Summary and Analysis
Part 7: The Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus:
Peace
Summary
Max leaves 33 Himmel Street late that same night. He says goodbye to everyone, including Liesel. He tells her that he's leaving something behind for her and that she'll get it when she's ready. Afterward, the house becomes very quiet.
The plan is for him to go to a bridge down the Amper River and wait four days for Hans to come. However, Max only stays a few minutes. When Hans does come for Max, he finds only a note from Max telling him that he's done enough already. Liesel realizes that the silence in their house is not one of peace or calm like the dictionary says it should be.
Analysis
This chapter continues the theme of guilt. Max acts upon his guilt when he decides to stray from the plans he's made with Hans so that the Hubermanns and Liesel will no longer be in danger because of him. Hans feels guilty that his home is no longer a safe place for Max.
Liesel experiences how sometimes words can be misleading, how their definitions or explanations are not always able to contain the complications that a single word, like silence, can possess, the same of which is true for humans who possess both lightness and darkness.