The most modern of the main eight characters, Cornelius Engelbrecht is perhaps one of the most complex. While most people believe that art brings out the best and most tender in all of us, for Cornelius, this is impossible. The author’s intention is to demonstrate through Cornelius that all art has history, and when art is sullied by evil, as this painting was sullied by Nazi greed, it ruins the artwork’s beauty. The painting carries the stain of immorality and sin, which corrupts Cornelius. Cornelius’s determination to either burn or hide the painting show his willingness to hide his father’s thievery, but he longs to keep it and tries to find an ally who agrees with him in the art teacher. Through Cornelius, the reader sees that even art, once sullied by blood, cannot transmit beauty, no matter how exquisite it is. 

Hannah is on the cusp of becoming a woman. She is often lost in thought. Though her grandmother has nothing but criticism for her, Hannah realizes she is a girl with deep feelings. She is beginning to understand the world is changing and that big things are happening. She puts the yellow star on her sweater without thinking much about it, but when she sees the German family being deported, she sees and understands that things are not as they should be.