The Final Chapter

"You save someone. You kill them. How was he supposed to know? The only thing he truly did know was that he'd have done everything to have been on Himmel Street that night so that Rudy survived rather than himself. (Zusak,547). The Steiner blamed himself for Rudy's death, but in the end it was the least cruel of the fates he was dealt. Either he went to the German Special Forces school and endured years of torture, or he stayed, and would die in the air raid of Himmel Street. I thought Rudy was the best character and deserved a better fate than he was given. Rudy was destined for a life with Liesel. With his athletic ability and his intelligence, Rudy probably could have gotten a student visa into the United States. He could bring Liesel with him, and they could grow older together. "That day on the steps Alex Steiner was sawn apart. Liesel told him that she had kissed Rudy's lips. It embarrassed her but she thought he might like to know." (Zusak,547). Instead of living the life he deserved with Liesel, he was left with a small token of her devotion, and was not even alive to recieve it. It is further proof of life's irony, knowing that you only truly get what you want once, once you can not have it. The only thing Rudy ever asked of Liesel was a kiss. He even was willing to suffer death from hypothermia, after jumping in the Ampere River when it was freezing in the winter to retrieve her book The Whistler. Rudy did deserve a life with Liesel, but sometimes life does not work out, and Death would know.

Works Cited
Zusak,Markus. The Book Thief. New York City, NY: Alfred A Knoph. Print 2005.