What side do you believe?

Risking your life for the greater good or not risking

anything to stay safe?
Jui Nazre, 8-3/Stowe

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is about a young German girl living in the time of Nazi
Germany While reading the book, readers discover many ideas about what is right and wrong and
experience many contrasts of personalities between characters. In the Book thief by Markus Zusak,
the author reveals that there are two different types of people during the time of World War II. There
is the person who has morals that are willing to take many risks in order to save a persons life and
then there is the other person who is willing to push his/her good morals aside in order to make them
and their family stay safe and out of danger. A character in the Book Thief with good morals would be
Hans Hubermann, as he demonstrates that he is willing to risk even his and his families own safety in
order to save another person's life versus Alex Steiner who knows that he has good morals, but
decides to push them aside and be the stereotypical German in order to put his family out of
danger. Through the contrast of Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner, Markus Zusak shows readers that
having good morality is being able to risk your life and family in order for a greater cause such as a
persons life or a belief.

In the Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Hans Hubermann is portrayed as a character with very
good morals, which gets him far through life, and makes readers feel like he is willing to take risks for
any soul in order to save their lives, over his own. Towards the middle of the book, Hans Hubermann
decides to let a Jew stay in his house because the Nazi party was hunting Jews at the time. Max made
his way to Munich and Molching, and now he sat in a strangers kitchen, asking for the help he craved
and suffering the condemnation he felt he deserved. Hans Hubermann shook his hand and introduced

himself (196). This reveals to readers that Hans Hubermann is willing to take a huge risk and let a
person who is almost a stranger to him, just because of his good morals and that he feels that he
owes something to Jews, because of his Jewish friend from the war who died, whose son was Max.
This is important to readers, because this shows us that Hans is taking a huge risk by letting a Jew in
his house in World War II, but it also shows readers that Hans would rather risk his and his family's
safety and life, in order for someone greater and more important to live, in this case, Max. This
demonstrates that having good morals will take you really far in life because you are willing to risk so
much of your life in order for a greater cause. Another example of Hans taking a risk, is when the Jews
were parading through the streets of Molching and Hans was trying to help the Jews go forward,
while Hans was also looking for Max. Hans watched them above the heads of the crowding audience.
Im sure his eyes were silver and strained Stars of David were plastered to their shirts, and misery
was attached to them as if assigned They called him a Jew lover (392-395). This reveals to readers
that Hans Hubermann is even willing to take a step further and risk his and his familys safety in
public. Before, he only risked it at home, but only under his familys eyes, but now he is showing the
world that he cares for Jews, and everyone saw it. The importance of his actions help readers to
understand that in life, if people have good morals and they put them to use, it can help them go
through life feeling that they are accomplished and benefiting the greater cause.

In the Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Alex Steiner is a character that symbolizes the
stereotypical German, who is a part of the Nazi Party and who has the blond and blue-eyed kids. The
character Alex Steiner demonstrates that he has good morals but pushes them aside, so his family and
himself dont call any attention to the Nazi Party. Towards the beginning of the book, Death makes a
statement about the contradictory politics of Alex Steiner. Point 4: His family. Surely, he had to do
whatever he could do to support them. If that meant being in the party, it meant being in the party

(59-60). This reveals to readers that Alex Steiner would do anything just to keep his family safe, like
join the Nazi Party, even if when he believes that what they are doing is wrong. The importance of this
demonstrates that Alex Steiner has good morals, meaning he believes that what the Nazi party is
doing what's wrong, but he won't but the morals to use, because he doesnt want to risk his familys
safety and draw attention to them. In the chapter, the Jesse Owens incident, Rudy, Alex Steiners
son paints himself in black charcoal and runs around a track trying to be Jesse Owens. When Alex
Steiner finally finds Rudy, he tells his son off about why he shouldnt have done what he did. I know,
son-- but youve got beautiful blond hair and big, safe blue eyes. You should be happy with that; is
that clear? (61). This reveals to readers that Alex Steiner is telling his son to be happy that he has the
stereotypical German look, which is blond hair and blue eyes. This highlights that Alex Steiner doesnt
want his kid to call any attention to himself, like the Jesse Owens incident, because it would be risking
his danger and putting his life at risk, because during this time, people, especially the Nazis were not
tolerant of unique and different people. The reason that Markus Zusak put that quote in the book was
to show the importance of people having to push aside their morals in order for their family to be safe
and not stand out.

In the Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, the author reveals to readers that good morals can take
someone far in life. The author uses the contrast of two characters, Hans Hubermann and Alex Steiner
to show that having good morals and actually using them means taking risks by putting your own life
and familys life at risk by helping people for the greater good and benefit them so they can do
something amazing in life versus the character, Alex Steiner, who has good morals but doesnt put
them to use because he doesnt want to take the extra step of risking his safety and putting his family
in danger. This demonstrates to readers that during this time, those were the the two types of people

that started off life as almost the same person, where their only goal was to keep their family and
themselves safe, but the person who strongly believed in their good morals was then willing to push
themselves to take a step further and use their morals as a base to start trying to help and benefit the
greater good, such as someone elses life. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak demonstrates that having
good morality means having the ability to risk your life and your familys life for the greater good such
as a persons life or belief.