Rudy's Relationship In The Book Thief

In The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger has a strong and emotional relationship with her neighbor, Rudy Steiner. He is a young German boy who is eight months older than Liesel, has bony legs, sharp teeth, blue eyes and lemon-colored hair. He is depicted as a kind and loyal character that is at Liesel’s side for a majority of the book. Soon after meeting each other a few days after Liesel arrives on Himmel Street, the two become best friends. Rudy accompanies Liesel on all of her adventures in addition to providing emotional aid to each other’s problems. As the story progresses, we see their already very strong relationship fortify in a way that makes the two them the most prevalent character-to-character relationship in the book. It seems fit to include them as, if not the most,

I feel as though I am a little more outgoing than my best friend. While on the other hand, he is more restrained and less forward. As stated in The Book Thief, the “Jesse Owens Incident” is a prime example of how Rudy Steiner is outlandish compared to Liesel, who is of a more civilized manner. The “Jesse Owens Incident” took place as such: “He pulled some charcoal from the stove and gripped it in the smallness of his hands.” and, “He smeared the charcoal on nice and thick, till he was covered in black. Even his hair received a once-over”. This shows Rudy’s crazy personality and displays him as the less-serious one of the pair. In this sense, Liesel is the more mature person in this situation, parallel to my best friend. Therefore Rudy and Liesel’s relationship matches up with my relationship with my best friend in the way that we have similar behavioral traits. Rudy provides the amusing antics while Liesel often brings things back down to earth. The same scenario goes towards the affiliation I have with my best friend, taking account to the roles we both play in our