.
ReplyDeleteRosa is another character that I had mixed feelings about. At the beginning she seemed harsh and rude but by the end of it I had grown too really like Rosa. She's German, so she uses those harsh words and I also finally realize that she does really love Liesel and Hans. Even though she can be rude to Liesel, she is still an excellent mother and very caring. When Max wakes up and she goes to Liesel's school pretending to yell at her shows that Rosa does have some sense of humor and she does care about Max. I didn't think she'd be okay with having Max stay with them because he's Jewish but she ended up being okay with it and that surprised me. Rosa just uses a different way to show her love, instead of compliments and showing affection, she yells at Hans and calls him names. But, she does love him and you can tell just by exactly the names she calls him.
ReplyDeleteRosas character is very unique. She comes off as this rude, mean, harsh person. She uses a lot of curse words but thats what can make her character funny in some ways. At first Liesel didn't understand Rosa that well, she just thought she is always like that, but when Max came to live with them, Leisel saw that Rosa does have a heart and can be very caring for someone. Now I can tell that Rosa really does love Leisel. I think Rosa shows her love for Leisel in a different way than most parents do.
ReplyDeleteLeisels character is one of the most important characters. She has lived a hard life, losing her brother and her mom giving her away to the Hubermanns, which she now really loves. Leisel also loves to read. Reading is something Hans and her do together. She can get so amazed by a book, she would do anything to get a new one, like steal them. Her character to me comes off as innocent, even though she has done some bad, shes got such a big heart. Everything that she has gone through in her life has made her stronger in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteI find Deaths character the most interesting. The way death has described his "job" makes him sound like he wishes he didn't have to be doing what he does to people. It seems like death can get bored with what he does. But the interesting part is that when people die, he seems interested in their story and doesn't just let them die for no reason. Death makes the novel more interesting and appealing to read. His character is very comical to the novel, for example when he makes comments about other characters. Before reading the book, I thought it would be a very dark and sad book to read because Death is the narrator. But my opinion has changed a lot, the book is still a bit sad, but it is mostly happy and filled with hope because death's the narrator.
ReplyDeleteOne character that I find really interesting is Rudy Steiner. He seems like the kind of person who is always fun to be around and stands up for what he believes in. He also has a lot of spunk and even though he can sometimes be a little annoying, he always has good intentions. I think he's a really good friend for Liesel to have because he life has always been really stressful and Rudy is like a breath of fresh air and he has a lot of spunk. In my opinion, Rudy is one of the most interesting and funny characters in the story.
ReplyDeleteI really like Rosa as a character because she reminds me of that one family member that everyone has that's quite embarassing and really crazy but you love them anyways. Rosa loves Liesel, and even though she doesn't do it with much class, she is just trying to look out for her and do what's best for her family. She's also really funny and brings life and energy to the book, which at times, is exactly what it needs.
ReplyDeleteReading about Hans hubermann in the book thief could not have come at a more perfect time because of some of my experiences. Last summer when i met my uncle whom i had never ever before seen we were in a little town in northern italy and i found out we were staying with my auntie and uncle whom i had never met. when the time came for me to finally have to talk to him turns out he wasn't as scary as i thought he liked a bunch of things i did and my god i love him to death and that's exactly who i think of whenever i read about Hans hubermann and how he loved liesel so much and did everything she could ever ask for. that really really really made the book for me how wise, gentle, funny and strong willed Hans is
ReplyDeleteRudy Steiner what a guy. I think that Rudy was the perfect character for liesel to relate to, mostly at the beginning of the book when she was shy and lonley and confused. Rudy has always been outgoing and not afriad to speak his mind so he really opened liesel up and made her confortable in her new home. they are very different but oh so alike at the same time
ReplyDeleteRudy and Liesel were mostly seen as a pair in the book. I think that Rudy's character was really necissary to accompany Liesel's because I think that Liesel did not have much depth. Liesel did not really evolve at any point except to enjoy books once she could read and to fall in love with Rudy. Rudy, on the other hand, was a far more interessting character. He had a strange back-story (the Jesse Owens incident) and showed different attributes at different times. At times he stole to feed himself and at others he gave food away. Under the charge of the first Hitler youth captain he was defiant but with the second one he tried his best to impress. His personality had the minor quirks that made it realistic, which was something that, in my opinion, Liesel did not have.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Liesel's mother was an interesting character. She is a bit misterious because you never really find out about who she is or much of what happens to her after she leaves liesel. She was brave though, to send away her last child to a better place and to try to get a better life for them. This would have been in the knoledge that she probably would not see tham again and would face her misery alone.
ReplyDeleteFrom all the characters in the book I found that Adolf Hitler was the most interesting. You don’t hear about him much in the book but all of propaganda and actions toward the holocaust is the main antagonist. In my eyes I see Hitler as the main character because without him liesel would have just been a girl with a diary (like that’s new) and all of the things that happened in this story good and bad could be tracked back to Adolf and his decisions.
ReplyDeleteA character that I would like to talk about is Hans. I think Hans's character is different. I don't really like his charater very much because I find his character kind of weird and creepy, although he seems very nice and caring towards Liesel. He got really close fast to Liesel and usually a female adult would care more for a child. I find it wierd that in the book he is talked about alot, but i don't think he is that important. He doesn't really teach a lesson, but that is why I find it wierd because the author choose his character to seem sensetive but actualy talented and strong inside. I don't quite understand why the author choose Hans to be the mysterious character. To me sence I am not quite done the book it seems like their is something that Hans is not telling us about himself or like he is hidding something.
ReplyDeleteIlsa Hermann is a different character, a type of character I haven't seen much of in books I have read. She obviously really loved and misses her son, so I think she wanted to transfer some of her love for her son to Liesel. Liesel clearly had a very rough time in her life even though she was very young, and Ilsa Hermann wanted to give her something in her life that she really loved. I also really liked how she still cared for Liesel even after she blew up and yelled at her.
ReplyDeleteRosa Huberman is the type of character that changes throughout the book. She is also the type of character that you change your opinion about very often and she has many sides that developed through the book. She seems very hard-headed, tough and mean, especially to Liesel, but I think she is doing that to show her affection towards Liesel. I think she is truly soft inside, but has a hard time showing and expressing her feelings. I think she obviously has a heart because she was putting herself in danger for having a Jew hidden in her house. I think she learned something and changes in the book. I think without Max, Rosa would not of changed because I think Max brought out her love more and I think she learned how to show her feelings in other ways rather than just being over protective by being aggressive. I think going through Max almost dying and living in fear made her realize she truly loves Liesel and I think she became more loving towards her loved ones.
ReplyDeleteIlsa Hermann was the wife of the mayor. Before the war had started, she had employed Mrs. Hubermann to do her laundry (washing, ironing). Liesel was assigned to pick up and drop off the laundry to their customers, and Ilsa was one of them. Frau Hermann had witnessed Liesel take a book from the smoldering pile of ash from the giant fire in celebration of Hitler’s birthday. She knew Liesel liked books, and invited her into her library to read some of her books. When the war started, she discontinued her partnership with the Hubermanns. Liesel could not shake the memory of the library and its walls of books. She knew that the library window was usually open and used this to her advantage. She climbed through the window and stole a book. Eventually Frau Hermann realized Liesel was coming and taking books. She gave Liesel a little black book to write in. This gift saved her life because she was so enthralled with writing her life story in it. She was in the basement writing when the unexpected air raid happened and killed everyone on Himmel Street except her. I am not sure if Ilsa’s character changes during the course of the novel. The only development I see during the novel is that we get to hear more dialogue from her, most of it with Liesel. She always is described as a quiet, isolated woman.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about Hans Hubermann, he's one of those people that always says the right thing at the right time and brightens up the whole story. He's such a strong role model for Liesel and I find it so cool how he can not only be a father to Liesel, but also a friend. If Hans Hubermann wasn't in the story it wouldn't be the same at all because he effects Liesel in a lot of positive ways and if she didn't have him, she probably wouldn't have ended up as as good of a person. He's one of the characters in the book that adds some happiness and light to the dark story line and narration.
ReplyDeleteI think Hans Hubberman is a loving father type character, one whos relaxed, and actually enjoys his family, he seems like the father who would get your out of trouble, and cut you a break. Hes understanding and caring, and very pleasent.
ReplyDeleteI like Max, because hes so concering and caring, for the family, like Liesel, he makes her a book, he actually seems to have a deep care for them. And worries about them getting introuble for harbouring him.
ReplyDeleteI think Liesel is extremly brave, she goes from a totally different word, and lives with a totally different family, by herself, after loosing her brother. Its encourging how courageous she is.
ReplyDeleteLiesel is a very interesting character. I've always thought she was a very strong person right from the beginning of the book. I think many people would admire her courage, strength, determination, and compassion. I love that she can find the little joys in life and just live in the moment no matter the conditions or what is going on, she's been through so much pain and hard times yet she always stays level-headed. Also, her caring, kind nature helps a lot of characters in the story and Liesel continually shows good character through her love for others. And even though she is very kind and caring she never fails to stand up for what she believes in which is what makes her a very good character for the story to be centered around.
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