The Book Thief

“The injury of words. Yes the brutality of words. Cuts had opened and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin”

This quote is said during the scene that Leslie Memeinger releases all of her anger at the mayors wife after finding that she no longer needs her mum too work for her. The language feature that Markus Zusak used in this quote is a metaphor. The way he used it was describing a physical cut on the mayors wife from Leslie’s harsh words. This way of describing the scene was very meaningful because it really showed the depth of the words that Leslie said, It shows that saying hurtful words, can be just as bad as taking physical action on someone.