~Discuss the symbolism of Death as the omniscient narrator of the novel.Why is Death haunted by humans?~The Grave Digger's Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. Why did she take the book? What is significant about the titles of the books she steals? Explain how Liesel's own attempt to write a book saves her life.
~How does Max's life give Liesel purpose? At what point do Liesel and Max become friends? Max gives Liesel a story called "The Standover Man" for her birthday. What is the significance of this story?
~Liesel Meminger lived to be an old woman. Death says that he would like to tell the book thief about beauty and brutality, but those are things that she had lived. How does her life represent beauty in the wake of brutality?
Death only sees humans as humans when there is a death, so he is haunted by the raw emotion that people (humans) show when they lose someone they love. And that raw emotion can be pretty scary.
ReplyDeleteI think the Grave Digger's handbook is symbolic because first of the obvious of having just buried her bother, but it's foreshadowing the events to come like the bombing. She will continue to bury the ones she loves. All of the titles seem to go along with what is happening to her at the moment. The Jewish book she stole from the fire was when they were hiding Max and so it fit her circumstances. If she hadn't been writing her own book she wouldn't have been in the basement when the town was bombed.
I finished the book a while ago and it's in the room with my sleeping child soooo I think if I remember correctly that Max and Liesel became friends after he recovered from being ill becasue of all the gifts she brought him. Maybe before that when she started describing the day to him. "The Standover Man" is about the hope that Liesel gives Max.
At the end of the day I really enjoyed this book and it gives you a different view point from most WWII stories. I would recommend this to anyone!