apples

[Anna michie]

on page 152, liesel and Rudy steal their first apples.  after that first time they go on to steal more. Do the apples have any symbolism or meaning? do you think stealing was just in leisel's blood or did a lot of desperate kids steal at that time?

[ashleyyoon]

The compulsive stealing was a distraction from their hesitant daily lives. It also gave the children a fragment of luxury, for some characters in the novel were not wealthy enough to by apples. "On the riverbank where she learned to swim, each apple was disposed of. Unaccustomed to suck luxury, they knew it was likely they'd be sick. They ate anyway"(Zusak 153). It gave Liesel a chance to amplify the meaning of friendship with Rudy Steiner, for they stole much more throughout the novel as best friends.

[baazjhaj]

The apples show opportunity. They are the few things that the children could use to escape the true pain of daily life.

[ariokamura]

I personally believe Zusak choose apples to show development and opportunity. To display how Liesel's personality had began to develop through the trauma and death. I don't believe it's in her blood but being broke and suffering frommalnutrition forced her to come and take any opportunity that seemed available.

[sofiamq123]

Humanity is a big topic in the book. There are many things that the author uses to give the characters humanity, like communication and the power of words, connections between people, the feeling of pain or happiness etc. The stealing of apples was another symbol for Lisle humanity. On page 150 Zusak writes "Sitting on Rudy's front steps, they noticed Fritz Hammer...eating an apple.....it looked magnificent in his hand. Three or four more of them clearly bulged in his jacket pockets. They wandered closer." (Zusak 150). In the scene Lisle and Rudy experience temptation, a feeling many humans experience. After being tempted by the apple, they are offered to start stealing by a group of teenagers, they accept. Readers know that stealing isn't the right choice, that Lisle and Rudy have commited a mistake. Through this event the author tries to say that wherever there is humans there is gonna be mistakes. Of course we should learn from them but we shouldn't obsess over them. The author is able to show that just because Lisle steals, doesn't mean that she's a bad person.Her mistakes make her human.