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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Forests of Words:
In Part 8: The Hidden Sketchbook, Liesel reads The Word Shaker, the book Max made for her out of a deconstructed copy of Mein Kampf. The Word Shaker hinges on a metaphor:
Yes, the Führer decided that he would rule the world with words. “I will never fire a gun,” he devised. “I will not have to.” Still, he was not rash. Let’s allow him at least that much. He was not a stupid man at all. His first plan of attack was to plant the words in as many areas of his homeland as possible.
He planted them day and night, and cultivated them.
He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout Germany …. It was a nation of farmed thoughts.
The "great forests of words" are a metaphor for Nazi propaganda, and the "nation of farmed thoughts" is a metaphor for a citizenry that has had their thoughts carefully cultivated and pruned by Hitler. By the 1940s, Hitler was of course using violence as a tool to maintain his power. However, he did not have to carry out the violence himself because he had convinced so many people to murder and torture their neighbors on his behalf. The idea that Hitler has planted words in people's minds and farmed their thoughts suggests that words are dangerous tools of manipulation. They can take root on the inside of someone's psychology, and before that person knows it their beliefs are being controlled from the outside.
At the same time, the metaphor makes clear that words themselves are not inherently dangerous and manipulative. Someone like Hitler can use words to cultivate "thought farms" that serve only to reinforce his power. However, words grow in "great forests," and their seeds can be harvested by anyone who preserves some ability to think for themself. The Word Shaker describes Liesel as someone who learns to do just that. Her dissenting ideas are eventually cut down, but their existence leaves a trace that can never be erased. Max's book thus suggests that Liesel should never give up the power to use her words for herself and for others, to help people see alternative ways of thinking.
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