Idiotism In The Book Thief

In ‘The Book Thief’, Markus Zusak uses the theme “dark times do not last forever”, to show human resilience and the will to find happiness. In this book, there are many low points of the characters’ lives, whether it be a dead relative or friend, or the hardships of war. However, Liesel Meminger, the main character, still finds a way to happiness throughout the book. She finds joy in the smallest of things, such as her words and the sound of her papa’s accordion despite the pain from the loss of her mother and brother. Other characters also find joy throughout the book and stay resilient such as the Hubermanns family and Max building a snowman in their basement, Rudy and other neighborhood kids playing soccer in the streets, and

During the Holocaust, Hitler was creating his master race of Aryans and anyone who didn’t fit the characteristics of an Aryan was in danger. Correspondingly Rudy’s Favourite athlete was Jesse Owen (black-American) and one day he decided to dress up like Jesse Owens which caused him some trouble. He explained to his dad “’I was being Jesse Owens’... but his father wasn’t very happy and exclaimed,’you shouldn’t want to be like black people or Jewish people or anyone who is not like us’” (58-60). This quote shows that Rudy isn’t racist and is very proud of the fact that his father is. During the Holocaust rationing laws were put in place allowing all families to the same amount of food. Rudy was part of a big family and decided the he needed to provide his own food. Death explains, “Rudy’s [hungry]. The boy was permanently dying for something to eat” (149). Rudy started stealing because it was a way of rebellion towards Hitler. By stealing from farms and the rich Rudy rebelled against his rationing laws and his families’ economic restrictions. As Rudy gets older he releases the sacrifices he had to make because of Hitler. His father being taken away is theft in Rudy’s mind because now Hitler has taken away his right of having a father. Death explains, “Rudy’s anger was growing nicely... there was no complaining that it wasn’t fair” (481). Rudy feel bitter that his father

They are always there for each other, no matter how terrifying or terrible the situation is. Rudy is in a program called Hitler Youth, which is required at his age. Rudy and his leader, Franz Deutscher, have a continuous hate for each other, which leads to future problems for Rudy. “He brought him to the ground for a second time, following him down with a knee to the rib cage. Again, Rudy stood up” (Zusak 297). When Rudy was asked the question “When is our Führer’s birthday?”, he continued to answer incorrectly to anger his Hitler Youth leader. When the two met on the street, a brawl began. At a disadvantage in size and strength, Rudy stood no chance, but he refused to give up. The obvious consequences to his act of bravery, or stupidity, did not phase him. “‘I’m not sure this is a good idea.’ He slapped some bread onto her palm. ‘Your papa did.’ How could she argue? It was worth a whipping” (Zusak 440). Not only did Rudy have a courageous heart, but a kind one as well. As the Jews marched along Himmel Street, Rudy and Liesel snuck off to complete Rudy’s sly plan to feed the Jews. By placing bread in the middle of the street, Rudy was proving that he agreed with what Hans did by helping a Jew during the first march. Him and Liesel were nearly caught, which would have made Liesel regret saying “It was worth a whipping”. Whether this was an act of recklessness or dauntlessness, Rudy proved he

First, Rudy expresses his dominant characteristic of confidence in the Book Thief. Rudy’s confidence explains his actions towards antagonist emotions. Rudy says, “He’s got a problem, sir-”(269). Rudy’s confidence illustrates his encouragement to step up for Tommy Muller against Franz Deutscher . Rudy shows the readers that he is able to stand up for his friends.Rudy demonstrates that he believes in protecting others than just worrying

Rudy’s innocence was first stolen when he was forced to steal food from local farms in order to save himself from starvation. Because Rudy wasn’t getting as much food as he needed, he resorted to theft to feed himself, showing how he lost his innocence because he resorted to crime to survive. Also, when Rudy attempted to steal the largest potato from the local grocer, he lies to do so, showing how he lost his innocence because he was willing to lie to other people who also faced hardships for his own personal gain. Rudy’s final attempt at stealing is the final sign that he has lost his innocence, as he said he wanted to steal, “Money, food, jewelry. Whatever I can get my hands on,” rather than just food, demonstrating how the frustration that Rudy felt grew until the point where he was going to commit an actual crime by breaking and entering into someone’s house. Even though Rudy didn’t lose anyone important to him, he still lost his innocence due to the hardships he had to face, and he changed as a

Rudy Steiner, the best friend of Liesel Meminger, is one of the most caring and compassionate characters in The Book Thief. He expresses these things through many events. Included in these themes, there is the fact that Rudy stands up for what is right. He does this by, not

Rudy’s perception of himself changed over the course because when he used to live in Hawaii and he used to always skip school. For example he would also run around naked get drunk and smoke weed with his friends in Kahaluu. In the book it clearly states “ every one of my highschool teachers would tell you i was hardly the next einstein “ that means to me that his teachers thought he wasn’t the smartest kid out there. The book also states “ i would party and get drunk with the townies on the weekends and go diving with my kahaluu friends on the weekdays “. I can relate to Rudy’s life because when the waves are big and the swells come in i always skip school just to go surf. In conclusion i think Rudy changed because he wanted to live a better

In Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief, adversity is an important factor in shaping character. Liesel, Max, Rosa and Hans Hubermann all face hardships that help their character develop.The Book Thief is set in Germany during the time of WW2 when Hitler, the Fuhrer, rose to power. This was a hard time for Rosa and Hans because of their struggle to raise a foster child. It was also tough for Liesel because she had to get accustomed to a new place with different rules, but out of everyone, Max definitely faced a lot of problems.

Rudy’s perception of himself has changed overtime. He went from being a typical hard headed boy who earned bad grades and made bad decisions to someone who wants to be something in life, well a doctor to be more specific. Getting to where he was he met some deviant people along the way. In the Red Headed Hawaiian book it tells us the story of Rudy puana who never knew he was a fighter, he had a rough childhood from being teased because of his hair to being sick as a young kid. In other words, he hadn’t really known he was fighting, fighting against the bullying and fighting for his life. Finally, one day as he was slowly settling down he had said he was going to become a doctor instead of wasting time thinking about what he was gonna do in

Using the Structural functional approach one can see that Rudy completely defied all of the set functions of his family. The families policies would have been for Rudy to finish high school,work in the factory and then settle down. However Rudy broke this norm and caused a lot of conflict in his family due to his decisions. I feel that this is the best approach for this movie. because the story relies so heavily on the structure and guidelines set by the

His determination and loyalty make him very likeable, but also troublesome. His determination can be seen when he desperately wants to show Franz??? that he is capable of being successful, ‘In the middle of August, a Hitler Youth carnival was being held, and Rudy was intent on winning four events: the 1500, 400, 200, and of course, the 100.’ (Zucker ...), he was so intent that he actually won three out of the four events. However, this determination leads to the Nazis coming to recruit Rudy for a special school, causing his parents to decide to enrol Alex Steiner, Rudy's father.

Rudy’s perception of himself changed over the course of the book for the better. During chapter 3 Rudy was living a sloppy life; Rudy slept on couches, dried off with bath mats, and never washed his clothes. As a child growing up going through grade school, Rudy struggled to find pride. He was teased for his red hair as a little boy and to combat that he teased back. As time went on he made friends but went down a troubled path, paving the way to his procrastination, misbehavior, and bad grades. Rudy had little aspirations, and as Rudy says on page 53, “I was hell bent on going to diesel mechanic school after graduation.” As Rudy scraped by high school and got into UH Manoa through a special program his life continued in its downward trend

The tribulations that Rudy faced were quite different than Malala’s and Siddhartha’s battles. Rudy had to prove his worth to his community, his family and to himself. He dreamed of playing football for Notre Dame ever since he was little. Rudy was socialized by his family, and teachers when he was told he did not fit the criteria to play for such a top tier school. The cycle of socialized is equipped with stereotypes, and prejudgment. None of Rudy’s family members took him seriously because his goal seemed so unattainable. Rudy was left to do it all on his own. After multiple of rejection letters from Notre Dame, Rudy was finally admitted into the school. The cycle of liberation did not really begin for Rudy with becoming aware of something

Also Rudy never held grudges on the people around him who always doubted him and thought that he would never make the Notre-Dame football team. Rudy illustrated this beatitude by never seeking revenge or vengeance when he could have. Throughout the whole movie people doubted him and told him that he couldn’t

It seems sometimes like the market for young adult literature is written down to the readers, almost in a condescending manner. That is why a book like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is so refreshing in this sea of cookie cutter romances and fantasies. While classified as a young adult novel, it deals with very serious themes. The book’s cover comes printed with this label: “It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.” It is a dark allusion to what is to come. But Zusak makes this story more accessible to the audience he is writing to and does this by creating identifiable characters, by bringing humor into