1.)

White: To a lot of people white symbolizes emptiness and space which is a great description of the landscape in which the first colour is set. This emptiness could also reflect how Liesel is feeling, as the loss of her brother has removed all joy and emotion from her life. the empty cleanliness of the blinding white described gives the reader a feeling of confusion which is reflected in Liesels moment of sudden awareness that her brother is dead. Liesel struggles to come to terms with the absence of her brother which adds to this blank feeling of confusion.

Black: as Liesel Grows older she begins understand the loss of her brother and her confusion and denial turn into dark black depression, this is fueled by the absence of her mother and the strange new environment she now lives in. the colour black also reflects the state of the wider world where whole cities were turn to ash and rubble and the charred bodies of the Jews release black smoke into the German sky.

Red: when Nazi Germany begins to lose the war the blood of the German people is split even more heavily, which is seen in the red of the sky on the fateful night Liesels entire neighborhood is blown apart by the bright red explosions of allied bombs. This red made me think about a line Death says when Liesels brother dies  “her heart was a slippery and hot” where i could imagine her red heart beating faster and faster as she realizes what has happened.

 

2.)

The swastika; the symbol of Nazi Germany is constructed of the same colours as Liesels three crucial moments in her life where she came face to face with death.  this gave me the impression that because the swastika is a combination of those moments it could be a representation of death himself as he would be very busy collecting the people killed in the name of the flag. As Liesel constantly lived in the shadow of the Nazis throughout her time in Germany she also lived (along with everyone else) in the shadow death himself.