What Is the Symbolism of the Colors, White, Black, and Red in the Book, the Book Thief?
Question by Semper Abbie: What is the symbolism of the colors, white, black, and red in the book, The Book Thief?
In the book, The Book Thief, the narrator, Death, describes the three encounters he has with Liesel Meminger in colors.
1. White-Liesel’s little brother, Werner, when he dies on the train ride to Himmel Street where the residence of their future foster parents is. “It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater. Next to the train line, foot-prints were sunken to their shins. Trees wore blankets of ice.”
2. Black-An Allied plane crashes just outside the town, and Liesel and Rudy watch the pilot die. “Next is a signature black, to show the poles of my versatility, if you like. It was the darkest moment before the dawn. This time, I had come for a man of perhaps twenty-four years of age. It was a beautiful thing in some ways. The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs.”
3. Red-Himmel Street is bombed, Liesel is the only survivor, as she was writing in the Hubermanns’ basement. She finds the body of Rudy, then her foster parents. “The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness.”
What do you suppose the symbolism of each of these colors is? White, black, and red?
Best answer:
Answer by Dusko Popov
Hi Abbie – this site wil definitely provide answers to your questions; just search the links here:
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/id-CLIFFSNOTES2_SEARCH_RESULTS.html?query=The%20Book%20Thief
What do you think? Answer below!