Part Eight
“Dominoes and Darkness”
1. What metaphor do Rudy’s sisters use to describe the two men who visited the house?
2. For what are the dominoes metaphors?
“The Thought Of Rudy Naked”
3. What piece of nonfiction might a reader learn in this section?
4. What does the reader learn about Liesel and her feelings for Rudy?
“Punishment”
5. What is Hans’s “reward” for trying to give a Jew food?
6. Why was Alex Steiner drafted into the German army?
“The Promise Keeper’s Wife”
7. How does Liesel relate herself to the girl in A Song In the Dark?
8. How is Rosa’s sadness confirmed to Liesel?
“The Collector”
9. What was Hans’s job in the war?
“The Bread Eaters”
10. In what way are Rudy and Liesel’s actions ironic considering they are living in Nazi
Germany?
“The Hidden Sketchbook”
11. What is the difference between a fable and a fairy tale?
12. Identify the following symbols within The Word Shaker:
*the small man who wanted to rule the world –
*the words (plants) –
*the seeds (symbols) –
*the people on the conveyor belt –
*the word shakers –
*the best female word shaker who was hungry for words and knew how powerless
a person could be without words –
*the sick man –
13. Explain whether The Word Shaker better fits the genre of fable or fairy tale. Then complete
the attached worksheet on ALLEGORY.
“The Anarchist’s Suit Collection”
14. What does Liesel give Rudy for Christmas?
15. How does the reader know that Liesel’s feeling for Rudy have changed?
Allegory: “The Word Shaker”
1. Whom does the young man in the story symbolize?
2. What does the young man use as his weapon? How does he use this weapon?
3. Who are “the word shakers”? Whom do they symbolize? What message did the word
shakers wish to send?
4. Whom does the small girl in the story symbolize?
5. Whom does the sick man in the story symbolize?
6. The seed from which her tree grows is the seed of ________________, born of a _________.
7. The fact that no one is able to destroy the tree symbolizes that the _____________________
between the girl and sick man is much stronger than the message of the ________________.
8. When the girl and the man – friends – come out of the tree, it falls. The crash does not
completely destroy the other trees planted by the Nazi’s, but it does carve a path through the
Nazi forest. The voices they hear behind them symbolically belong to whom?
9. The story shows that the most powerful weapon against Hitler’s movement is what?
10. What does the story suggest is the answer to defeating Hitler?
Part Nine
For each chapter in “Part Nine,” you will determine the main idea (one complete sentence) and
list any key literary points.
Sub-chapter
The Next Temptation
The Cardplayer
The Snows Of
Stalingrad
The Ageless Brother
The Accident
Main Idea
Literary Points
The Bitter Taste Of
Questions
One Toolbox, One
Bleeder, One Bear
Homecoming