Zusak's Interesting Writing

"[Max could] give...Mein Kampf, [but] there was no way he'd give such propaganda to a young German girl. That would be like the lamb handing a knife to the butcher" (221). This analogy stuck out to me as I was reading. Max was feeling bad that he hadn't gotten Liesel a birthday present and Death points out that "[Max] had nothing to give." Though what I don't understand is how Zusak could compare giving a young German girl Mein Kampf to the lamb giving the butcher a knife. Is it because Max, being a Jew, and the lamb would both be killed (one by Nazis and one by a knife) if the book and the knife were given? If so, how would anyone find out where or how Liesel obtained the book? If not, then how does this analogy work?

"You scared me, Max" (281). Liesel had just gasped at the "Danke schön" following the sight of Max's sketches and replacing his book. "[Max] returned to his sleep...and the girl dragged the same thought up the steps. You scared me, Max." Zusak's choice to repeat this phrase is quite interesting and is used economically for emphasis. Liesel seems to be frightened of not just Max's unexpected thanks, but also of his sketches she had just seen of the Führer Hitler and his actions. One is of two people standing atop a mountain of dead bodies with the sun out as a swastika. They revel in the "lovely day." Liesel is shocked at the sketches because of how daring Max, a Jew, is towards Hitler who was such a powerful figure at that time in Nazi Germany.

On page 287, Rudy asks Liesel if she is hungry. Her response, as if in her own head, was "'Starving.' For a book." This reminded me of "Romeo and Juliet" and how some characters in each piece of writing don't know exactly what other characters know/want. Rudy doesn't know that Liesel is stealing from Frau Hermann just to retrieve another book; Paris doesn't know of Romeo and Juliet's secret love for each other.