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Part 9: The Snows of Stalingrad
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Book Thief, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death
Words and Language
Books
Stealing and Giving
Color, Beauty, and Ugliness
Summary
Analysis
Liesel returns the cookie plate to Ilsa Hermann's front door, but she doesn't go inside. She imagines her brother, who is eternally six years old, approving of her action. That night Liesel lies awake and imagines her mother, Werner, Max, and Hans all in the room. The next morning she watches Rosa hold the accordion and pray for everyone's safe return.
Liesel overcomes her particular fear of apologizing to Ilsa and does something Hans would have done. When she imagines Werner alongside both Hans and Max, it connects them to Werner as both her loved ones but also by implying that the latter two are in great danger and are lost to Liesel for now. Rosa also has been deeply affected, and clings to the accordion even though she can't play it as a symbol of safety.
Themes
