Part 4: The Standover man

This amazing part of this book is where Max and Leisel meet.

Max is a Jew, and has been living off of a family friend ever since his father died.  Max's said friend decides he can't support him any longer.  So, Max goes to find the "man with the accordion" a.k.a. Hans Hubermann, who is more than happy to take him in.

Max sleeps in the extra bed in Leisel's room the first night.

After his past of fist fighting comes back to haunt him and he accidentally attacks Leisel, Max punishes himself by sleeping in the basement.

Max starts to warm up to Leisel, and on her birthday she even gives him a hug.

As a late birthday gift, Max makes her "The Standover Man", a book he creates using 13 pages of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and paint.

"The Standover man" is a picture book about the people who look down on you all your life, and how you would view them.

To make "The Standover Man", first Max paints each page white, then he paints the words and pictures in black. 

This is another blog about the significance of the Standover Man.

Here's the link in case that didn't work.

Here is the whole standover man book if you still want to read it.

Parts 2 and 3

Liesel steals her second book. It's the "Book of Fire".

She steals this one out of a bonfire, and after it cools off enough, she puts it under her uniform.  

Hans finds out, but doesn't tell Rosa.

It turns out Hans has a son, Hans Junior, who is a Nazi. Hans is a "Jew Painter", or paints Jewish houses, and so he takes care of Max, a Jew.

Hans also hasn't joined the party.

The mayor's wife saw her steal the Book of Fire, The Shoulder Shrug.  She is invited into the mayor's house when she gives the washing to the mayor's wife. She has a large library.  

She comes back again, but the mayor opens the door, so she leaves.

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Liesel and Rudy were accepted by Arthur Berg, Andy Schmeikl, and the three other boys who were with them.

They stole apples from a tree, and bought "mixed candy".

Max was on a train, and while there was still light, he read the book Hans bought him. It turned out to be "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) by Adolf Hitler.

Rudy stole food from "Otto Sturm", who was riding his bike and crashed into a bush. He brought it back with Liesel to the other boys, who shared it with him.

They got caught when they tried to steal potatoes, and afterword Arthur gave Liesel chestnuts. They never saw him again, because he left to take care of his little sister.

Max has a key to a house on Munich Street, and before going in, he sees Liesel.

If you want to know if you know everything from the first three parts, click here.

It has questions for all ten parts and the epilogue, so do them a section at a time.

Figurative Language in The Book Thief

I was reading the Book Thief, and about to tell you about parts 2 and 3, when I realized how much figurative language is in this book!  

I mean, the whole prologue talks about the "colors," the whole story is narrated by a personified death, and this author is apparently in love with allusion, metaphor, and apostrophe.

Metonymy

Metonymy is the substituting of the name of something with what it is associated with, a characteristic,  or an attribute.

One case of this is when they call Adolf Hitler "Führer" on pages 105, 110, 115, 116, etc.

Allusion

Allusion is the reference to persons or objects from a cultural traditions.

One example of this is "Jesse Owen", who is alluded to on page 56. 

Metaphor

Metaphors are an implicit comparison, or suggests the two objects are similar.

One example is "Her heart at that point was slippery and hot, and loud, so loud so loud." This was on page 21.

The greatest metaphors in this book are in the prologue, about the "colors".

Apostrophe

Apostrophe is talking to something abstract, or someone/something that's not there.

One example is when Liesel says, "Hello, stars," on page 45. She is, of course, talking to the stars.

These are some hyperboles, used as interjections. These are other literary devices.

Part One.

Part one of The Book Thief is all about Liesel.

She is the "Book Thief". She was put in foster care, and ended up with Rosa and Hans Hubermann on Himmel ("Heaven") Street. She gets along with Hans, a house painter, because he teaches her to read her first stollen book, "The Gravedigger's Handbook", in their basement.

Frau Holtzapfel is in a feud with Rosa, and spits on the Hubermann's door every  night. Rosa makes Liesel clean it.

My favorite part of this part was Rudy.

Rudy was a boy from Liesel's new neighborhood, and one day after watching the Berlin Olympics, and Jesse Owens, he paints himself black with charcoal and runs the 100 meter relay at an empty track.

Rudy falls in love with Liesel. The two race the hundred meters and Rudy bets a kiss on it; they both slip before the finish, but Rudy says that one day Liesel will "be dying to kiss" him.

The First Step to Book Thievery


I don't know how many of you have read The Book Thief.

For the next couple of posts I'm going to break down the book into parts, and each post will be about a certain part(s) of the book.

Please don't ruin the book for me!  I'm reading it as I post, so only mention events up to and including those in the post!