Rosa Hubermann, a character in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, is a seemingly abrasive person who despite first appearances, is a brave mother that acts based on morals regardless of the consequences for herself and is often unable to show her love and appreciation for her family. Rosa is considerate of others in her actions, whether family or a stranger only offering danger to her life. Death states that what shocks Liesel the most after they hide Max for weeks is the change in Rosa, “[w]hether it was the calculated way in which she divided the food, or the considerable muzzling of her notorious mouth, or even the gentler expression on her cardboard face” (211). Her changes reveal her thoughtfulness for others despite it having no benefit for herself as if she did not divide the food so that Max gets …show more content…
She and Hans decide to hide Max well aware of the consequences if they were found out, and unlike other Aryan Germans, they treat him as an equal. While Rosa does not hesitate to feed Max and clean the mess made from his vomit on their first meeting, a Nazi soldier only sees him as “[a] dirty asshole, [a] Jewish whore-dog” (514). This shows the difference in Rosa’s morals and the morals of Nazism, additionally displaying Rosa’s bravery as in spite of obvious consequences, she decides to hide a stranger, attempting to save their life. In summary, Rosa Hubermann is a complex character who in spite of her rough exterior, cares for others and often places their value above her own, and as Death says about Rosa’s heart, “[t]here was a lot of it, stored up, in miles of hidden shelving. Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night. She was a Jew feeder without a question in the world on a man’s first night in Molching. And she was an arm-reacher. Deep into a mattress, to deliver a sketchbook to a teenage girl.”