girl with a mountain to climb.

Here we have another metaphor. Liesel of course does not literally have a mountain to climb, but the image emphasizes just how much of a struggle it is for her to learn how to read.

In part 3, Death, the narrator, reflects on how difficult it must be to be a Jew in Nazi Germany. He compares Liesel's unfortunate life to the life of Max Vandenberg, and he concludes that

She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenberg. Certainly, her brother practically died in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew.

In this quote, Death uses contrast to emphasize how utterly dreadful life was for Jews at this time. By contrasting Liesel's desperately sad life with the life of Max Vandenberg, Death emphasizes just how terrible it must have been to be a Jew in Nazi Germany. It was even worse than having your brother die in your arms, even worse than being abandoned by your own mother.

In part 5 of the novel, Liesel is describing the weather outside for the benefit of Max. She describes the weather as follows:

there is one long cloud, and it's stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it the sun is like a yellow hole.

This quote offers an example of pathetic fallacy, a literary device whereby the weather is used to reflect the mood of the characters or the story. In this instance Liesel's description of the weather, on the surface, seems vivid and childlike. However, the images of a stretched rope and a hole have darker, ominous connotations. The stretched rope suggests a hangman's noose, and the hole suggests emptiness. These connotations reflect the general mood of the story, which at times is dominated by death and hopelessness.

1. Quote: "A suddenness found its way onto his lips then, which were a corroded brown color and peeling, like old paint."

Literary Device: simile

Page:part 1, page 16

Explanation: This quote is a simile. It compares two things (lips to old paint) using "like" or "as."

2. Quote: "The book thief had struck for the first time—the beginning of an illustrious career."

Literary Device: foreshadowing

Page: part one, page 22

Explanation: This quote shows foreshadowing, hinting at events to come later in the story (stealing other books).

3. Quote: "Within seconds, snow was carved into her skin."

Literary Device: hyperbole

Page: part one, page 18

Explanation: This quote contains hyperbole, an extreme exaggeration (the snow is hitting her hard, but not actually being "carved into her skin").

4. Quote: "They ignore the reality that a new version of the same old problem will be waiting at the end of the trip—the relative you cringe to kiss."

Literary Device: metaphor

Page: part one, page 19

Explanation: This quote is a metaphor, which compares two things (a new version of an old problem to a relative you cringe to kiss) by saying that they are equivalent.

5. Quote: "...the boy’s spirit was soft and cold, like ice cream."

Literary Device: simile

Page: part one, page 17

Explanation: This quote is a simile. It compares two things (the spirit to ice cream) using "like" or "as."

6. Quote: "...empty hat-stand trees..."

Literary Device: metaphor

Page: part one, page 21

Explanation: This quote is a metaphor, which compares two things (hat stands to trees) by saying that they are equivalent.

7. Quote: "Ash stumbled from its edge and lunged and lifted several times until it hit the ground."

Literary Device: personification

Page: part one, page 21

Explanation: This quote shows personification, which is making an inanimate object (the ash) show a human characteristic (stumbling, lunging).

8. Quote: "There is murky snow spread out like carpet."

Literary Device: simile

Page: part one, page 21

Explanation: This quote is a simile. It compares two things (snow to carpet) using "like" or "as."

9. Quote: "...apartment blocks that look nervous."

Literary Device: personification

Page: part one, page 21

Explanation: This quote shows personification, which is making an inanimate object (the house) show a human characteristic (nervousness).

10. Quote: "But she did love Liesel Meminger. Her way of showing it just happened to be strange. It involved bashing her with wooden spoons and words at various intervals."

Literary Device: irony

Page: part one, page 25

Explanation: This quote shows an example of irony, which occurs when the author says one thing but means the opposite.

One example of figurative language in Part Three is "Perhaps it was her first realization that criminality spoke for itself" on page 126. This is an example of personification, or giving something that is not human, such as criminality, human qualities. The author uses this figure of speech to emphasize that Liesel's supposed criminality has taken over her personality now and that it is apparent to her father. Later on the same page (126), there is another example of figurative language: "This time, his voice was like a fist, freshly banged on the table." This is an example of a simile, a comparison using "like" or "as." In this simile, the father's voice is compared to a fist to emphasize its strength and the anger with which he expresses himself.

In Part Four, on page 175, there is the following example of personification: "Cold sweat--that malignant little friend--outstaying its welcome in the armpits and trousers." Personification makes the sweat seem as real, bitter, and permanent as a person, and it emphasizes the way in which the sweat lingered in an unwelcome way on the fighting men. On page 182, there is the following simile, "He could already taste the error, like a metal tablet in his mouth." In this example of figurative language, Hans Hubermann knows that his ethics will not allow him to join the NSDAP, or Nazi Party. He knows that this decision will be very difficult for him and that he will suffer greatly as a result of having made it. The author emphasizes the difficulty of Hans's decision by comparing it to having an acidic metal tablet in his mouth. 

Markus Zusak is an excellent wordsmith when it comes to using figurative language in his writing. In The Book Thief, figures of speech pop up everywhere. There are so many throughout the book that one might be able to open to any page and find one or more examples. For instance, when Liesel discovers that her brother is dead on the train, Death explains it as follows:

"The second eye jumpedawake and she caught me out, no doubt about it" (21).

The line above uses personification when it compares Liesel's eye opening up quickly as if it were jumping. Eyes don't jump or wake, per se; people do. Zusak uses personification multiple times, too. In fact, here is another one:

"This time, the train limped through the snowed-in country. It hobbled in and stopped" (22).

This line shows the train limping and hobbling as though it were a crippled or fatigued person, which probably also describes how Liesel and her mother feel the night that Werner dies. Next, when Liesel cries outside of the Hubermanns' house, personification is used again as follows:

"A gang of tears trudged from her eyes as she held on and refused to go inside" (28).

Tears don't trudge; people do, though. The use of personification allows readers to apply some personal understanding of what trudging feels like in order to understand how hard Liesel was crying. Another example of personification is when the text says, "She settled into the long arms of grass, lying back" (71). Grass doesn't have long arms, but people do. Even schoolwork is personified when Liesel starts learning about letter writing as follows:

"In the middle of January, schoolwork turned its attention to letter writing" (94).

In this line, the schoolwork is personified; it turns "its attention to letter writing." Schoolwork doesn't have attention; people do. Zusak seems to project his characters' feelings onto objects when he uses personification.

A few metaphors and similes that are used in The Book Thief are as follows:

"She didn't see him watching as he played, having no idea that Hans Hubermann's accordion was a story. In the times ahead, that story would arrive at 33 Himmel Street in the early hours of morning . . ." (71).

In the above passage, the accordion is compared to a story, which creates a metaphor. An example of a simile can be found in the following:

"In some places, like Frau Diller's, the glass was vigorously washed, and the swastika looked like a jewel on a red-and-white blanket" (102-103).

In this passage, the swastika is compared to a jewel with the word "like," which creates a simile. Another example of a simile is, "To their left, flames and burning books were cheered like heroes" (113). In this line, the flames of the book-burning bonfire are compared to heroes for whom the crowd is cheering. This certainly creates an odd mood when one thinks about people burning works of literature for "fun." 

Two more similes are used when Hans Hubermann experiences an epiphany about how to get Max to his house as follows:

"This time, his voice was like a fist, freshly banged on the table. The man was seeing something. He was watching it quickly, end to end, like a race, but it was too high and too far away for Liesel to see" (126).

The first simile in this passage compares Hubermann's voice to a fist banging down on a table. This must mean it was loud and startling. Then the idea that he has in his head is compared to a race because of how quickly it moves through his thoughts.