Quotes
"for Liesel it was a ride in the car, she'd never been in one before"
"she was a girl with a mountain to climb"
"tears were frozen to the book theifs face"
"she would wake up swimming in her bed screaming and drowning in the flood of sheets"
"the fact was this: Liesel would not get out of the car"
"Liesel would step outside, wipe the door and watch the sky"
"everything about her was undernourished"
"on the occasion they tried to force Liesel out, as you might imagine, she protested"
"in the darkness Liesel kept her eyes open, she was watching the words"
"I'm not stupid"
"she was a book theif without the words"
"does he know, Liesel thought, can he smell we are holding a Jew?"
What early facts do we get about the character?
"for Liesel it was a ride in the car, she'd never been in one before" - this quote from the beggining of the novel tells us that Leisel has never been in a car before. This shows us that she comes from a family which is quite a poor family as they mustnt have owned a car. "everything about her was undernourished"
this quote also tells us that Leisel was undernoirushsed and so must have come from a poor not very weel off family. The fact that they wern't very well off is probably due to Leisels father. We gather that he is against Hitlers ideas and that is why Liesel is being sent away.
"she was a book theif without the words" - This quote tells us that Liesel was poorly educated, which is also due to her familys situation and standing toward Hitler, Liesel steals a book, which tells us she wants to be educated and learn to read as she understands there is power in the words. She just doesnt know how yet which is why she gets Hans to teach her how to read. She she can understand the powerful words
Quotes Analysis
"the book theif struck for the first time - the beggining of an illustrious career" - Death gives out a hint that Liesel stealing her first book, is the beginning of an illustrious career. This means that there is more book stealing to come. By the end of the novel, we realize that she does build a career. she reads the books that she steals. she wins the hearts of the people on Himmel Street by reading to them during the air raids and she expresses her love for Max by reading to him whilst he is in a coma.Her reward for partaking in this career of reading is happiness as she is doing the thing she loves most.
"She had hidden her last link to him under her matress and occasionaly she would pull it out and hold it" - Liesel is hiding the very first book that she stole (the gravediggers handbook). This is the last link that she has to her brother as it was the last time she saw him. Liesel uses it as a tool to comfort her as she is grieving. "occasionally she would pull it out and hold it" suggests that Liesel misses her brother and hod the book because she can no longer hold her brother.
"Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. all from words. From Liesel's words." - Liesel explodes at Ilsa Hermann, calling her pathetic and telling her to get over the death of her son. she imagines Ilsa's face becoming physically battered by Liesel's cruel invective. Liesel later comes to regret everything she said, as she realizes the power of words to inflict harm on others.
At the beggining of the novel, Liesel cannot read. She understands that words are important and powereful and so wants to understand how to read. She reads with Hans and Frau Hermann in her library. She also reads in the basement during the airrades. Books become a sourse of comfort to her. She loves the words but also decides she hates them and they can be ugly things, expecially the way that Hitler uses them. She also comes to realise that Hitlers words are responsible for taking her mother and brother away, and for Max having to hide in the basement. Sometimes, she hates the words but she goes on to write her own book and hopes she made "the words right".
"I have hated the words and i have loved them and i hope i have made then right"
After seeing Max heading off to a concentration camp, Leisel begins to "hate" the words, seeing Hitlers words as the sourse of all suffering. Ilsa Hermann gives Leisel a blank book and tells her she should write down her own story. Leisel then writes the story of her life, writing everything that had happended to her and containing all her emotions. Leisel then comes to the realisation that words can cause both violense and confort depending on how they are uses and hopes that she has made her words "right".
“She wouldn’t tolerate having it being given to her by a lonely, pathetic old woman. Stealing it, on the other hand, seemed a little more acceptable. Stealing it, in a sick kind of sense, was like earning it.” (p. 309)
“She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half. Then a chapter. Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Fuhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words? She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. “what good are the words?” (p.521)
“Every night, Liesel would nightmare.” These are bitter sweet kind of suffering. They terrify her. She cannot control them. But, they bring her just a little closer to her dead brother. A major turning point for Liesel is when she lets go of the nightmares and learns to carry her brother in her heart and memory.
“Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up” she would rather let a book burn her than leave it behind, putting literature before herself.
.
"she was a girl with a mountain to climb"
"tears were frozen to the book theifs face"
"she would wake up swimming in her bed screaming and drowning in the flood of sheets"
"the fact was this: Liesel would not get out of the car"
"Liesel would step outside, wipe the door and watch the sky"
"everything about her was undernourished"
"on the occasion they tried to force Liesel out, as you might imagine, she protested"
"in the darkness Liesel kept her eyes open, she was watching the words"
"I'm not stupid"
"she was a book theif without the words"
"does he know, Liesel thought, can he smell we are holding a Jew?"
What early facts do we get about the character?
"for Liesel it was a ride in the car, she'd never been in one before" - this quote from the beggining of the novel tells us that Leisel has never been in a car before. This shows us that she comes from a family which is quite a poor family as they mustnt have owned a car. "everything about her was undernourished"
this quote also tells us that Leisel was undernoirushsed and so must have come from a poor not very weel off family. The fact that they wern't very well off is probably due to Leisels father. We gather that he is against Hitlers ideas and that is why Liesel is being sent away.
"she was a book theif without the words" - This quote tells us that Liesel was poorly educated, which is also due to her familys situation and standing toward Hitler, Liesel steals a book, which tells us she wants to be educated and learn to read as she understands there is power in the words. She just doesnt know how yet which is why she gets Hans to teach her how to read. She she can understand the powerful words
Quotes Analysis
"the book theif struck for the first time - the beggining of an illustrious career" - Death gives out a hint that Liesel stealing her first book, is the beginning of an illustrious career. This means that there is more book stealing to come. By the end of the novel, we realize that she does build a career. she reads the books that she steals. she wins the hearts of the people on Himmel Street by reading to them during the air raids and she expresses her love for Max by reading to him whilst he is in a coma.Her reward for partaking in this career of reading is happiness as she is doing the thing she loves most.
"She had hidden her last link to him under her matress and occasionaly she would pull it out and hold it" - Liesel is hiding the very first book that she stole (the gravediggers handbook). This is the last link that she has to her brother as it was the last time she saw him. Liesel uses it as a tool to comfort her as she is grieving. "occasionally she would pull it out and hold it" suggests that Liesel misses her brother and hod the book because she can no longer hold her brother.
"Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. all from words. From Liesel's words." - Liesel explodes at Ilsa Hermann, calling her pathetic and telling her to get over the death of her son. she imagines Ilsa's face becoming physically battered by Liesel's cruel invective. Liesel later comes to regret everything she said, as she realizes the power of words to inflict harm on others.
At the beggining of the novel, Liesel cannot read. She understands that words are important and powereful and so wants to understand how to read. She reads with Hans and Frau Hermann in her library. She also reads in the basement during the airrades. Books become a sourse of comfort to her. She loves the words but also decides she hates them and they can be ugly things, expecially the way that Hitler uses them. She also comes to realise that Hitlers words are responsible for taking her mother and brother away, and for Max having to hide in the basement. Sometimes, she hates the words but she goes on to write her own book and hopes she made "the words right".
"I have hated the words and i have loved them and i hope i have made then right"
After seeing Max heading off to a concentration camp, Leisel begins to "hate" the words, seeing Hitlers words as the sourse of all suffering. Ilsa Hermann gives Leisel a blank book and tells her she should write down her own story. Leisel then writes the story of her life, writing everything that had happended to her and containing all her emotions. Leisel then comes to the realisation that words can cause both violense and confort depending on how they are uses and hopes that she has made her words "right".
“She wouldn’t tolerate having it being given to her by a lonely, pathetic old woman. Stealing it, on the other hand, seemed a little more acceptable. Stealing it, in a sick kind of sense, was like earning it.” (p. 309)
“She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half. Then a chapter. Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Fuhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words? She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. “what good are the words?” (p.521)
“Every night, Liesel would nightmare.” These are bitter sweet kind of suffering. They terrify her. She cannot control them. But, they bring her just a little closer to her dead brother. A major turning point for Liesel is when she lets go of the nightmares and learns to carry her brother in her heart and memory.
“Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up” she would rather let a book burn her than leave it behind, putting literature before herself.
.