Theme Of Adversity In The Book Thief

Muhammad Khan
Ms. Trasolini
ENG2D0-I
Thursday, April 9th, 2015
Characters Overcoming Adversities in
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief Almost everyone in life faces adversity, they also find ways to overcome it which makes them a better person. In the novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger’s life is in the middle of the Holocaust. After unfortunate events, Liesel is shown moving to a foster home in Molching, Germany. Her life changes completely as it was never before. Liesel Meminger, Max Vandenburg, and Rudy Steiner all go through different types of adversities and they find ways to overcome them. Therefore, characters face different types of adversities and overcome it which helps them survive situations around them in

Firstly, Max faces the adversity of leaving his family so he could not get captured by the Nazi Germans, he has to overcome it so he cannot get captured due to his Jewish background. Death points this out when he narrates “He clung to his mother’s hand and that of Sarah, the nearest of his cousins. ‘I won’t leave. If we can’t go, I don’t go, either.’ He was lying. When he was pushed out by the rest of his family, the relief struggled inside him like an obscenity” (193). This quotation proves that in order for Max to survive he had to go to a place like the Hubermann’s House and leave his family behind, which is how he had overcame this adversity. The second adversity that is faced by Max is the adversity of people standing over him and scarring him like his father and Hitler. He overcomes this adversity so that he can survive the situation of having people that empower him, standing over him. Max illustrates his fear of men standing over him when she states, “All my life, I’ve been scared of men standing over me. I suppose my first standover man was my father. The girl says I look like something else” (224-232). These quotations prove that Max’s first stand over man was his father, and since he has been scared of other men like him. Max does not get scared of the girl because she does not try to make Max

Rudy faces the adversity of being bullied at the Hitler Youth Camp meetings by Franz Deutscher. He overcomes this adversity when he was getting beat up by Franz Deutscher on Munich Street, he did nothing. Death emphasizes what has happened to Rudy when he states “‘Mr. Steiner’, Franz declared, before picking him up and throwing him to the pavement. When Rudy stood up, it served only to infuriate Deutscher evermore. He brought him to the ground for a second time, following him down with a knee to the rib cage…This time, he remained on the cold, wet ground, feeling it rise through his clothes and spread itself out” (297). This quotation proves that the adversity that Rudy faces is that he is being bullied by his Hitler Youth Camp leader Franz Deutscher. Rudy overcomes this adversity by staying on the ground and not reacting because if he tries to stand up then Franz will hurt him more. In like manner as Liesel, Rudy faces the adversity of living in a poor family. Rudy faces the adversity of having no food, hunger. It is important for Rudy to overcome this adversity so that he can be able to live and survive the situation. Death comments that Rudy is in under when he says “The boy was permanently dying for something to eat. The Steiner’s were scratching things together to get by” (149). This quotation proves that Rudy is facing the