Essay --

Every relationship that we have shapes who we are. As children we had many friends and took advantage of the friendships, not realizing how wonderful they were until we grow up and have to look back at what may have been, had we not taken those relationships for granted. Liesel Meminger has many important relationships throughout the novel The Book Thief. The most significant of these relationships is the one she has with Rudy Steiner, which is like one of our many friendships as children. The narrator of the novel, Death, shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other. When Liesel first arrives on Himmel Street, she has no friends. However, her quick friendship with Rudy grows strong and fast. Shortly after they become friends, Rudy begins to have romantic feelings for Liesel when he states hopefully, â€Å"If I beat you, I get to kiss you† (53). Unfortunately, she does not see him as anything other than a friend in the beginning. Their relationship is beautiful because it is so filled with love. Liesel learns from a young age what it is like to have someone you love taken away by Death and so it is hard for her to find love for a while in her life. Her relationship with Rudy, in addition to her relationship with Hans, helps her to â€Å"relearn† what love is. She only sees Rudy as the child who covered himself in dirt and called himself Jesse Owens, not a teenager who has always been there for her with love that blossomed early and endured forever. It was only until it was too late that she realizes that â€Å"He was her best frien d.† (518) and she truly loved him. Love comes in... ...ret from him. This helps her to see that she loves him and allows her to further analyze their amazing relationship. Overall Liesel and Rudy’s relationship is so significant because, in a way, it has us rethink own relationships in retrospect. Through their relationship we learn about our own, and their relationship teaches us to have no regrets in love. Their relationship is special in The Book Thief and it is one thing that remains constant in Liesel’s crazy life after her mom leaves her. Death shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other. Rudy and Liesel have been through many ups, and few downs in their relationship, but it has affected her for the better because Rudy retaught Liesel how to love.