Strong emotions towards another can cause one to act irrationally. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Rudy, Liesel, and her foster father Hans develop strong emotions towards others that cause them to act rashly. Rudy’s, Liesel’s, and Hans’s actions illustrate the unreasonable actions caused by strong feelings towards another.
Strong emotions towards another can cause one to act irrationally. This idea is prominent throughout The Book Thief especially through Hans Hubberman. Hans displays his irrationality at many points in the novel. One moment in particular was when he let a Jew he knew and deeply felt sorry for stay in his house. In the setting of the novel, 1940s Nazi Germany, Hans’s action was considered an illegal and punishable crime. On that same night Hans tells his foster daughter Liesel the gravity of their situation. He elaborates on the consequences of anyone divulging their secret. “If you tell anyone about that poor man, they’ll drag that man (max), away and maybe momma and me too” (Zusak 104). Hans explains the potential ramifications of anyone discovering Max in their dwellings. He tells Liesel of all the negative consequences that his decision could provoke. Hans’s decision runs the risk of his arrest, and the separation of his family all for the sake of one man that Hans’s is emotionally attached to. Hans’s strong emotions towards Max influence him to make an irrational decision that threatens the destruction of his family. There are many other instances in the novel where Hans’s strong feelings towards others cloud his judgment. At one point in the novel Hans decides to save the life of a Jewish man even though he realizes that the Nazi officials were watching and they forbade this type of behavior. After h...
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Strong feelings towards another can lead to imprudent actions. Throughout The Book Thief Liesel, Rudy, and Hans make impetuous decisions due to their strong emotions towards another. From reading this novel one can conclude that there is a very fine line between irrationality and bravery. Most of the decisions and subsequent actions made in the story could be regarded as brave but in truth many of these decisions were impetuous and ill thought out. In fact many of the characters subsequently came to this conclusion as well. The characters could have achieved more by executing logically planed actions instead of acting on the spur of the moment and jeopardizing their lives or the lives of others. It is amazing that even polar opposites emotions like love and hate result in the same irrational consequences as exemplified by Rudy, Hans and Liesel.
The emotions that stem from core beliefs influence how people act and react in society. Some emotions that influence people are anger, fear, shame, and pride. In “Samuel” a woman wants to turn and tell the kids to stop jumping recklessly, and even threaten to call a police officer (Paley 349). The boys who are of different ethnic background other than white scare the woman. The narrator states from the woman’s point of view, “But three of the boys were Negroes and the other was something else she couldn’t tell for sure. She was afraid they’d be fresh and laugh at her and embarrass her. She wasn’t afraid they would hit her, but she was afraid of embarrassment.” (Paley 349). The stereotype of these boys causes the woman to fear the feeling of embarrassment causing her to do nothing to alter the boys’ behaviors. If the woman had intervened the outcome could had turned out different. The man who "citizenly" (Paley 350) walks to the end of the car to pull the emergency stop discussed earlier feels a moral obligation to take matter into his own hands to stop the boys’ behaviors. The man feels his duty is to intervene; although his actions lead to a tragic outcome. Désirée is also affected by her husband’s cultural
The Book Thief and The Devil’s Arithmetic both focus on the prejudice Hitler had on different types of people during World War II. Liesel and Hannah both lost someone they had dearly loved. Liesel lost Rudy and Hannah lost many members of her family. In a time of fearfulness, both had told stories to the people surrounding them. Although both were not seen as equal in the eyes of many during their time, I see them as courageous and brave heroes after what they underwent.
Envision a world where evil has taken over, simply because decent people are willing to do nothing to oppose the evil that is taking over. The idea is not far off from reality, because many people believe evil is prevails when decent people do nothing. Among these people was Edmund Burke, who once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” He meant that injustice will continue to take place when good people don’t choose to fight against injustices. Many people agree with Burke, because true events have occurred that support Burke’s statement. Some people disagree, because they believe that even when righteous people intervene, evil will continue to prosper. However, Burke is correct in his statement
Words hold great power and when used correctly can influence what people believe and how they act.
In the Book Thief, both Liesel and Hans have very altruistic personalities. When the Jew’s march through Himmel Street to get to Dachau, everyone knows where they are going. They watch them march by, walking around them and staring. 75 percent of Hungary’s 600,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis, and only a few brave people tried to save just one Jew. (We Are All Bystanders page 4) These people risked their lives to shelter Jews, much like Rosa and Hans Hubermann. As the Jews march to Dachau, and the residents of Himmel Street stand and watch the Jews marching towards their death at the concentration camps, Death writes, “The book thief could do nothing but watch them back in a long, incurable moment before they were gone again. She could only hope they could read the depth of sorrow in her face, to recognize that it was true, and not fleeting.” ( ) Liesel feels helpless, like she can’t do anything. She longs to call out to them and help but knows that it would be worthless. A few minutes later, however, Papa takes action. Papa quickly grabs something from his paint cart and helps an old man who was struggling to walk and gives him some bread. Papa took action when no one else would. Papa pays the consequence, but in that moment, Papa displayed moral courage. Papa’s selfless personality let him reach out to help the man, even
“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness” (84). In the beginning, we are introduced to the narrator by the name of Death. He informs the readers that he has many stories, but only remembers the ones that interest him. The tale of Liesel Meminger is one such tale, as he was always fascinated by her will to live through the most horrible instances. It should be duly noted however, that this story does not have a happy ending. Death makes this clear before we even have a chance to get our hopes up. He tells us that everyone dies; the amount of time that they last is truly the only difference. After this sordid fact is in place, he mentions just Liesel first attracted his attention.
When Liesel and Rudy steal books and food it is a small way of defying Hitler, empowering themselves, and building their identities. This is particularly true for Liesel, as the books she steals help form her own story, but for both children stealing becomes a way of taking some control over a world gone mad. Rudy has his own unique relationship with stealing and giving. He wants to be a thief, and stealing things cheers him up when something bad has happened, but he ends up being better at leaving things behind. At first it is Liesel's shoes, but then he purposefully leaves the teddy bear for the dying pilot and bread for the starving Jews. Ilsa Hermann's books also symbolize the complicated nature of this theme. First she offers Liesel her
In Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Charles Halloway does not know how to express his feelings and is fighting within himself. Due to the fact he does not know how to extend out to others he is distant. He fears that he is too old to bond with his son, and he also fears death. Later on he figures himself out and starts to accept himself and life. Charles Halloway overcomes his own fears and inner emotions which he struggled to grasp and comprehend. To be human is to feel emotions such as envy, sadness, anger, fear, and happiness. At one point or another, people feel as if life is spiralling out of control without having a grasp of their emotions.
The second example in The Book Thief is when Rudy Steiner a local teenage boy from Molching, Germany sees an Allied Force pilot fall from the sky into Nazi Germany, and when he is dying Rudy places a teddy bear on top of the man’s head, symbolizing the unity and the attempt at helping somebody by human nature, as he does not consider his affiliation with enemy powers before commiting the action. Rudy Steiner’s pureness of heart and good intention ultimately portrays a humanization in the radicalized state of Nazi Germany in a time when affiliating, assisting or aiding with anybody else other than German’s can put you in a labor camp or killed. Lastly, the helping from Hans Hubermann to the Jewish shopkeeper shows his overall good will in the world and makes his death and others in Molching an utter disgrace. When the Jewish shopkeeper had come back to a robbery and ransacking of his store including graffiti on the door of the shop and broken glass, Hans offered to help repaint his door, as he is a painter by
Another example would be when Rudy “arrived first, with cluttered breath and what appeared to be a toolbox. With great trepidation, he approached the cockpit and watched the pilot, gauging if he was alive, at which point, he still was… From the toolbox, the boy took out, of all things, a teddy bear. He reached in through the torn windshield and placed it on the pilot’s chest” (Zusak 9). As it was stated before, Kindness is beautiful because of the simplicity of it and when it is an unexpected and rare thing that is what makes kindness all the more beautiful. The moments in which Rudy and Hans give comfort to the less fortunate or unfortunate may be simple but because of the rarity of kindness shown towards Jews or the dying during Hitlers reign it makes their kindness and generosity even more beautiful than what it would be had it been in a normal setting. Compared to the amount of cruelty and suffering that goes on during the war, the acts of kindness that the characters in the novel display are undoubtedly
As seen in the Novel, most acts of anger and violence are down to failed dreams and hope, with the one or two exceptions and that they are both ways of letting how you feel known and a way to make you feel better.
In the Diary of Anne Frank, Anne had reluctantly kept her Star of David while Peter had burned it up to ashes. Anne had believed that World War II would soon come to an end, and so she had held onto her Star of David. Anne’s heart was heavy with fear, faith, and animation, and she longed to live in a world of friendship and love. She was hopeful little girl. Another example from The Book Thief includes Rudy Steiner, Liesel's best friend. He was hopeful that his father would return from war. In fact, he was jealous that Hans Hubermann had received the opportunity to return home, unlike his father. The excerpt, “ Rudy smiled and laughed, and Liesel could see that he was at least trying. However, she could also sense the bitter taste of questions in his mouth. Why him? Why Hans Hubermann and not Alex Steiner?” proves Rudy’s jealousy on page
Markus Zusak uses Hyperbole, in order to enhance imagery for the readers. He uses Hyperbole when he is explaining the fear that runs through the Hubermann home, when they discover the Nazis will be examining their basement. Their hearts were beating so intensely from fear, when they realized their time to efficiently hide Max was over. Zusak over exaggerates their fear by creating an impossible occurrence, which helps readers clearly visualize and understand the intensity of fear that surrounds their home. In conclusion, the author uses hyperbole in order to enhance the fear felt amongst the Hubermann household.
From my point of view, the author wants to show that everybody may have an inside feeling of killing or revenging someone. People will not do it in the real life, but they try to do that in their mind. It indeed happens. The story shows various kinds of human being, including the ego, the sense of self, a flash of anger, a drive to kill, a feeling of hate, and a strong mind of control.
What leads someone to lie? What influences a person to steal? Could it be someone’s personality that causes someone to cheat? Enclosed inside every piece of literature exists a remarkable amount of conflict. Whether it be a small, nonessential problem between the characters or a gargantuan, immeasurable issue within the main character, majority of readers would quickly lose interest if these conflicts did not exist. As a result, authors add such conflicts to rise the excitement to their literature. Similarly, enclosed inside every person lies a dark side usually involving something they purposely try to hide or conceal. Deep within me exists my jealous side. Jealousy is known to twist human emotions and is known to lead to harm and revenge towards others. On the other hand, the type of jealousy I possess is manifested only in relationships and I have a hard time shutting it out. This jealous dark side of mine adds conflict to majority of my relationships resulting in many arguments that eventually lead to separation.