Ilsa Hermann Character Analysis in The Book Thief

The mayor's wife in the town where the Hubermanns live and one of 's washing customers, Ilsa subjects herself to cold weather as a punishment for living when her son has died (even though his death was no fault of her own). She introduces to her library, and both gives Liesel books and allows Liesel to steal them from her. Ilsa starts out hardly able to speak, but by the novel's end she encourages Liesel to write and then takes her in after the bombing.

Ilsa Hermann Quotes in The Book Thief

The The Book Thief quotes below are all either spoken by Ilsa Hermann or refer to Ilsa Hermann. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

Liesel, however, did not buckle. She sprayed her words directly into the woman's eyes.
"You and your husband. Sitting up here." Now she became spiteful. More spiteful and evil than she thought herself capable.
The injury of words.
Yes, the brutality of words.

Related Characters: Liesel Meminger (speaker), Death (speaker), Ilsa Hermann

Page Number and Citation: 262

Explanation and Analysis:

Unlock explanations and citation info for this and every other The Book Thief quote.

Plus so much more...

Already a LitCharts A⁺ member?Sign in!