Character Analysis
Liesel Meminger: A young German girl who has lost just about everything. Her brother has passed away and her mother had dropped her off at a foster home. She meets her new family there on Himmel Street, and later comes to like them and maybe even love them. Liesel is adventurous and curious in her new life. She takes a liking to reading and does so when she gets the chance. She later becomes known as "the book thief" because of the meaning some books may have to her. The first book she steals is titled "The Gravedigger's Handbook", a book she kept because it was the last time she saw her mother and deceased brother.
Death: In this book, Death is a narrator, or even a shadow watching and waiting to collect the souls of the recently departed. He tries to distract himself from this line of work and does so as he takes an interest in the life of Liesel Meminger. He is shown to be sympathetic and understanding, two things that we normally do not associate with the word death.
Hans Hubermann: Hans Hubberman is Liesel's adoptive father. He is very kind and gentle to Liesel and plays the Accordian to her when she had nightmares in the middle of the night. His job as a house painter is what kept him from being a member of the Nazi Party, but there is also another reason as well. He has separate beliefs and morals than regular German people, and respects Jewish people. He tries to hid his thoughts, though it sometimes cannot be held in. Hans is shown to always fight for his beliefs even if many people don't agree with him and this leads to a lot of hard work in his life.
Rosa Hubermann: Hans's wife who is known for her foul language and quick temper. She constantly scolds Liesel and Hans, but deep down cares for both of them deeply. She tries not to show this fact on the outside though. Even though she acts this way to her close family, she respects and tries to comfort Max in any way possible when he arrives to live with the household. She earns money buy doing the laundry for some of the neighbors, but is struggling now since times are very hard.
Max Vandenburg: Max is Hans's war comerade's son. He hides in their basement because of a promise Hans made to Max's mother. He is skinny, and is described like a bird by Liesel. He arrived at the Hubermann household with a suitcase and "Mein Kampf". He is very polite and respectful to the Hubermann's since he understands the difficulties they have to go through because of him. This causes him to hardly every ask for anything and to live with the bare necessities. Even though he is very weak he still tries to believe that he can one day beat Hitler
Isla Hermann: The city mayor's wife. She is described by Rosa as an insane woman who rarely utters a word. Ilsa quickly senses Liesel's thirst for words and invites Liesel intro her large Library to help broaden her horizon on books. She and Liesel form a bond through Liesel's visits to her library during the laundry pickup. She feels ashamed at herself when she has to cancel the laundry pickup because of hard times and tries giving Liesel a book as a goodbye.
Rudy Steiner: Liesel's next door neighbor who is also her best friend. He is her partner in crime and is slightly crazy as well. He likes Liesel and wants her to kiss him, even though she always refuses. Liesel will eventually, but by the time she does it will already be too late. Rudy believes in fairness and equality. He would accompany Liesel on some of her book thievery missions and was the one who came up with the nick name "Book Thief" to describe her.
Adolf Hitler: He is the antagonist of this book and while not a major character, is brought up various times throughout the book. Liesel blames him for taking away her mother from her and proclaims her hatred for Hitler. Max also has dreams about him and Hitler fighting, which end up with Hitler convincing the crowd to attack him.
Death: In this book, Death is a narrator, or even a shadow watching and waiting to collect the souls of the recently departed. He tries to distract himself from this line of work and does so as he takes an interest in the life of Liesel Meminger. He is shown to be sympathetic and understanding, two things that we normally do not associate with the word death.
Hans Hubermann: Hans Hubberman is Liesel's adoptive father. He is very kind and gentle to Liesel and plays the Accordian to her when she had nightmares in the middle of the night. His job as a house painter is what kept him from being a member of the Nazi Party, but there is also another reason as well. He has separate beliefs and morals than regular German people, and respects Jewish people. He tries to hid his thoughts, though it sometimes cannot be held in. Hans is shown to always fight for his beliefs even if many people don't agree with him and this leads to a lot of hard work in his life.
Rosa Hubermann: Hans's wife who is known for her foul language and quick temper. She constantly scolds Liesel and Hans, but deep down cares for both of them deeply. She tries not to show this fact on the outside though. Even though she acts this way to her close family, she respects and tries to comfort Max in any way possible when he arrives to live with the household. She earns money buy doing the laundry for some of the neighbors, but is struggling now since times are very hard.
Max Vandenburg: Max is Hans's war comerade's son. He hides in their basement because of a promise Hans made to Max's mother. He is skinny, and is described like a bird by Liesel. He arrived at the Hubermann household with a suitcase and "Mein Kampf". He is very polite and respectful to the Hubermann's since he understands the difficulties they have to go through because of him. This causes him to hardly every ask for anything and to live with the bare necessities. Even though he is very weak he still tries to believe that he can one day beat Hitler
Isla Hermann: The city mayor's wife. She is described by Rosa as an insane woman who rarely utters a word. Ilsa quickly senses Liesel's thirst for words and invites Liesel intro her large Library to help broaden her horizon on books. She and Liesel form a bond through Liesel's visits to her library during the laundry pickup. She feels ashamed at herself when she has to cancel the laundry pickup because of hard times and tries giving Liesel a book as a goodbye.
Rudy Steiner: Liesel's next door neighbor who is also her best friend. He is her partner in crime and is slightly crazy as well. He likes Liesel and wants her to kiss him, even though she always refuses. Liesel will eventually, but by the time she does it will already be too late. Rudy believes in fairness and equality. He would accompany Liesel on some of her book thievery missions and was the one who came up with the nick name "Book Thief" to describe her.
Adolf Hitler: He is the antagonist of this book and while not a major character, is brought up various times throughout the book. Liesel blames him for taking away her mother from her and proclaims her hatred for Hitler. Max also has dreams about him and Hitler fighting, which end up with Hitler convincing the crowd to attack him.