When writing a tale of fiction, a novelist relies on an “illuminating moment” to expand on the meaning of a book as a whole. The Book Thief, a novel by Markus Zusak, is no exception. We see illuminating moments in The Book Thief in a couple of places, one in particular being in the first book Max wrote for Liesel: The Standover Man. The Standover Man is a book about Max and his fears and his journey to Himmel Street. He talks about his relationship with Liesel, and compares her to the other “Standover Men” in his life. Throughout the entire story Max has illustrated himself as a bird because Liesel mentioned that his hair looks like feathers. There are a few details that make this an illuminating moment, such as the description of the relationship