Examples Of Compassion In The Book Thief

“Close your eyes,” she’d said. “Hold out your hands” (Zusak 312). This is the start of one of the greatest days of Liesel's life. After bringing down a little snow she decides that Max deserves more. She brings down pots filled with snow and they make a snowman right there in their basement just for Max. He loves it and Leisel feels good for doing it. There are also times where Liesel and other people in the book do things that were so magnificent.

When Scout had a hard day of school Cal, a nickname for Calpurnia, made her crackling bread, one of her favorites. Then she bent down to Scout and kissed her cheek. In the book it states, “She had wanted to make up with me… she was sorry” (Lee 38). Cal wanting to make up all her hardships with Scout shows the love that she has for her. She is stubborn so she would not say it out loud, but just showing Scout that she was sorry was big gesture of love. The love of each other brought them together and built a strong structure for their blooming friendship. This also happened in the case of Liesel and Hans. When Liesel arrived to Himmel Street she was still scarred mentally by the train ride. She was constantly haunted with nightmares every night and Hans quickly picked up on it. Every night Hans would come “into the room, to soothe her, to love her” (Zusak 36). Him staying there and waking up with her late at night showed the amount of love he had for her. He was always sitting there ready to love and soothe her from her timely nightmares. Even though he could of been sleeping soundly in his room, he stayed up to help her. Hans staying up for Liesel and Cal making things for Scout shows the love that they have for each other and it made each other closer by knowing more about them and to

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage,” Lao Tzu. Courage is the choice to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical is when you show bravery in the face of death, pain, or threats, while mental courage is when somebody makes a right decision while opposing someone or something else. Some people do not have a choice to be courageous, and are forced to be courageous, while others have a choice to be courageous.

Hans and Liesel’s relationship is a great example of trust. This is because even though Hans and Liesel are not blood related, they have this extremely strong father-daughter bond which is based on them having immense trust in each other. On page 497 it shows how much Hans means to Liesel. It says, “ ‘Papa. Papa’ She must have said it a hundred times as she hugged him in the kitchen and wouldn’t let go.” This is showing that, as Hans was in Stuttgart, Liesel missed him terribly. So when she was told he was coming home, she was ecstatic. When she opened the door, she attacked him with a hug

Kindness can be defined as the the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Kindness can be found throughout the novel, The Book Thief, people need kindness from people to rely on, since the book is set in such a horrific time period. Liesel, one of the main characters, is a young girl who is living in the time of the holocaust, she is having a difficult time with coping with the death of her brother and now being set to live with strangers. Zusak uses a few characters to bring Liesel happiness, as she already been through enough, and has so much to go through. A few people including: Hans Hubermann,Ilsa Hermann, and Rudy Steiner show Leisel miniscule humble acts of kindness and affect Lisel´s life.

Examples of compassion run deep through the pages of this novel. It all begins with the acceptance of Leisel, the foster child. Hans and his wife Rosa, are expecting two children. To Rosa’s disappointment, not only is there only one child but a female named Lesell when she would have preferred a male. Though Rosa wants a male foster child, Hans as nice as he is devotes his life to take care of this girl with no other family. Even with struggles Hans Hubermann had putting food on his own family's plates, he took two unknown people into his life and showed them compassion through sacrifice, one was Liesel and a Jewish boy named Max. Hans couldn't afford to give his family the basic necessities, so he had to give up a lot more to care for two more people. A habit that Hans enjoyed, smoking, was something he had to give up in order to nurture Liesel's love for reading. Confirmation to his character of sacrifice was demonstrated when Hans said “Eight cigarettes per book… praise the lord for cigarettes.”(89-90). Hans was so relieved that he could take from himself and not put any extra strain or sacrifice of the family and give to Liesel. He found

The abstraction behind the term empathy is easily argued as one of society’s greatest misconceptions, actively acting as a redoubtable paragon of delusion. Much of this idea is founded upon the belief that the general collective are inherently good people. However, the concept, through its delusive facade, is repeatedly betrayed in the media as well as in various works of classical and modernized literature. As effectively portrayed in the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, as well as in the film, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas directed by Mark Herman, this self gratifying concept created by society is recurrently illustrated and personified through the events of the holocaust. The basis of this argument is engendered by the belief that relationships— amatory or platonic— are radically based off the findings of common interests, more specifically those developed between the protagonist and supporting characters of each given story. This concept of empathy, although perceived in leading roles, is a non existent trait among humans that is recreated purely in the interest of convenience further demonstrating its delusory nature. Through friendships formed by elements of relatability, the struggle-some attempts at being sympathetically rounded, and prompted acts of benevolence that work in the favour of self image, this quality of empathy as argued inherent in humans is proven to be nothing more than an inventive trait idealized in fictitious characters.

Rudy constantly wanted to be with Liesel. When he could not, he felt cheated and indignant.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. '” <Brainyquote.com> Throughout the novel the Hubermanns demonstrate tremendous courage. Like what Eleanor Roosevelt says, the Hubermanns really did look fear right in the face. One example of this is, they allowed a Jew to hide in their home, going directly against the law and belief of Nazi Germany despite the harsh consequences that could be waiting for them (Zusak 173). The family all cared for the Jews, and put their

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that compassion is important to the story. Throughout the plot, Scout Finch’s father, Atticus, tries his best to prove the innocence of a black man in court who has been falsely accused of rape. There is also Boo Radley, a mysterious figure that Jem, Dill, and Scout wonder about often. As Atticus is preparing for Tom’s trial, Mrs. Dubose talks trash about him to his children and after Jem gives her payback, Atticus makes Jem do what’s right by apologizing. Also, Boo gives Scout a blanket when he sees her shivering out in the cold due to Jem and her watching Miss Maudie’s house burning down in the fire. To Kill a Mockingbird shows that compassion is important to the story with Atticus being

Most of the readers would be hoping that Liesel would finally let him kiss her, but then when we read this little part of this novel, we get heartbroken. It’s foreshadowing, but not in the way we’re used to. The irony is, of course, that Liesel does kiss Rudy but only after he is dead and would never actually get to taste her kiss. I feel that Liesel is confused over her emotions that have to do with Rudy, but at times it really feels like she has strong feelings for him with the name calling and teasing. But that’s usually how every relationship starts, except they would never get a chance to start one after the bombing of Molching. This excerpt hit me hard because I was really hoping that they would end up together; they really had a strong

The very idea of it was ludicrous, but he accepted it nonetheless. Hans checked that the curtains were properly closed. Not a crack could be showing. As he did so, Max could no longer bear it. He crouched down and clasped his hands.” This passage of the book takes place whilst Max Vandenburg arrives at 33 Himmel Street. There is much tension in these few words, for by letting Max stay with them, the Hubermanns are risking their own lives. But Hans, being the compassionate man that he is, takes the opportunity to put the life of an “enemy” before his own. To conclude, on page 72 of the text, it says, “Sitting in the water, she imagined the smell of it mapped out on her papa’s clothes. More than anything, it was the smell of friendship, and she could find it on herself, too. Liesel loved that smell.” This piece of text evidence shows how Liesel feels about Hans Hubermann and his compassion. From this line we can tell that Liesel sees Hans as a great friend, and she feels that his compassion and happiness have spread to

Throughout the story they all grow to love each other. Especially Hans and Liesel, for every night Liesel would wake up terrified from a nightmare about her brother, and each of those night Hans would comfort her by showing her to read. Liesel and Hans grow an unbreakable bond, for he taught her to read and write, and later in the story it would save her life. As for Rosa and Liesel, well let’s just say their bond was special. Although Rosa Huberman is harsh and foul mouthed she loved Liesel very much and there was no doubt about it. While living in Molching Liesel finds herself a best friend who falls in love with her, his name is Rudy Steiner. In many of Liesel’s adventures, Rudy is almost always involved. But Rudy was not her only best friend, Max Vandenburg was one to. He was the Jew Liesel and her family hid in their basement, Liesel grew very fond of

Although this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, his son left him because of it. However, Hans was a well­loved man by a lot of people. He often shared his cigarettes, painted peoples houses for free, played the accordion, comforted Liesel’s nightmares at very early times of day, and he housed a Jew named Max. ○ Max’s worst moment was when he was hiding from the Nazi’s in the Hubermann’s basement.

Two major components of Liesel’s life are to purloin books and help Max, a Jewish man who lives in the Hubermann’s basement. I have two questions regarding these major factors. My first question is, why does the mayor’s wife leave the window open? Throughout the novel, Liesel goes to the mayor’s house to read and take a book. She notices that the window is left open as if the wife wants Liesel to take more books. “***A SMALL SUGGESTION** Or maybe there was a woman on Grande Strasse who now kept her library window open for another reason - but that's just be being cynical, or hopeful. Or both,” (Zusak 328) There is a possibility that the window is open for another reason; however, it seems like it tends to be open when Liesel and Rudy are on