Character Analysis Of Rudy In The Book Thief

The Book Thief's lover and protector. Rudy Steiner was a boy who was fixed on catching the heart of his sweetheart. The fastest kid on the street, Rudy would always be quick to try and make a move on Liesel or defend her. Even at a young age, Rudy was never one to shy away from putting himself in harms way.

Rudy was always a caring kid. Throwing himself on the line for others was his specialty. His first sign of carelessness for himself was when he painted himself black to impersonate the famed runner Jesse Owens. In this time era, being an African-American was a crime and in Nazi Germany, it was unheard of to even want to be one of them. “You might well ask just what the hell he was thinking. The answer is, probably nothing at all. He'd probably say he was exercising his God-given right to stupidity.”(Zusak 204) Rudy was lucky, however, that the only person that caught him was his father, who could only do so much to him as his father. If a Nazi soldier happened to see him, he could have died. This is a

Even through these times however, he never lost the selflessness that he possessed. In this portion of the story, it was time for everyone else to be careless and put themselves on the line. He would show his never ending carelessness by accepting it, and living for everyone else. Even when life brought hardships, Rudy Steiner lifted everyone else up, while keeping his head up."Oh, crucified Christ, Rudy…

I carried him softly through the broken street, with one salty eye and a heavy, deathly heart. With him, I tried a little harder. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry."(Zusak