Friendship In Elie Wiesel's The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a touching story about life, death, friendship, and sacrifice. The story, which is narrated by Death, follows the life of Liesel Meminger as she adjusts to a whole new life in a new house. If that isn’t enough for her, she also needs to adjust to the war that is going on around her. Throughout her life on 33 Himmel Street, Liesel sees some amazing things, meets some fascinating people, and makes a few unbreakable friendships.
When Liesel first arrives on 33 Himmel Street, she is introduced to a little boy her age named Rudy Steiner. Rudy and Liesel have an unmistakable bond, that was formed over a simple game of soccer. They didn’t meet by saying hi and asking if they wanted to be friends. They met by Liesel blocking a goal

When they first meet, they are two friends who like to goof off, play soccer, and call each other names the only way that best friends can do, but by the end of the story, Liesel realizes that she actually have feelings for the boy with the hair the color of lemons. “She leaned down and kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips.” (page 536). Rudy had always known his true feelings for Liesel, but it wasn’t until close to the end when Liesel realized her true feelings for Rudy. Liesel didn’t realize that she really loved Rudy, but when she was sure of it, it was too late. Their friendship had gone from the classic, ‘I’ll be your best friend and you’ll be my best friend,’ to them both having a crush on each other, and that is one of the best ways that their friendship could have

One main event that contributed to their friendship evolving as it did was the time Rudy jumped into the river to retrieve a book for Liesel. “Soon, he peeled off his coat and jumped in, wadding to the middle if the river.” (page 302). When Viktor Chemmel saw Rudy and Liesel, he immediately thought that he should resume the title of Rudy’s tormentor, and took Liesel's book from her, thinking that it was a prized possession. “She knew at that exact moment that Viktor Chemmel established that the book was a prized possession.” (page 301). After Viktor realized this, he took the book and threw it into the freezing, cold river below them. When Rudy saw this, he, without hesitation, ran down to the river and dove in to get it. He knew how important books were to Liesel and he didn’t want to see her unhappy. Another major event that helped evolve their friendship was when Rudy got his pants caught in a barbed wire fence and Liesel didn’t leave him. One day, when Liesel and Rudy were going to steal apples with Arthur Berg and his friends, they saw the farmer coming and they ran. When they were climbing over the barbed wire fence, Rudy got the leg of his pants stuck, and Liesel didn’t leave him. She stayed back and helped him untangle himself from the fence. “Liesel arrived and started pulling on the fabric of his pants.” (page 165). She could have left, but she didn’t. She realized how