Fear In The Book Thief

Fear is something that controls almost everyone. People are always worried about being harmed in some way. Fear guiding our actions is shown in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 1984 by George Orwell, and Supergirl a TV Show. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is narrated by death as it tells the story of a young girl getting adjusted to life in Germany with her new family. 1984 by George Orwell is the story of Winston, a party member, in the time of Big Brother, the ruler. Winston turns against him, then he is caught and changed to love Big Brother. Supergirl is a TV Show that is the story of Superman’s cousin Supergirl as she goes around her city of New York saving the city. All these sources show one common purpose. Fear guides our actions by

Hans Hubermann best demonstrates this type of fear in The Book Thief. Hans gave bread to Jews who had been marching down the street with soldiers. Because of his actions Hans then got wiped with the Jew by soldiers. Hans was then called many mean names by people on his street like “jew lover” among others. Like most people in Nazi Germany Hans expected to be punished. However, because of fear, Hans acted differently. According to Liesel, “(Hans) He sent them both away and spent till morning with his head in his hands, waiting (for the gestapo)”(Zusak 399). Hans was paralyzed in place he didn’t move he sat there awaiting his outcome. If fear wasn’t a factor, Hans wouldn’t be sitting their afraid, he would have run away, disappear or even just gone about his normal business. This is a true example of fear paralyzing an individual as he really couldn’t move. The next example of fear paralyzing us is in the book 1984. In the book Winston, a party member, lives in Oceana under the rule of Big Brother. Winston starts to believe that Big Brother isn’t really real. He then continues these thoughts by questioning everything that he has been taught by the party. The one person he would like to talk about this with in the book is O’Brien, another party member. Winston thinks, “ O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect. Something in his face suggested it irresistibly… if somehow you could cheat the telescreen and get him alone. Winston never made

there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment… Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia” (Orwell 286)! Under normal circumstances Winston wouldn’t tell them to hurt Julia not him. However, he is so scared of the rats, that in his mind he has no choice but to blame her. This shows that fear compels us to agree to things we wouldn't normally agree to. That last example of fear compelling us to agree to something we normally wouldn’t agree to is back to the show Supergirl. In this part of the story, the aliens have mind controlled everyone in the city except Supergirl, Max Lord, the smartest man in the city, and Cat Grant, the most powerful person in the city. They are of course afraid for the world and humanity. Max explains his plan, “ I was working on a weapon to use against the Kryptonians...all kryptonians….a bomb.Filled with Kryptonite dust. It'll irradiate the entire city”(Teng Better Angels). Cat Grant then asks, “What exactly are we talking about, Max? Losses” (Teng Better Angels). Max replies, “8% of the population”(Teng Better Angels). Cat answers, “8% of four million people? That is over 300,000 people, Max”(Teng Better Angels). As we can see Max has come up with a weapon that would kill lots of people and the aliens. He is fearful of the alien's mind controlling the everyone in the world. So in his plan he will kill them and about 300,000 people. Under normal