The significance of the book the Grave Diggers handbook is that its Liesel’s only connection to her past. It’s the only thing she still has that has anything to do with her mother and brother. The book links Liesel to her brothers death and his funeral. Both her mother and brother are dead so Liesel needs something to remember her by. The book also relates to Death. Death and gravediggers go hand in hand, Death creates the bodies; The gravedigger buries them. This book is extremely important because its not only a memory of her mother and brother but its also the start of her obsession with stealing books. This book is also what teaches her to read, which sparks her passion.
The book the Stand-over man has relevance to almost every character in the text with every character having something that hangs over there head. Max has the threat of Hitler and the Nazi’s hanging over him, Hans Huberman has the guilt of Max’s father death hanging over him, Rudy has his bully and hunger. Almost every character has something bad hanging over them making things in there everyday life difficult. The Stand-over man could also represent protectors or positive influences in peoples lives. Hans stands over Liesel as her protector keeping her safe from everything he can, Hans is also a positive influence in her life, fueling her love for books, learning and reading.
The shoulder shrug is the book that Liesel steals from the burning pile. The title alone represents how the country of Germany just shrugged and ignored the destruction of hundreds of pieces of literature. The German’s just stood and watched as a priceless amount of history was destroyed before there very eyes and all they did was shrug and walk off. It also represents the start of Liesel’s rebellion, if she had been caught by Nazi’s or anyone for that matter she would have been taken away from Hans and Rosa and probably would never have returned. However, Liesel got away with it and it sparked her desire to rebel even more.
Max uses the book Mein-Kampf as a way of keeping him alive. It hid his illegal documents and he used the pages to create stories for Liesel. This is intense Irony as the book Mein-Kampf was used by Hitler as an excuse to kill millions of Jewish people like Max. Mein-Kampf was Hitler’s main form of propaganda. It gave Hitler power in Germany and was a part of why he became the Supreme Leader of Germany. Max is a person of Jewish faith and the book Mein Kampf gave him power to keep him alive and used it to make a gift for Liesel.
Liesel steals the Dream Carrier from Isla Hermann’s library. She read this book to Max while Max is in his coma state. Liesel acts as Max’s own Dream carrier while he is in the coma state, talking and reading to him and keeping him company. When Max’s wakes up he tells Liesel her heard most of what she said.
A Song in the Dark is another book stolen from Isla Hermanns library. Liesel is a Song in Max’s darkness. Liesel steals this book during Max’s coma stage to read to him in his time of darkness and despair.