Liesel: “For Liesel Meminger, there was the imprisoned stiffness of movement, and the staggered onslaught of thoughts.” All she knows is pain and suffering. Liesel can’t read but she seems to understand all of her thoughts although she may be vulnerable. When liesel arrives at the Hubermanns on Himmel street she holds back, resistant to trust anyone. She has just lost the people she cares most about, she saw her brothers last breath as Death collected him. However liesel is strong “liesel would not get out of the car”, stubborn and defensive. The stories Liesel read made her a story worth reading, that is why Death carried her in his pockets. He knew from Liesel that humans were worth it. Liesel was her own person. She was unique. Each book Liesel reads seems to correspond with a stage in her life. The first book she steals is “The Grave Diggers Handbook”. The book seems to be a memento to her brother, sorrow, never seeing her mother again. A grave digger buries the dead. That book buries the end of an era in Liesel’s life. However it also opens her world up to thievery and words. Words she will use for the rest of her life, whether it be the words she writes in the basement with Hans or the words she uses to express her feelings throughout important parts of her life when writing her first book.  

Rudy: Rudy is the same age as Liesel. Skinny, white, blonde hair. Rudy was part of a large family and he was always hungry. Hunger drove Rudy. It made him play football to forget his hunger, to commit crimes to get food. And he is hungry for a kiss. The day he saw liesel he knew she was someone to keep close. Rudy has a kind heart that means well, but he’s young and does not understand the political diversity and fight throughout Germany. Rudy is adventurous and makes sudden reckless decisions often but beneath his immature acts Rudy is compassionate and fearless. He wants to protect his friend, his girl Liesel. “He does something to me that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry”. We can’t not love Rudy he is the extra bit of flavour in the text, the bubbles the happiness. He is Rudy and his rebellious acts balance nicely with his kind heart.      

Rosa: Rosa is a harsh women. She is inconsistent throughout the plot of the novel and brings much of the conflict between Hans, and Liesel. “Nobody wanted to be the one to tell Rosa that the boy had not survived the trip”, she was the anger in the cold little house. She washes the rich of Molching’s clothes, however she may need to wash her own mouth out for her rough exterior is accompanied by foul language. It looks like Rosa despises little Liesel when she first meets her, she believes the little girl is mute. She doesn’t like that Hans stays up with her even when she wets the bed. Rosa seems to never shut up she even loudly snores throughout her sleep. As the novel progresses we slowly learn of Rosa’s love and her weakness. Liesel sees a weak side of her when Hans is off to help in the war. She clutches the instrument to her chest, her big heart filled with worry. And just like liesel we learn that any form of criticism or nagging are a form of affection from Rosa. Sometimes you have to just take what you can get from her, but Rosa’s heart was in it. She was in love with Hans and she loved Liesel. Rosa was the women who didn’t get many thanks aside from “yes mama” “no mama” from Liesel but she was a super hero in this story, she was a mother. Rosa kept the family surviving on such minimal food supplies, she kept them warm and she kept them on their toes.  

Hans: Hans gives the reader security throughout the text. He is a safe character. Silently he resists the Nazi party and brings up Liesel as a fatherly figure. “To most people Hans Hubermann is barely visible. An unsocial person, somehow, I am sure you have met people like this, he was able to appear in the background. He was just always there. Not noticeable.” This was Death’s description of the man, but he was light and fluffy. We may not have seen the hero that he seemed to be but Liesel saw this and that is all that mattered. His humility and quiet statements he made as a character work in his favour. He is not seen as a threat to Germany or their Nazi’s even though he feeds the jews walking slowly through town. They never check his house. Hans main desire throughout the text for Liesel is to develop her language skills. Hans is an addition to Liesel saving her own life by writing in the basement. Hans is gentle and gives relief to the reader however at moments he does stress us with his compassion for he could be endangering the ones he loves. It is almost like Death spared Hans’ life when he breaks his leg in the truck accident. His soul wasn’t quite ready to take he obviously still had some sort of purpose within him.