Rudy’s brother and sister are playing dominoes when the two men come to the Steiner house to talk about Rudy? What are the dominoes compared to? How does this connect to the war?

In the Steiner household, Rudy and the younger children are setting up dominoes while their parents argue with the two Nazi agents in the kitchen about inducting Rudy into a special military school. The dominoes are a symbol of the war, of how the Germans want to knock over all others. It also symbolizes the power of individual acts to resist the Nazis, small acts can create a "domino effect. "