Alternate Ending

I have a tie between two characters, so I thought since I can’t seem to pick one I might as well do both.

M y first choice would have to be Death. I thought Death was a very complex character, with that being said I think I could almost relate to his level of humanity and how he saw the world. I envied him for the chance to see both sides of human behavior; he saw the absolute best sides and the worst sides of people.

At the very end of the book, Death meets up with Liesel in her old age, at her small house in Sydney, Australia.  I was happy with Deaths’ ending. It made sense to me and because he gave Liesel’s book back to her soul. I could try to write an alternate ending, but I’m afraid that I would basically ruin Markus Zusak’s work.

“All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the Book Thief and I say it now to you.

                *********************A LAST NOTE FROM YOUR NARRATOR*******************

                                                              I am haunted by humans.” (Zusak 550)

As for my second choice, that’s an easy one, Liesel Meminger. Liesel, to me, is a strong character. She had a way of pulling on my heartstrings, when something good happened to her I felt happy, when she was sad I would cry. I related to Liesel.

At the end of the book, everyone on Himmel Street had been crushed by rubble and bombs. Death had just finished picking up all the souls in Molching, Germany, all, but one. Liesel Meminger had fallen asleep in her basement, only a few weeks after finishing the book about her life up to this point (the story that Death is telling is actually the book that saved Liesel’s life that night.) Well, after the LSE pulled Liesel out of the rubble of her home, they pulled out the bodies. This part made me cry, a lot. Liesel kissed Rudy, told him she loved him, and said her final goodbye to her foster parents, the Hubbermans. Later, Rudy’s father came home from the war for the second burial ceremony, Liesel moved in to Frau Hermann and her husband asked Liesel to stay with them, American troops liberated Dachau; Max was free.

In my alternate ending for Liesel, I want her and Max to get married, I believe that they share a bond, he’s a little older than her, yes, but I still believe that they love each other.

Anyway, Dachau was liberated; when the Americans got the Jews healthy and they finally released them back to civilization. Alex Steiner and Liesel Meminger were some of the very few German’s waiting there for someone to come out. Finally, it happened. Max walked out of the Camp, walked up to Liesel, “They hugged and cried on the floor.” (Zusak 548) Max worked at Alex Steiner’s shop for a few years while Liesel grew for a young teenager to a beautiful woman. Max never realized how much he loved Liesel. The moved away to Australia and eloped. Alex Steiner and Isle Hermann signed the marriage certificate as witnesses. Max and Liesel had three girls and a boy to carry on the Vandenburg name. Max had lived to see his first grandson. Liesel had lived to see her family grow, to see them play, and to teach and pass down what she had witnessed; about humanities greatest downfalls and how even in the most dangerous times humanity can be a great thing. She greeted her old friend Death months later.

                                                                            The End.

Work Cited

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.