Sacrifice In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

As the writer Ambrose Redmoon once stated, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something is more important than fear” (Redmoon). Using courage to do anything outside of a person’s comfort zone comes with a price, whether it is the fear of losing reputation, safety, or belongings. It is natural for humans to become preoccupied with the consequences of their actions and the danger at hand, rather than focusing on the impact their actions could potentially have on the future. Consequently, there are two types of people in the world: those who detach themselves from dangerous situations to protect themselves and those who fight past their selfish desires and fight for the right cause. These few upstanders sacrifice …show more content…
The Nazis, a totalitarian regime formed under Hitler’s leadership, had forced six million Jews to struggle in their businesses and ultimately be murdered (“Introduction to the Holocaust”). Many people overlook the vast amount of bystanders who were major contributors to the severity of these dark times. A depiction of these atrocities is in Markus Zusak’s historical fiction novel, The Book Thief. This novel follows the life of a young orphan girl named Liesel Meminger, her adoptive German parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and their struggles during the Holocaust. The Hubermanns secretly take in a struggling Jew named Max Vandenburg and risk their lives for his safety. Another example of upstanders helping during desperate times is the film Hotel Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda is about Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines, who allows Tutsi refugees to take shelter in his hotel during the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide was when an extremist group called the Hutu Power started killing off the once-superior Tutsis who were accused of shooting down the Hutu president’s