Symbolism: A symbol in literature is a person, object, or event that stands for an idea or a set of ideas. What does the book The Grave Digger’s Handbook symbolize? What does the conclusion of reading book symbolize?

Reading this book marks the transition of Liesel becoming literate. To Liesel, this means everything. Worlds open up for her including the confidence to be herself and stand up to bullies. Liesel is able to form her own identity and communicate in ways she never thought possible. The Grave Digger's Handbook is the first book Liesel steals and the first book she reads. As with all her books, this one is bittersweet. It's bitter due to the fact that she steals the book from the snowy graveyard where her little brother Werner has just been buried. It's her only tangible memory of her brother, and also of her mother. So, for Liesel, the book represents great loss, great sorrow, and her feelings of abandonment. It represents the end of one phase of her life, and the beginning of another.