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Psyche And The Book Thief Comparison

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A small delicate creature that flutters from flower to flower, dancing in the wind, is nature’s very own ballerina, the butterfly. Their fragile wings represent many things ranging from free spirits to the human soul. In Greek mythology, Psyche, the goddess of the human soul, is compared to such creature, and so portrayed to have butterfly wings or a butterfly itself. However, times change and new heroes emerge, for instance in The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak, the character Liesel Meminger, a German girl that survives many horrors of World War II, can also be the embodiment of the human soul. Psyche and Liesel, though created centuries apart, they have very similar story’s, characteristics, and souls like butterflies. No two stories are the …show more content…

As Psyche’s and Liesel’s stories progresses, like any other human, they experience small joys and sorrows. However, when facing one of their greatest hardships yet, their character similarities clearly show through. Psyche’s husband- Cupid- leaves Psyche after he warns her, that if she is to take her sisters advice upon trying to discover his true identity, she would lose him forever, but curiosity got the best of her. She disobeys her faithful husband and discovers that he is the god of love. Cupid flies away without saying good-bye and Psyche is left wandering in search for him. Though “She had no idea where to go; she knew only that she would never give up looking for him” (Hamilton 128). Psyche realizes her mistake of disobeying Cupid, her then wavering loyalty to him, has now become stronger than ever before and is willing to do anything to get him back. And so she becomes Venus’s (Cupid’s mother and goddess of beauty and love) servant, in hopes of finding him there. Liesel, like Psyche, also losses one of her loved ones; one of her closest friends, Max. Max is a Jew in hiding with the Huberman’s, however, due to the increasing danger his presence brought to the Huberman’s, he left the household in search of a new hiding place. Max’s departure is devastating to Liesel, however months afterwards Liesel finds Max again, on his way to a Nazi concentration camp. Liesel breaks all Nazi codes and

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