Summary : ' The Book Thief '

Ultimately, Rudy is deported because he is deemed not-American by virtue of his brown body. His English, Dodgers hat, and knowledge of U.S. popular culture (as demonstrated by his knowledge of Death Valley Days and John Wayne) are completely ignored as signifiers of his Americanness. Instead, his brown body is taken as a more important signifier.

Death also used the colors of the spectrum to describe his job as a “soul gatherer” and the connection with people. Death says “A color will be perched on my shoulder and I will gently carry you away” (Zusak, 4). This explains what Death does when he collects souls. He uses the colors to recollect on events, trauma and his own personal feelings. In discussing the colors, this emphasizes the act of describing the difficult experience of WWII in which returns to the fact that Death is made to resemble a human.

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

Nathan’s blackness got in the way of his education and success. At a young age, whether he knew it or not, he had

This book impacted me in a positive way by showing the inferior conflicts to avoid in my life. An example of when Rudy had to put through hardship is when he would hesitate between school or partying. “I was a joker who never took classes seriously I would party and get drunk with the townies on the weekends and go diving with my Kahaluu friends on the weekdays. School was just a big time setback” Is textual evidence of Rudy having lack of interest in progressing in his life, and preparing for his

In chapter 1 in starts off telling us about him and his struggles that he is faced with from birth that he can't control. He had freckles, red hair, and he coughed up pink froth because his right lung was full of liquid, which caused strep pneumo a rare strain of pneumonia. With those challenges he gets called many names such as Fireball, Richie Cunningham, Ronald McDonald, and Rudolph the Red- Headed Human, tampon head and many more. Then in chapter 2 Rudy finally starts to learn how to block all the negative energy and name calling out.

The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, outlines the tragedies and events that take place in Liesel Meminger’s life, in Nazi Germany. Throughout this young girl’s struggle of living in the oppressive Nazi regime, she is able to learn crucial lessons about life and the art of survival- some that follow her to the grave. The most important lesson she learned and the pivotal theme of the novel is that rebellion can be and beneficial in certain situations.

Through following the life and hardships surrounding Liesel; Death learns how humans can simultaneously have a good side and a wicked side to them; he learns much about human nature, but is still confused by this aspect of humans even after studying the life of Liesel for about seventy years; and he still does not fully understand this aspect of humans, so comes to a grim conclusion about them. Starting from the first chapter of The Book Thief, it is apparent that Death has a complicated and unorthodox way of seeing things. On the first page, he says “First the colors. Then the humans.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, takes place in 1940s Nazi Germany in the small town of Molching. The main character, Liesel Meminger, takes on a role as the foster child of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She also meets a young boy named Rudy Steiner, who goes on to be her best friend and lover. In the book, Liesel faces many challenges big and small. From hiding a Jew in the basement to a thieving lifestyle, Liesel has to learn to overcome all of life's problems. Through all of this, she is supported by her foster father Hans Hubermann who is caring to people he barely knows, intelligence despite his lack of education, and generosity even when he has little for himself.

Back in the 1960s a house would cost about $12,400. A couple of weeks after Rudy saying no to buying a house his girlfriend broke up with him. When Rudy's football season at Highschool was over he got to give one last tackle and it was on his coach. Not only was that one of his favorite tackles it was one to remember. Before Rudy went to college one of his friends that believed he would make it to Notre Dame got in an accident in front of his eyes. In the power plant that he worked in had a mess up and his friend didn't make it. Although there were good and bad parts that he went through in his high school life it gets even better in

As a parent explaining Rudy’s actions, I would tell him that your admiration for one athlete can be extremely exuberant but painting yourself his skin color in this time where prejudice of different people was very high, it clearly isn’t the smartest move. The itch in my heart is that it is morally wrong to paint yourself black and if you go that extreme with your admiration, Rudy can honestly be taken and have a higher chance to be killed by Nazi Germany.

The second aspect that was noticed bout Rudy was the dedication that he kept consistent. No matter how hard times may have seemed to Rudy, he was too stubborn to give up. He didn't have the grades to attend Norte Dame, so what did he do? He walked into a small catholic school and applied there. He did this to earn credit and to eligible for the fall semester at Norte Dame. That fall semester Rudy got into the school of his dreams and immediately became a hitting dummy for the Football team. Kenneth Turan wrote a review on the movie and he states "It meant a lot for Rudy to play football for Norte Dame, his obsessed determination begins to look more inspirational as the movie goes on" (1).

Black Like Me is about a white male, John Howard Griffin, who was disheartened by how blacks were being treated. In an effort to bridge the gap between blacks and whites Mr. Griffin conducted research on blacks. Because Mr. Griffin is a white man the black community would not speak to him truthfully. Blacks were afraid that whites would harm them if they said anything offensive. Mr. Griffin knew the dilemma so he came up with the idea to become a black man in order to receive the truthful response he desired. Mr. Griffin knew that if he became a black man he would lose all his “white rights.” However Mr. Griffin still continued with his idea.

The young Rudy grants humanity to someone who is commonly dehumanized when he retrieves a book for Liesel, feeds the jews bread, and gives the teddy bear to the dying pilot. Liesel is a young girl who has had a tough life. She has lost her biological mother, lost her brother, and he has been stationed at a foster home. Rody jumps into Liesel’s life, and giver her comfort through all the pain she has faced. One day, a bully threw Liesel's new book into the river and Rudy stood up for her when he “Jumped in, caught up to it, and held it in his right hand” (241). When Rudy retrieved this book, he was acting out against the bullying that Liesel faced, and he was acting in support of Liesel. Just as Hans Hubermann handed out bread to Jews, Rudy and Liesel do the same. This act could get Rudy in heaps of trouble, but he does so anyways in protest to the dehumanization of the Jews. We know Rudy and liesel are very happy and proud when they support humanity as “There was the trace of a grin on

One of the most important motifs of Zuask’s book was Death’s observations of colors. “A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors” (Zuask 4). Death uses colors as a distraction, to let it forget for even the slightest second that it is taking the soul of a once actually living thing. “It takes the edge off the