Tuesday, October 28, 2014

What quote best describes Liesel's reaction to Werner's death in The Book Thief?

Liesel responds with disbelief and intense grief when Werner dies.


When Liesel’s little brother dies, her first reaction is shock.  She wakes up and sees that he is dead.



For Liesel Meminger, there was the imprisoned stiffness of movement and the staggered onslaught of thoughts. Es stimmt nicht. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.  (Ch. 1)



Liesel shakes her brother, which puzzles Death.  He doesn’t understand why the “leftover humans" always shake the people who have just died, as if this will bring them back to life.  Liesel is numb with grief and doesn’t know what to do.  She just follows her mother.  


When Liesel’s brother is buried, she stares in disbelief.  Then she reacts out of grief and perhaps impulse.  She steals a book from the gravediggers, even though she doesn’t really know how to read. 



When the dragging was done, the mother and the girl stood and breathed. There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers. The book had silver writing on it. (Ch. 1) 



After her brother is buried, Liesel is screaming.  As she is being dragged away, she notices something.  It is a book.  Actually, it is The Grave Digger’s Handbook.  It doesn’t matter to Liesel.  She takes it because it is a souvenir of her brother, however morbid.  She is grieving and in shock, and takes it without thinking. 


Of course, this is the first book that Liesel takes.  Death is impressed.  As Liesel continues on her journey without her brother, she steals other books.  She learns how to read by using The Grave Digger’s Handbook with the help of her new foster father Hans Hubermann.  It gives her an escape from life and a connection to the brother she just lost.

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