quote:" They read through the early hours of morning, circling and writing the words she did not comprehend and
turning the pages toward daylight. A few times, Papa nearly slept, succumbing to the itchy fatigue in his eyes
and the wilting of his head. Liesel caught him out on each occasion, but she had neither the selflessness to allow
him to sleep nor the hide to be offended. She was a girl with a mountain to climb." If you have read "The Book Thief" and know about the conflicts and style Zusak includes in the book, please help me to answer: 1. what is the mountain? what does it symbolize? 2. who are her climbing partners ( who accompanies her/helps her/is involved in her "ascent" up the "mountain") 3. what is her greatest obstacle? 4. which point does she reach the summit of her mountain? 5. describe her descent. What does she discover at the foot of her mountain? And finally, how does this relate to our society as a whole? I thought that the mountain might describe the challenge learning to read, but the summit is unclear, when she might master reading, and her descent, well, she doesn't "unlearn" how to read, but maybe as she gains increased understanding her challenge reading decreases and the foot of her mountain might be when reading is a natural thing and she is back at normal life, but the mountain she has climbed is behind her. What are your thoughts on this? The instructor did say that there were multiple responses as long as I can back them up I can get full credit. Please respond.