Summary and Analysis
Part 4: The Standover Man:
Liesel's Lecture
Summary
Max sleeps in Liesel's room that night. The next morning, Hans tells Liesel that she won't be going to school, that she is sick. The house is different, quiet. Hans takes Liesel downstairs and tells her that she mustn't tell anyone about their visitor, that if she does he will take all of her books away and burn them. He tells her, too, that he and Rosa and Max will be taken away and she'll never see them again. She sobs and says she understands; she won't tell anyone.
Analysis
Again, in this chapter, words and books are very important to Liesel. She does not want to think about these things being taken away from her. Even more, though, she does not want to think about losing another family. Liesel can sense that things are all right in the Hubermann house, but that the situation is very awful, too, which further contributes to the theme of murkiness in the novel, the blend of lightness and darkness, good and bad.