1. The Book Thief

2. We are learning how the author creates a successful opening section
I can comment on:
Style
Structure
Setting
Main characters
Symbols
Theme

3. Key Facts
narrator ·  The Book Thief is narrated by Death (yes, that Death) the day after the death of the main character, Liesel.
point of view · Death is an omniscient narrator who switches between first person and a closed third person point of view, describing all the main characters’ thoughts and emotions as well as his own. He mostly sticks to the events during the years of World War Two, though occasionally he flashes forward to relay different characters’ fates.
tone · The tone is intimate and conversational, with the narrator at times interrupting himself or interjecting reactions to the narrative. Though his voice employs humor, the overall sense is of sadness.
tense · Past tense with flashbacks and occasional flash forwards.
setting (time) · Primarily World War Two, January 1939 – October 1943
setting (place) · Primarily the fictional German town of Molching, a suburb of Munich
protagonist · Liesel Meminger
major conflict · After losing her family in the lead-up to World War II, Liesel must establish her identity as she helps her foster family hide a Jew from the Nazis and deals with the hardships of war-time Germany.
rising action · Given to foster parents after the death of her brother, Liesel adjusts to life with a new family and friends and begins learning the value of words as Germany moves gradually toward war and her family hides Max, a Jewish man, from Nazi authorities.
climax · Liesel encounters Max being marched to a concentration camp, precipitating a crisis in her in which she questions the value of words.
falling action · Liesel begins writing her own story and then must learn to move on after all her family and friends are killed in a bomb raid.
foreshadowing · Death describes the three times he saw Liesel; Death announces at the beginning of Part Five that Rudy will die in two years; Death saying that Rudy goes from a stealer of bread to a giver of bread; Death suggesting that Zucker’s dislike of Hans will cost him his life; Death hinting that Liesel will be a great writer some day.

4. The Prologue Death introduces himself as the narrator of the book.
He describes his work and his preference for a chocolate brown sky when he collects people’s souls.
He lists the main elements of the story to come, and reveals that he has seen the main character, the book thief, three times.
The first time he saw her was on a train where he had come to collect the soul of a small boy. The book thief watched him take the boy with tears frozen to her face.
The next time Death saw the book thief was years later, when a pilot had crashed his plane. Death arrived for the pilot’s soul and watched as a boy took a teddy bear from a toolbox and gave it to the pilot.
The third time he saw the book thief, a German town had been bombed. The book thief was sitting on a pile of rubble, holding a book. Death followed the book thief for a while, and when she dropped her book, he picked it up.

5. Death
Death provides glimpses of the story's future but doesn't narrate in detail, something he will do as the novel progresses.
He comments frequently on his inability to understand humans, how they can be so kind and yet still cause so much destruction and suffering; like colours, humans are ever-changing and can also be murky in their behaviour. Along with the mood of the humans, the colours often complement the weather, as well as the tone of the events happening during particular chapters.

6. Structure
The novel is not a linear story. It is a quite episodic and it jumps back and forward in time. It is divided up into sections which are marked off by important books in Liesel Meminger’s life.
Past tense with flashbacks and occasional flash forwards.
By foreshadowing the times he saw Liesel, Death sets up the structure of the narrative, organized around three major events in Liesel’s life, and also creates a sense of inevitability, or predestination, for what follows.
The reader also has a greater understanding of a situation than the characters often do, in large part because the reader has the benefit of seeing events from Death’s nearly omniscient point of view.
Death is an omniscient (all-knowing and all-seeing) narrator who switches between first person and a closed third person point of view, describing all the main characters’ thoughts and emotions as well as his own. He mostly sticks to the events during the years of World War Two, though occasionally he flashes forward to relay different characters’ fates.

7. Style
With Death as the unconventional, omniscient narrator of The Book Thief, the novel immediately establishes that the story will mix elements of fantasy with historical fact.
Yet Death is not the stereotypical idea we have of him….how does he describe himself? Remember what he says (in bold type) and the tone he uses….
How does the reader react to this? Are we prepared to suspend our disbelief and listen to this narrator?
Does this bring us into the novel? Why?
The use of Death as the Narrator has a great impact on us, the readers and ADDS TO THE SUCCESS OF THE NOVEL.

8. Style The Book Thief features innovative stylistic techniques.
The most obvious innovation (which some readers love and others can't stand) is narrator Death's use of boldface text to relay certain information, as here: *** A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT*** ABOUT RUDY STEINER
He didn't deserve to die the way he did. (37.9).
Zusak also includes illustrations. He gives us books within his books.

9. Tone
The tone is intimate and conversational, with the narrator at times interrupting himself or interjecting reactions to the narrative. Though his voice employs humour, the overall sense is of sadness.

10. Setting
The novel starts in January 1939 – Germany is on the brink of war and most of the novel is set during WW2
These early sections also introduce Germany as a country on the brink of a world war. Again, there is a dramatic irony in that the reader knows the gravity of the political situation that’s developing, whereas the characters in the novel have little sense of the destruction that awaits them
The Book Thief is set in Munich, which is in the south of Germany.
Near Munich is the Dachau Concentration Camp
Himmel Street, where the Hubermanns and Steiners live, is where much of the action takes place. "Himmel," Death informs us, translates to "heaven“.
The majority of the early chapters are devoted to introducing and developing the main characters in the book and creating a portrait of a typical German suburb.

11. “First the colours. Then the humans. That’s how I usually see things
“First the colours. Then the humans. That’s how I usually see things.” (Death, p 3)
Death observes colours as a distraction from the anguished survivors of the dead: "I do, however, try to enjoy every colour I see--the whole spectrum... It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.“
“People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours. Waxy yellows, cold-spat blues. Murky darknesses.” (p5)
Death's willingness to observe different shades in the colour spectrum indicates Death's fundamental indecision about whether the human race is totally good or totally evil, suggesting that in Death's analysis, human beings are at various times capable of being either good or bad. (INTRODUCTION OF THEME)

12. Colours
Death repeats frequently the state and colour of the sky during important events.
What are the colours death mentions for each of the times he saw Liesel?
What are the ideas and significance psychologically attached to colours (both conscious and subconscious)?
How are these colours significant? (Think of the setting)

13. Prologue Questions
1. From what point of view is the novel told? Who is the narrator of the story? How do you know? 2. What theory does the narrator suggest about colours? 3.What purpose do colours serve for the narrator? Why does the narrator need distractions? 4.What elements does the narrator specifically name as critical components of the story? 5.Who might you infer is the book thief? Has he or she already been named? Explain your answer. 6. What might the reader infer about the book thief?

14. Symbols
“YOU CANNOT WRITE ABOUT “THE BOOK THIEF” WITHOUT WRITING ABOUT THE BOOKS….”
“The Grave Digger’s Handbook” is the first book Liesel steals, despite the fact she cannot read.
It is a direct connection to her brother, but it also is the beginning of her education and her mastery of words that can be used, she soon realises, to heal, to wound and to save.

15. Symbols – The Accordion
Death shows how it is responsible for saving Hans's life, more than once, and how the same accordion will deliver another man from Death as well. It exists as a powerful symbol for many characters throughout the novel. For example, Liesel comes to associate the accordion with her Papa, with safety. Rosa sees Hans in the accordion, as well, clutching it as if it was him when Hans is away

16. Part One Introduction to the characters
These early sections also introduce Germany as a country on the brink of a world war.

17. The characters’ reactions to Hitler’s policies range a great deal
The characters’ reactions to Hitler’s policies range a great deal. Candy store owner Frau Diller enthusiastically embraces Nazism, demanding everyone in her store give the requisite “heil Hitler” before they are able to shop there. Rudy’s father, Alex Steiner’s, displays a more passive acceptance of the political situation. Lastly, Hans Hubermann subtly resists the new regime. By showing a range of responses, Zusak establishes a theme he will elaborate on throughout the book, as characters forced to choose between openly resisting anti-Semitic and inhumane policies and protecting their own families and themselves turn increasingly cruel or kind.

18. Part one
Rather than being stereotypically grim or creepy, Death presents himself as sensitive to color and light, and rather regretful about his unfortunate line of work. He has feelings for the souls he collects, and the humans left behind. Liesel, in particular, has made such a strong impression on him that he can’t forget the three times he saw her.
Although Death is presented as a singular, almost-human narrator, he is all- knowing and all-seeing, which will enable him to describe scenes and emotions he wouldn’t have knowledge of were he a more conventional narrator, while at the same time giving him a distinct personality and point of view.
In contrast to Death, Liesel’s understanding of her situation is limited to that of a nine-year-old girl. Accordingly, the reader may even at this early point understand more of what is happening than Liesel does. For example, Liesel is not sure what happened to her biological father, but because of the hints given in the text that he was a Communist, and because of what we know of Hitler’s policies in Germany during the early 1930s, it seems likely Liesel’s father was sent to a concentration camp. This is just one example of the dramatic irony author Markus Zusak uses throughout “The Book Thief,” where the reader has a greater understanding of a situation than the characters often do, in large part because the reader has the benefit of seeing events from Death’s nearly omniscient point of view.

19. Characters
Liesel Meminger -  The protagonist of the story. She is the character that we see change and develop most. Liesel changes from an angry, distrusting character to one who deeply loves her family and friends. By the end of the book she has a strong personal moral code, despite having been a book thief thoughout.
Hans Hubermann -  Liesel’s stepfather. Hans is patient and gentle with Liesel, and is the first adult able to win her trust. He is constantly motivated to help others, and his strong sense of right and wrong causes him to act against his own best interests. He is a major character through which we investigate the theme of the what does it mean to be brave (more about that later) and he has a great influence on Liesel in this area.
Rosa Hubermann -  Liesel’s stepmother. Unlike her husband, Rosa first comes across as cold and impatient. The story reveals through her treatment of Liesel and willingness to take in Max, however, that beneath her tough exterior she is in fact kind and caring.

20. Characters - Liesel Liesel Meminger
What are our first impressions of her?
How do we react to her??

21. Hans Hans Hubermann What are our first impressions of him?
How do we react to him ??

22. Rosa Rosa Hubermann What are our first impressions of her?
How do we react to her??

23. Task
In your groups and with reference to part 1 compile a character profile of the character you have been given.
Things to consider:
Physical description
Personalities/ character qualities
The reactions of the characters to Hitler’s policies
Include quotations in your work

24. In your new groups share the information that you have worked on so that everyone in the class has an idea of the main characters at the beginning of the book.

25. Importance of the Jesse Owens incident
1. Who is Jesse Owens?
2. Was Liesel present for the ‘Jesse Owens Incident’? Explain.
3. How does Death’s explanation of Mr. Steiner’s politics explain his anger with his son’s emulation of Jesse Owens?
4.Whatis Rudy’s father trying to make Rudy understand when he tells Rudy that he should be happy that he has blond hair and blue eyes?
5.What is the significance of the event that Death foreshadows at the end of the chapter?

26. Introduction of theme in part one
Death and loss
The kindness and cruelty of humanity
Relationships
Identity and belonging
War
Words and books

27. War
Death's descriptions of Hitler's voice over the radio resonate again with this theme of words carrying power, how they motivate an entire nation to pursue war and the goal of "Deutschland über Alles," or "Germany above All." This power contrasts, again, with Liesel's lack of power resulting from her inability to read, which leads to her violent actions in the schoolyard, as she overcompensates in defending herself. The larger war that Germany has incited parallels Liesel's smaller war in the schoolyard. Liesel's success with her fists will earn her a friend later in the novel, another character who has a passion for boxing. At the end of this chapter, Rudy has his arm around Liesel, comforting her and walking her home. Rudy, the boy who wants to defeat the world, and Liesel, the "book thief without words." They're not quite equipped yet, but they have each other.

28. Quotes
“I travelled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyer belt of eternity.” (Death, p23) “I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance.” (Death, p329)
“Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder.” (Death, p359) “This time, his voice like a fist, freshly banged on the table. (p136) “The soft spoken words fell off the side of the bed, emptying onto the floor like powder. (p67) “Everything was so desperately noisy in the dark when he was alone. Each time he moved, there was the sound of a crease. He felt like a man in a paper suit.” (p152) “When the train pulled into the Bahnhof in Munich, the passengers slid out as if from a torn package. (p25)

29. Some of the character’s reactions to the political situation
These early sections also introduce Germany as a country on the brink of a world war. Again, there is a dramatic irony in that the reader knows the gravity of the political situation that’s developing, whereas the characters in the novel have little sense of the destruction that awaits them. The characters’ reactions to Hitler’s policies range a great deal. Candy store owner Frau Diller enthusiastically embraces Nazism, demanding everyone in her store give the requisite “heil Hitler” before they are able to shop there. Rudy’s father, Alex Steiner’s, displays a more passive acceptance of the political situation. Lastly, Hans Hubermann subtly resists the new regime. By showing a range of responses, Zusak establishes a theme he will elaborate on throughout the book, as characters forced to choose between openly resisting anti-Semitic and inhumane policies and protecting their own families and themselves turn increasingly cruel or kind.

30. Part two
Germans, Death declares, love to burn things. He points as evidence to the upcoming celebration of Hitler’s birthday, April 20, and the book burning.
Liesel is becoming more accomplished in her reading and writing and is rewarded at Christmas with two books that Hans traded cigarettes for.
Liesel continues helping Rosa deliver the washing, but with war becoming more of a reality, many of Rosa’s customers discontinue their patronage.
As an assignment for school, Liesel writes a letter to her mother, and begins waiting for a reply. The social worker who delivered Liesel to the Hubermanns arrives and informs Liesel that she has lost contact with Liesel’s mother, but Liesel continues to hope for a response to her letter.
On the day of Hitler’s birthday, the town decorates the streets with German flags and Nazi swastikas. When the Hubermanns can’t find their flag, Rosa frets that the Nazis will come and take them away. Hans Jr. fights with his father about Hitler, and seeing Liesel reading quietly, he asserts that she should be reading MKPF instead.

31. Part two
Liesel informs Hans that she hates Hitler at the book burning. He slaps her across the face, and tells her she must never say such a thing in public. They practise saluting Hitler.
Liesel steals her next book but only after she has the book does she realize she has been observed by a figure with fluffy hair. The book is called The Shoulder Shrug and it burns her inside her shirt as she walks home with Papa.

32. Politics
- Hans and his son’s argument
- Liesel’s realization that Hitler is to blame for her parents’ situation
- Liesel’s saying that she hates Hitler
- Practising the salute
- Book burning
Character (Liesel) – Ludwig Schmeikl
- lack of awareness of the political consequences of her actions
- Takes risks in order to get books
Theme of duality – a public and private life

33. Part three
Liesel’s discovery of Frau Hermann’s library. - Liesel’s understanding of the world of books is greatly expanded. Rather than being random items to be stolen when the rare chance presents itself, books can be collected, organized, and perused at their owners’ leisure. Although Liesel is living in a time of increasing hardship and deprivation, it is the library, more than food or other material possessions, that strikes her as an exceptional luxury. In gaining entry to this world of knowledge and imagination, she has the opportunity to expand her own world, and the possibilities for her life.
Liesel learns of the death of the Hermanns’ son and begins to understand Frau Hermann’s odd, anti-social behavior. Part of the expansion of Liesel’s world is the understanding that others have suffered the way she has suffered. Most of the people Liesel meets will have lost a significant person in their lives, and as Liesel matures as a character, she will develop compassion for others, and insight into their actions and behavior.
Liesel, meanwhile, continues her emotional and moral development. In a notable scene, after Liesel and Rudy set the trap for the delivery boy and steal his food, they feel remorse, and they promise each other they won’t rob him again. In this way, Liesel begins creating a moral code for herself that balances the need for survival against the desire not to hurt others. She realizes that there are different levels of criminality, so to speak, and while she isn’t bothered by stealing, harming someone is repugnant to her. This realization about her conscience sets her apart from some of the other characters we meet in the novel who feel no hesitation about hurting others. It shows us that, while Liesel continues to do things like stealing that are technically wrong, she is nonetheless a kind, conscientious person overall.

34. Techniques and themes in part three
Hans sees the book that Liesel stole from the bonfire. He promises not to tell Rosa, and in return Liesel promises to keep a secret for him if he ever asks. (Suspense)
Liesel finds out that the person who saw her take the book was the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann. When Liesel finally summons the courage to go Frau Hermann invites her into the library, where Liesel marvels at the room filled with books. She finds a book on the shelf with the name Johann Hermann written inside. Frau Hermann tells her that he was her son, and he died on the battlefield during World War I. Liesel tells Frau Hermann she is sorry for her loss. (War)
The narrative switches to the town of Stuttgart, where a Jewish man named Max is hiding in a secret storage room, sitting on his suitcase in the dark, starving. A man brings him carrots, stale bread, and a piece of fat, and tells Max he may have gotten him an identity card. When the man leaves, Max eats a portion of the food and resumes his wait. (Suspense and the foreshadowing of a key incident)

35. The Introduction of Max – theme, character, setting
Max’s introduction, offers a new perspective on the events taking place in Germany and gives us our first glimpse of the tremendous dangers Jews faced under the Nazis.
When the narrative moves from Molching to Stuttgart, it is the first time the story expands from Liesel’s specific experience for an extended period of time. Compared to Max’s desperate situation, Liesel has it easy: she is not living in fear for her life.
The glimpse we get of Max is impressionistic and disorienting, reflecting his own situation as he waits confused and terrified in the dark with no sense of how long his distress will last. Throughout the book, the hardships and pain Liesel faces will be balanced with the suffering of the Jews and other persecuted groups during the war. As difficult as life sometimes is for Liesel, for others during this period it was far worse. As the novel states, “anything was better than being a Jew.”
As dark as Max’s story is, there is a comic irony in his method of escape, smuggled to him in a copy of MKPF. When Hitler wrote his autobiography, he surely didn’t intend it to be used as a lifeline by a Jewish fugitive. The title translates to “My Struggle,” and Max, of all the characters in the book, struggles the most to survive. Again, we see a dramatic duality in the scene, with Max, a Jew acting as if he is a free German, and using MKPF, the book that launched the persecution of much of Europe’s Jews, as his cover.

36. Max continued….
Max has come out of hiding and is on a train, clutching the book he was given with the identity card taped inside. The book is MKPF. Terrified of being caught, he takes the train from Stuttgart to Munich, sweating and worrying the entire way. He pretends to read MKPF so he will not arouse suspicion on the train. Along with the fake identity card, he has a map, a key, and the remainder of his food. (Meanwhile, Liesel and Rudy continue their thieving. One cold day they go so far as to pour water on the road where a delivery boy rides his bicycle, then wait for him to crash. They steal the food he was delivering, which they share with the other kids in the stealing ring. A few weeks later the leader of the stealing ring gives Liesel and Rudy a bag of chestnuts, which they sell door to door. They take their substantial earnings back to Frau Diller’s candy shop, where they buy a whole bag candy.) Max arrives in Molching, and following his map, makes his way to the Hubermanns’ house. He takes the key from his pocket and prepares to enter.
Part three is the meeting of the two main characters

37. Mein Kampf Written in 1925 by Hitler while he was in prison.
It contained his political ideology as well as some elements
of autobiography.
He claimed the German (Aryan) race was superior to all
others and should take over the world.
The extremely racist book, focused on the inferiority
and evil of Jews.
The book became the Nazi bible, 10 million copies sold by
the end of the war.
This book arrives with Max. It is what he reads when travelling on the train. In effect, it saves him as when he is reading this people assume he is a loyal German.

38. Character - Liesel
When she is not reading with Hans or delivering laundry, Liesel plays soccer with Rudy. Because of wartime rationing, Rudy and Liesel rarely have enough to eat and are hungry all the time. They fall in with a gang of kids who steal apples from an orchard on the outskirts of town. The first time they steal apples, Liesel eats six in a row, and later gets sick, though she considers the upset stomach worth it. On another occasion, she and Rudy find a coin in the road and take it to Frau Diller’s candy shop. Frau Diller mocks them for only being able to afford one small piece of candy, which they share, lick for lick, outside the shop.
Effect - Liesel, meanwhile, continues her emotional and moral development. In a notable scene, after Liesel and Rudy set the trap for the delivery boy and steal his food, they feel remorse, and they promise each other they won’t rob him again. In this way, Liesel begins creating a moral code for herself that balances the need for survival against the desire not to hurt others. She realizes that there are different levels of criminality, so to speak, and while she isn’t bothered by stealing, harming someone is repugnant to her. This realization about her conscience sets her apart from some of the other characters we meet in the novel who feel no hesitation about hurting others. It shows us that, while Liesel continues to do things like stealing that are technically wrong, she is nonetheless a kind, conscientious person overall.

39. Part four
Hans’s backstory is explored and we learn more about why Hans is so willing to take risks to help Jews. Hans’s backstory sets up a stark contrast with the present, where Jews are widely hated. Hans, simply by not hating Jews and feeling sympathy for them as he would for anyone else, has become something of a rebel.
Obviously Hans’s decision to hide Max affects people other than himself, and we see how the rest of the Hubermann family and Max himself. It will put him and his family in grave danger, and be an inconvenience to their daily lives.

40. Hans’ Story
During the first World War, the situation was very different for German Jews, and they fought alongside their non-Jewish countrymen. That was how Hans and Erik Vandenburg, a Jewish German, developed their friendship. Because of what Erik did for Hans by volunteering Hans for letter-writing duty, Hans felt he owed a tremendous debt to Erik. Erik saved his life, but he essentially had no way of repaying him since Erik died and then Erik’s family didn’t need any help at the time. Instead, Hans seems to have carried that sense of debt with him and tried to repay it in other ways. One way was continuing to play Erik’s accordion, and another was helping the Jews around him who needed help as they started to be persecuted under the Nazis.

41. Max’s character
When Walter tells Max he’s found Hans, Max asks if Hans was angry. He understands that Hans is probably less than thrilled by the idea of hiding a Jew. It will put him and his family in grave danger, and be an inconvenience to their daily lives. Max arrives feeling a great deal of guilt for putting the Hubermanns in this position, and it’s clear he wants to minimize his intrusion into their lives as much as possible. He seems almost horrified that he slept in Liesel’s bed when he first arrives, for instance, and swears he will remain in the basement going forward.

42. The family’s reaction
In Max’s first few days with the Hubermanns, Liesel is actually quite wary of the new resident. He is dirty, hungry, and almost incoherent with grief and guilt, and while she is curious about him, she’s also hesitant to approach him. Surprisingly, it’s the normally gruff Rosa who embraces Max immediately, stuffing him with her pea soup and accepting him into the home without question. Rosa, the book tells us, is good in a crisis, and the opportunity for action brings out her best qualities.

43. Liesel and Max - Relationships
Though it happens slowly, Liesel and Max do begin to form a friendship as they come to recognize how much they have in common. Liesel is immediately intrigued by Max simply because he has a book with him. That the book is MKPF has no great meaning to her at this point. As she begins watching over Max at night and seeing him struggle with nightmares, she sees another connection between them. Both are troubled by their pasts in their sleep, and this shared experience creates a bond between them. Liesel is able to unburden herself to a degree by talking to Max about her nightmares, and it proves so therapeutic that she no longer needs Hans to stay with her at night. Liesel provides Max with something as well: She begins bringing him newspapers and essentially becomes his connection to the outside world. Each consequently finds something they need in the other, and both become extremely grateful for the other’s presence in their lives. At the end of the section, Max gives Liesel what is probably the greatest gift he could give her: a book. To Liesel, it’s perhaps the most valuable present she’s ever received.

44. The theme of duality
A prominent theme in this section is the duality of Nazi-era Germany, and it’s dramatized through Max and his copy of MKPF. Liesel twice asks Max if MKPF, which he has by his bedside, is a ‘good’ book. Although the book contains all the hateful ideology that has made him a prisoner in a stranger’s basement, Max replies that it is the “best book ever” because it saved his life. Ironically, the book that condemned most of Germany’s Jews served as Max’s salvation.
After Liesel’s birthday, Max paints over the pages of MKPF and uses it to write his own story. It’s another significant instance of duality as Max transforms the pages from something negative to something positive. It’s also a subversive gesture as Max literally replaces Hitler’s story with his own, symbolically suggesting that his life is as valuable and worth recording as Hitler’s.

45. The Standover Man • What story do you think the pictures are telling?
• Who are the two characters?
• What is their relationship?
• What are they talking about or discussing?
• What is the significance of the last page?

46. The Standover Man
Max paints over the pages of Mein Kampf and writes The Standover Man (which is really clever!) Here we have the poison and extremism of Hitler’s works wiped out and a story of love and friendship written in its place. It is a symbol of good triumphing over evil, love being stronger than hate.
The pictures and stories that Max draws and writes during his time in the Hubermann’s cellar are an important part of the novel. They helped to keep him alive by passing time, providing him with a mental and creative release, as well as proving to be vitally therapeutic in making sense of the many thoughts, feelings and emotions he experienced as a result of his confinement.

47. Theme – the power of words
Max hits on the idea of painting the pages of Hitler's book white and using the pages to write The Standover Man and The Word Shaker. Liesel learns that kind words can be used to combat hateful ones. These two books are about friendship and the power of words to make a difference. Although this knowledge doesn't keep her family and friends on Himmel Street from dying in bomb blasts, it pushes Liesel to act as courageously as she can.
These three books also point to the development of Liesel's secret life during most of her time on Himmel Street. The fact that she was able to keep these books—and Max—a secret (until she finally tells Rudy, after Max has been captured) is a testament to her courage and strength.
The Word Shaker also alludes to Liesel's own calling: shaking words. She shakes them from books, from her own lips, and from the lips of others. It reminds her to plant and shake words of friendship and love, especially where hate is thriving.

48. Character Study
Look at the character of Rudy from the beginning of the novel to the end of part four.
Consider:
His background
His interests
His relationship/friendship with Liesel
Make sure that you find quotations for each of the areas that you look at.
Homework: Write a mini essay on the character of Rudy

49. Part Five
Liesel- reacts strongly to Frau Hermann not usingRosa for her washing. She feels that Frau Hermann is doing something unjust. The Hubermanns are getting poorer (fewer customers and feeding Max) Liesel feels the Hermanns are depriving the Hubermanns when they have plenty to spare. In response, she blows up at Frau Hermann.
Rudy – the leader of the Hitler Youth group and the leader of the apple-stealing gang single out Rudy, who is unable to keep his mouth shut and stay out of things, for abuse. In these episodes, Rudy is establishing his own ethical code, identifying himself as a character who will risk physical harm to stand up for what he thinks is right, and prevent the persecution of others. Rudy expresses this bravery through physical acts rather than keeping secrets.
The Hitler Youth leader and the new leader of the apple-stealing gang, are especially cruel. This is the first instance of kids acting sadistically. They both have power, either officially conferred by the state or self-appointed, and they use this power to humiliate and control those with less power, just as the adult Nazis, up to Hitler himself, use their power to oppress the powerless. The acquisition, use, and abuse of power is one of the important ideas/themes in the book

50. Part Five Tension: Death foreshadows Rudy’s death – What does he says?
Max - While he goes about seemingly ordinary activities such as getting a haircut, or doing the crossword in the papers Liesel brings him, he also is constantly aware of the precariousness of his situation. – Evidence???

51. Quotations Rudy’s death Foreshadowed
At the beginning of the section, after Death reveals that Rudy has less than two years left to live, he says he doesn’t have “much interest in building mystery… I know what happens and so do you.” On one level, this is a supremely ironic statement, since one of life’s greatest mysteries is how and when a person will die. Death may know these details, but the rest of us do not. On another level, however, Death is telling the truth: Death is an inevitability for everyone, so in a sense he’s not spoiling anything by informing us that Rudy will die. Even so, by making a point of Rudy’s impending, untimely demise, the narrator increases the poignancy and tension of the subsequent scenes regarding Rudy.

52. Part six – Setting/ Theme/ Symbolism
This section shows the intensifying effects of the war both on ordinary Germans and on Europe’s Jews.

53. Liesel and The Hubermanns
Liesel is still mainly concerned with her domestic situation. She spends her time finding small ways to bring daily joy to otherwise grim circumstances. Despite the war, the Hubermanns have “the greatest Christmas ever,” thanks to Liesel’s snowman and a spontaneous indoor snowball fight.
Max gets sick, making the situation doubly dire. Not only is Liesel concerned about the health of her new friend, but the Hubermanns must also worry about the jeopardy they will be put in if he dies.
As spring arrives, Rosa and Hans are feeling the burden of their sacrifice. The stress is taking its toll, and though no one in the family complains about how little they all have to eat, it’s evident from the fact that everyone guiltily acknowledges that Max’s death would mean they would all have a little more food.
Find quotations in part six to illustrate the above situations

54. The Power of Words
As Max’s coma wears on, Liesel discovers that, in addition to material goods, words can also be a gift. At Hans’s suggestion, Liesel describes a cloud in writing for Max, and she sees that by showing him things he cannot see or experience, she can bring the outside world to him through language. She plays the same role for him that the novels she reads, which show her places and people beyond her experience in Molching, play for her. The realization shows her continuing evolution as a writer, and her development of her own voice. Liesel also gives Max the gift of words by reading to him, though she can’t be sure he hears her. Reading out loud is a form of reassuring herself, as well as trying to communicate with the sleeping Max. In both cases, she strengthens her bond with him through words.
Find a quotations for this section and put them under the theme of the power of words in your notes

55. Setting
When Max wakes up, the reprieve from worry is brief, because soon the Nazis arrive to check people’s basements and again the Hubermanns are reminded of how tenuous their situation is. The great risk the Hubermanns are taking in hiding Max is never far from their minds, and again the duality of their life is indicated by the Hubermanns’ ability to make polite conversation with the Nazi soldier in their kitchen while a Jew hides in their basement. After the Nazi leaves, Liesel tells Rudy that “everything’s good.” In fact, this couldn’t be farther from the truth, either at home or in the world, but the imminent danger has passed, so for the time being Liesel believes this to be true. Here is another example of dramatic irony, since the reader knows things are about to get much worse, but Liesel, who has no way of knowing the future, is relatively content.

56. Death – Colour symbolism
Narrative style: Death interrupts the narrative twice to describe two scenes of mass death: the bombing of Cologne and the Nazi death camps in Poland. Of the second scene, he describes the sky being “the color of Jews,” which refers to the smoke rising from the massive crematoria the Nazis used to dispose of the Jewish bodies. Above this smoke, the sky resembles the Aryan ideal of human perfection. It is the color of blue eyes, and the sun is the yellow of blond hair. This description extends Hitler’s vision of a master race beyond mankind to all of nature. It’s an exaggeration of Hitler’s reach, of course, but what it symbolizes is how dominant and pervasive Nazi control was in Germany. Then, describing the victims of the death camp, Death says, “They were French, they were Jews, and they were you,” suggesting the destruction was similarly universal and pervasive.
The point Death makes is that the mass murder of the Jews wasn’t just a tragedy for Jews, but for all people everywhere. It was a crime against humanity as a whole. (Theme – Man’s inhumanity to man)

57. Mini Essay Write a page focusing on either:
Colour symbolism and how this part of the novel continues Death’s observation of “First the colours, and then the humans. That’s usually how I see things”
Setting – World War Two and the Nazi regime. How this affects the characters in part six
Theme – how the events in part six illustrate an importand theme in the book.
Remember, you will need to use quotations and analyse them in your answer.

58. Part seven – The Climax of the story
War arrives in Molching.
Everything changes in October of 1942 when "The parade of Jews" (55.4) comes through Molching on the way to the nearby concentration camp Dachau.
Hans feels compelled to offer one of the Jewish prisoners a piece of bread and is whipped along with the prisoner by Nazi guards.
Hans is now desperately afraid the Nazis will search his house and find Max, so he sends Max away that very night.
His house is never searched, but Hans is conscripted into the German army and has to leave Molching.
Rosa and Liesel are left all alone.

59. Liesel and the Hubermanns
Liesel, who has been relatively content over the summer, now realizes that her happiness may be fleeting and tries to savour each last happy moment. For example, as she drinks Champagne for the first time, she has an awareness of how happy she is, and how that happiness contributes to the flavour of the drink. Spending time with Hans, painting houses with him, and listening to him play the accordion are among her favourite activities. As the political situation grows more precarious, Liesel is growing older, and both circumstances make her acutely aware of the passage of time. It is with an adult’s consciousness that she realizes life will not always be like this.
Liesel realizes that Frau Hermann has allowed her thieving all along, but doesn’t understand why. The reader can see that Frau Hermann is obviously lonely, and though she never chats much with Liesel, it seems to make her happy that Liesel comes over and enjoys her library. The dictionary and the note inside are clearly meant to entice Liesel to return. Frau Hermann seems to want Liesel there because she’s still grieving over the loss of her son, and Liesel in some small way fills the hole created by his absence. Liesel seems surprised that Frau Hermann isn’t upset with her for stealing, but from Frau Hermann’s perspective the comfort Liesel apparently offers is worth the loss of a book now and again. Having Liesel sneaking in and stealing isn’t exactly the arrangement she wants, however, so she lets Liesel know that she can come by anytime she likes.

60. Rudy
Rudy experiences perhaps his greatest triumph, though his response to this victory is surprising. During the Hitler Youth Carnival, Rudy deliberately disqualifies himself from the final race and then basically discards the medals he already won, suggesting they don’t matter to him. It’s not the reaction one would expect given Rudy’s goal of matching his idol Jesse Owens’s record of four gold medals. Liesel is confused by Rudy’s behaviour, and indeed he never explains himself, but the text does suggest some possible reasons. Rudy is clearly happy with his performance. He doesn’t seem to have any regrets or feel that he didn’t accomplish what he wanted. He may know that he could have won the final race, and thus he didn’t need to actually do it to gain that satisfaction. In addition, one of his goals was to prove himself to Franz Deutscher, his former Hitler Youth leader, and even without winning all four races he’s already done that.

61. Theme – the power of words
As Liesel uses literature to soothe the residents of Himmel Street during the air raids, we see both the power of words in the novel and how Liesel continues to mature. The power of words here is that they allow the people in the shelter to momentarily forget the bombs falling outside, and through Liesel’s reading they offer a great source of comfort. What’s also notable about the scene is that it shows just how much Liesel has grown over the course of the novel: Liesel, who once struggled to read in front of her class in school, now finds herself reading before a large gathering. It shows her evolving from a child who needs to be taken care of to a young woman who is taking care of those around her. The readings lead to Frau Holtzapfel asking Liesel to come read to her personally, and as a result Liesel finds herself now earning money for her family. The helplessness she has felt at times, notably when Frau Hermann informed her she was going to stop using Rosa for her washing, has been replaced with a sense of empowerment, the source of which is Liesel’s growing mastery over words and language.

62. Theme (Man’s inhumanity to man)/setting (WW2)
As the Germans start bringing Jews through town on the way to Dachau, we see the characters of many of Molching’s residents revealed in the way they react, and the scene shows both the kindness and cruelty of people. The condition of the Jewish prisoners who are paraded through Molching shows the awful cruelty of the Nazi soldiers. The prisoners are exhausted, starving, and many are near death, yet the Nazis show no sympathy whatsoever. On the other side we have Hans. While the rest of the residents passively observe the suffering of the prisoners, Hans feels compelled to do something, and although it’s a small act, just handing the prisoner a piece of bread, it signifies an immeasurable act of kindness. That’s because Hans knows he can be punished for intervening in any way, and so the small gesture is still a great sacrifice, as is proved by the fact that Hans is brutally whipped. Hans later regrets offering the bread because it casts suspicion on him, meaning Max will have to flee in case the Nazis decide to search his house, but the fact that he did something indicates that Hans is a tremendously compassionate and courageous individual. The other people in the town, meanwhile, either stand by or shout abuse at Hans, and so compared to him they appear to be at best cowards and at worst bigots. The scene makes clear how cruel the Nazis were, as well as how kind and brave the people were who did what they could to help the Jews.

63. Questions on part seven
1.In the summer of 1942,what is the inevitable event the people of Molching are preparing for? 2. How does this benefit Hans Hubermann? 3.What does Liesel find most interesting about painting? How would you characterize Hans based on Liesel’s explanation of these experiences? How does she perceive him? 4.What does Liesel experience for the first time in one of the customer’s homes? What is Hans’s explanation? 5. Liesel writes about her life and vows never to drink champagne again, why? 6. What does Death foreshadow? How do you explain the author’s use of the simile; “Hard times were coming. Like a parade.”?

64. Part eight
The war begins affecting the families in the story in an even more personal way in this section as both Hans and Rudy’s father are called to service. The war has been inching closer and closer to Molching over the last few sections as residents begin having to worry about bomb raids and have recently started seeing the Jewish prisoners paraded through on their way to Dachau. Now both Hans and Alex Steiner are called to serve in the Nazi army, and it’s a huge blow to both families. For the Steiners, it’s there first real contact with the war beyond the food shortages that have affected their family, and for the Hubermanns, it’s yet another difficult challenge for Rosa and Liesel. Rosa is already worried about Hans Jr., who is fighting in Russia, and the whole family is upset over Max’s having to leave. Now Hans, who is both their main source of income and the emotional heart of the family, is leaving and may not return.
Liesel continues her emotional development as she again emulates Hans’s compassion and leaves bread for the Jewish prisoners, though she doesn’t seem to have a true sense of the danger of her actions, making it clear that she is still young and naïve. More and more Liesel has begun taking care of others, signaling that she’s growing from a child to an adult. Hans’s behavior has been a notable example to her. He’s been something of a moral guide for her to follow, and here we see her copying his act of giving bread to the Jewish prisoner. Liesel, however, doesn’t seem to realize the danger inherent in what she’s doing, even though she saw Hans badly whipped for doing the same. She and Rudy hide in the bushes and watch, as though they were involved in a game, and they’re lucky to escape punishment. This behavior shows that, although Liesel is maturing, she is still basically a child and may not understand the full consequences of her actions.
In this section the idea of a united Aryan Germany is again called into question through Rudy. Though the Nazis tried to push their ideology of a dominant Aryan master race on all Germans, we’ve already seen many instances of people resisting this ideology, such as Hans who sympathizes with and helps Jews. Rudy has previously also resisted simply by idolizing Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, and here again we see him questioning that ideology. Rudy, with his blond hair, blue eyes, athletic talents and intelligence, would seem the perfect Nazi specimen, the embodiment of the master race Hitler wants to produce to take over the world. But Rudy is not so sure about Hitler’s vision for the future. When the nurse examines him, he feels cold and humiliated, not “part of the master race.” He also is compassionate and sensitive, handing out bread to the Jews. As Liesel notes about Rudy, “she heard his stomach growl—and he was giving people bread…Was this Nazi Germany?” Rudy also declares that he wants to kill Hitler for stealing his father. All these examples show that Rudy, and probably many others like him, didn’t necessarily agree with the Nazis, even if they were typical Germans and fit the Aryan ideal.

65. Part eight
Although Liesel still refuses to kiss Rudy, their relationship nonetheless reaches a new level of intimacy in this section. Rudy struggles to deal with the departure of his father and feels helpless because there’s nothing he can do to change the situation. Liesel recognizes how he’s feeling, and she shows how much she cares for her friend by staying at his side. Even as they walk to the outskirts of town, Liesel doesn’t turn back until she knows Rudy will come with her. At Christmas, Liesel again shows how much she cares for Rudy by her gift. She plans one of his favorite activities: stealing, which always gives him a feeling of empowerment. But this time she has has him steal a suit from his father’s tailor shop. This theft isn’t an act of disrespect toward his father’s shop. Instead, it acts as a way for Rudy to connect with his father through one of his suits. In essence Liesel found a way to give him a gift from his absent father. In the scene they engage in plenty of the playful mocking that characterizes their conversations, but by the end that mockery has faded away. It’s a sincere moment they share, and though she doesn’t actually kiss Rudy, it’s clear Liesel wants to from her thoughts. The moment is the closest they’ve been thus far in the novel.
The story Liesel receives from Max is essentially a parable about the power of words and it shows how they’ve been a refuge for Liesel and Max. It begins with Hitler realizing that through words he can take over the world, and that he chose words, as opposed to weapons or money or political power, suggests words are the most powerful force there is. The words take on the form of seeds in the story, and these seeds grow into what are basically word trees that fill people with ideas and symbols—in other words, Nazi ideology. What’s notable is that there’s a class of people who are basically outside this system, the word shakers, who recognize the power of words. Liesel, according to Max, is one of these, and a tear that she sheds creates its own word tree. Liesel uses this tree for shelter, and in that image Max is saying that the understanding and love Liesel bears for words, born from her suffering (the tear), has provided her a refuge from the Nazi trees all around. Max is able to climb the tree in the story, indicating that he was also able to find some refuge from Nazism in Liesel’s words.

66. Part nine
The central idea of this section is the randomness of fate. The arbitrariness of Hans’s survival is among the most notable examples. Hans is only injured in the truck crash essentially because Reinhold Zucker isn’t good at cards. Since Hans often beat him, he disliked Hans, so one day he forced Hans to switch seats with him simply out of spite. It seems like simple chance that they happened to switch seats that day, and that idea of randomness being at fault is further bolstered by the doctor’s words when he tells Hans he is a lucky man. In fact, Hans couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome: because of his injury, he will be able to return home. This sequence of events emphasizes the chaos inherent in war.
Michael Holtzapfel encounters the apparent randomness of fate as well, though he feels himself to be more a victim of it than a beneficiary. Michael can be considered lucky to a degree in that he has returned home with relatively minor injuries while his brother died horribly. His guilt is compounded by the fact that he wants to keep living. It’s this desire that causes him to seek shelter during the air raid and leave behind his mother, who is putting everyone trying to help her in danger. His overwhelming feelings of guilt rise to the surface after his mother finally comes to the shelter.

67. Rudy in Part 9
Rudy, meanwhile, is struggling with the randomness that keeps his father at war while allowing Hans to return home in one piece. Rather than blaming luck or fate, however, Rudy places the blame on Hitler.
Rudy concludes that Hitler stole his father, and turns to stealing again as a form of empowerment, and convinced it will feel good to steal something back. He knows running away or robbing houses won’t actually do anything to change the unfair circumstances of war. Rudy clearly doesn’t hate Germany’s enemies in the war, which shows that he holds Hitler and the Nazis alone responsible for his father’s absence.
When he finds the fighter pilot in the wreckage, he doesn’t view him as a threat of any kind, just a broken, dying man. His response is purely compassion as he gives the man the teddy bear he had with him.

68. Finding the fighter pilot
Where does this link back to in the novel?
What happens to the characters of
Rudy?
Death?
Liesel?

69. Part ten
The survivor’s guilt that we’ve seen Hans, Max, and most recently Michael Holtzapfel struggle with finally overcomes Michael, causing him to hang himself. Throughout the book, many characters have wrestled with the responsibility they feel to the dead. (Max, for leaving his family behind. Hans felt guilty because he believed that Erik Vandenburg saved his life).
In this instance, Michael feels guilty simply for remaining alive when his brother didn’t. As a result he feels he doesn’t really deserve to be alive. That feeling appears to have been eating at him since he returned home, and in his note he says he “can’t take it anymore,” indicating that his fight against his guilt has been an ongoing struggle.

70. Fate of the characters
The most significant event is, of course, the deaths of Rudy, Hans, Rosa, and many of the residents of Himmel Street, who die in their sleep when the bombs fall.
Death has hinted at this tragedy before, even telling the reader outright that Rudy will die, and here we finally see how it occurs.

71. Liesel
it’s not at all clear what will become of Liesel. She has just lost her best friend, her parents, and her home. Practically nothing of her previous life remains. The other character whose fate is uncertain is Max. We see him with the other Jewish prisoners on their way to Dachau, which certainly doesn’t offer much room for optimism. But Liesel is at least able to confirm that he’s still alive. It’s at once a victory knowing he hasn’t been killed and a defeat knowing that the Nazis did manage to catch him. Perhaps the best the reader can hope for is that his emotional meeting with Liesel has provided him some strength, as he appears to take a great deal of encouragement from seeing her and her mention of his story. Despite the fact that he is weak and suffering and on his way to a labor camp, he manages to tell Liesel it’s a “beautiful day.” The statement shares the same irony as his affirmation early in the novel that MKPF saved his life.

72. Liesel’s sadness and frustration lead her to Frau Hermann’s library, where she thinks of all the terrible things she’s experienced as she looks at the books around her. She blames Hitler and his words for all of them, and this idea creates a contradiction in her mind in which she simultaneously blames words for the awful state of things and wants to find comfort in them. She calls them “lovely bastards,” indicating both how much she loves them and how she hates them at that moment. She tears the pages out of a book as a sort of symbolic revenge, and the act recalls the Nazi book burning from earlier in the novel. Liesel’s is different, of course: she doesn’t just want to destroy some words to protect her ideas; she wants to get revenge on all of them. Liesel leaves without having resolved her contradictory feelings, and in fact that resolution doesn’t come until after Frau Hermann gives Liesel a blank book. As she writes her own story, she finds a source of release and empowerment that, as Death says in narration, “brought her to life.” That book is also the reason she’s in the basement during the bombing, and it saves her life in the same sense that Max feels he was saved by MKPF.

73. The Epilogue
Several of the themes that have been developed over the course of the book come together in the epilogue, through Liesel in particular.
Liesel initially refuses to let go by not bathing and by holding on to Hans’s accordion, and those acts of mourning demonstrate her feelings of responsibility to the dead. By refusing to wash, she preserves that moment in a nearly literal sense and display her unwillingness to get over the deaths of the people she cared about. Eventually, in an act that symbolizes her letting go of the past and moving on, she bathes in the river. The act pays tribute to Rudy, who jumped into the river to save one of her books, and it recalls the Christian notion of washing away sin and spiritual rebirth through baptism.
At the end of the novel, the theme of the power of words rises to the fore again as Death reveals to Liesel, who has passed away as an old lady, that he found and kept her book. That he kept her book of all the ones he’s undoubtedly come across suggests there’s something special about it, and it’s clear that it has informed the story he tells the reader. He has developed a connection with Liesel’s words, and the implication is that, in telling us her story, we have as well.

74. The role chance plays in survival again comes up as Alex Steiner, Rudy’s father, continues to wish he had sent Rudy to the Nazi training school, and as we find Max alive and well.
At various times in the novel we’ve seen seemingly inconsequential acts result in characters avoiding death. Here, Alex struggles with the knowledge that, had he allowed the Nazis to take Rudy, he might still be alive as he wouldn’t have been on Himmel Street when the bombs destroyed it. The irony of the situation is that Alex was trying to keep Rudy safe by not allowing the Nazis to take him, and in fact that irony underscores the inherent uncertainty of fate we see in the novel. Death sums the idea up when he says of Alex Steiner, “you save someone. You kill them. How was he supposed to know?” The suggestion is that people can never see what the full consequences of their actions will be.

75. At the end of the book, Death tells Liesel he is “haunted” by humans, and by that statement he suggests there is something unexplainable about the extreme duality people exhibit.
what haunts him most is humanity’s capacity for both extreme good and extreme evil. That duality manifests itself most notably in the tremendous cruelty we see the Nazis and their sympathizers engage in and the extraordinary kindness of ordinary.
That Death chooses to say he is “haunted” indicates that this duality troubles him and lingers in his mind, and it suggests that Death views humanity as something like an unresolved paradox. That is to say, we don’t make any sense to Death. The statement is full of irony because it’s a feeling people often have regarding death. Death the narrator reverses it back onto us, meaning humans, making us the frightening and mysterious phenomenon.

76. The Novel is divided into six sections – reflecting the books which Liesel steals
The first section begins with the theft of “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” which was stolen from the snow.
The second section begins with the theft of “The Shoulder Shrug” which is a book rescued from a book burning. Clearly this book is seen by the Nazis as seditious literature. It is probably written by a Jewish author.
Part Three begins with the mention of “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle – Hitler’s book. It was rubbish and boring and long and raving, but every German household had a copy). Technically, Liesel does not steal this book.
Part Four still involves “Mein Kampf” but instead of the lunatic ravings and poison the book previously contained, Max paints over the pages and turns them into a very touching and lovely story book about himself and Liesel. It is called “The Standover Man” Isn’t it clever how Zusak has used the book as a symbol of love here? The idea of being stood over turns from being dominated to being protected, to being loved…..
The fifth part begins with the floating book
Part Six deals with Death’s Diary

77. The books and what they mean
The books, themselves, are powerful and recurring symbols throughout the novel. The Grave Digger’s Handbook is a symbol of Liesel’s grief and the loss of her younger brother, Werner.
The Shoulder Shrug, being stolen from the Nazi book burning is a symbol of defiance and Liesel’s realisation that Hitler is to blame for her family’s misfortunes. This book is about a Jewish character and would therefore be seen as seditious literature by the Nazis.
Mein Kampf. This book arrives with Max. It is what he reads when travelling on the train. In effect, it saves him as when he is reading this people assume he is a loyal German.
The Standover Man. This is where it becomes really clever. Max paints over the pages of Mein Kampf and writes The Standover Man. Here we have the poison and extremism of Hitler’s works wiped out and a story of love and friendship written in its place. It is a symbol of good triumphing over evil, love being stronger than hate.
The Book Thief (the one in the story). This is the book that Liesel writes and ironically the book that saves her life…. She survives because she is in the basement writing when the bomb drops. She loses this book and it is picked up by death. There is hardly a dry eye in the class when at her own end, Death returns the book, having read it many times.

78. Themes
In the early section we are introduced to theme of – man’s inhumanity to man. The setting in time and place is, of course, a powerful vehicle for this. Aside to this is the kindness shown by people against the acts of individual and institutional/political cruelty
This makes us consider the theme of what it means to be brave in this time
Appearance and reality is a major theme
We are also introduced to the importance of books and the power of language
We later learn about survivor’s guilt
Love and loyalty are also a strong themes that run through the novel

79. Themes Words and Propaganda
Humanity and Dehumanization (Man’s inhumanity to man)
Cowardice and what it means to be brave.
Abandonment and Survivor's Guilt

80. Key Events
Think of significant events and settings in the novel. Some of these may include: SETTINGS: • The basement where Max was hidden • The library in the Mayor’s house • The street in Molching where Liesel and Rudy lived • The kitchen EVENTS: • Max arriving on the Hubermann’s doorstep • The German soldier searching the house • Liesel speaking to Max in the town square • Hans giving the piece of bread to the Jewish prisoner

81. Essay Question
Choose a novel or short story that deals with a theme of moral or social significance. With reference to appropriate techniques, explain how the writer develops this theme and discuss why its development adds to your appreciation of the text as a whole.
Choose a novel or short story in which the choice of setting is central to your appreciation of the text. Briefly explain how the writer effectively creates setting and, with reference to appropriate techniques, discuss how the writer’s presentation of the setting is central to your appreciation of the text as a whole.

82. Essay Question
Choose a novel or short story in which the method of narration is important. Outline briefly the writer’s method of narration and explain why you feel this method makes such a major contribution to your understanding of the text as a whole.
Choose a novel or short story in which there is a moment of significance for one of the characters. Explain briefly what the significant moment is and discuss, with reference to appropriate techniques, its significance to the text as a whole.
Choose a novel or short story which has a satisfying ending/ arresting opening. Discuss to what extent the ending provides a successful conclusion to the text as a whole.

83. A word from the author