The Book Thief
Have you ever been afraid to fall, be left alone, or wish you hadn’t done something? How did you overcome it? In Germany, during World War II, there was nothing but fear. Fear from the Jews, fear from the Germans, and fear even from the Nazi’s. Throughout the story we explore the characters fears, loneliness and regrets through the important themes of courage, abandonment, and guilt. Courage was an important factor throughout the book and many of the characters had it. Due to the character’s courage they all come a little closer and tended to trust each other more. Max Vanderburg is a great example because he is Jewish and represents all the Jews in Germany. Being a Jew made you automatically be courageous and if you weren’t, then all hope was lost. You couldn’t show …show more content…
The first time we see courage in Max is when he leaves the small, black room in Stuggart and comes to Molching to hide at the Hubermanns. He has to be exposed to the Germans and pray they won’t question him. Another time Max shows courage is when he leaves the Hubermanns. He has nowhere to go and again he must pray he doesn’t get caught. When Max comes to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, their courage is tested. They know that if they are caught, they would all be punished, but Hans owed it to Max and his friend from the war and he knew this is what he had to do. When Hans Hubermann stands up for the Jew in the street he show courage to resist unjust laws and practices and to display his resistance publically. He knows the consequences for standing up for a Jew but he doesn’t care.