Examples Of Sacrifice In The Book Thief

A sacrifice can happen in many different ways for your family or simply for a friend. Either way a sacrifice can show someone what they truly hold dearly to themselves. Markus Zusak shows that there are many examples of characters sacrificing objects for their family in The Book Thief. A character whose sacrifices stood out to me was Hans Hubermann when he gave up his cigarettes to buy Liesel books for Christmas. Hans Hubermann makes many sacrifices for his family to provide to theme with happiness. An example of his sacrifices would be staying up late to teach Liesel how to read, changing her sheets when she wet the bed, and keeping her secret when she stole books. Although, these sacrifices are important the one that stood out was when he sold his cigarettes to buy Liesel books. Her love

“She could not deny that the answer to her question had been more than satisfactory. There were not many people who could say their education had been paid for with cigarettes” (Zusak 90). She realized that not many people’s parents would go the extra mile to help with her education. It didn’t matter to her how they got it just that they took time and effort to get her the books. “It appeared that there was great joy in cigarettes, and it was a happy time in the Hubermann household” (Zusak 90). Hans loved his cigarettes, but he loved his family more. He would rather make Liesel happy then himself. Hans’s sacrifice of cigarettes helped to give a deeper meaning to the theme of love. In conclusion, there are many sacrifices in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Sacrifices can come in many different forms and be made for many different reasons. The biggest sacrifice that stood out to me was from Hans when he sold his cigarettes for Liesel to get her books for Christmas. He sacrificed cigarettes to make Liesel happy and in doing so showed the deeper understanding of the theme