Summary and Analysis
Part 10: The Book Thief:
The Rib-Cage Planes
Summary
Liesel sits in the basement and writes the pages of her life, starting with the train ride with her mother and her brother. She sleeps down there the first night and Rosa finds her in the morning. She writes about her Papa sitting down there with her while she writes, how he plays the accordion, and how the lines on his face and his breath are sort of like an accordion to her. She writes about Rudy. Her last line is about words: "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right." On that last night, the planes drop their bombs.
Analysis
Here, the words that Liesel writes are heavy; they hurt her hand, there's so many of them. The words also save her life. They keep her in the basement; they keep her writing. In every way, words have saved her.