Stars
In the text, Trudi describes the stars that Jewish people were forced to wear on their clothes to signify they were Jewish. She said that from seeing these stars "you knew right away where someone belonged." After Jewish people were forced to wear these stars, Trudi describes how their eyes changed: “They no longer settled on you when they encountered you, but looked beyond you, beyond everyone and everything as if testing the perimeters of an invisible fence". She also describes how they would look down "with shame and fear." The physical difference of the star is like Trudi’s own physical difference due to her dwarfism, so she can relate to being singled out for this reason.
The Library
Trudi’s father is the village librarian, and Trudi herself later takes over this role. Much of the text is set within the library, making this a significant setting. Throughout the text, the reader encounters many stories from different people, from Jews freeing Nazi persecution, to the everyday struggles of people living in a small German village. The book itself therefore becomes a sort of library, full of different stories. Trudi also collects people’s stories, and therefore becomes a library herself: “they kept coming back—to borrow books, they liked to believe—yet, what they really came for, even those who feared Trudi Montag, were the stories she told them about their neighbors and relatives.”
Stones
The symbol of stones recurs throughout the text. Trudi uses the image of stones to describe how actions can have consequences, even if they aren’t visible: “Carefully, the girl skimmed her fingers across her mother's knee. It was smooth; the skin had closed across the tiny wounds like the surface of the river after you toss stones into the waves. Only you knew they were there. Unless you told.” Later, the image of rocks is used to describe the eyes of Jewish people after they were given the yellow stars to wear: “They were like rocks those eyes unmoving and rigid.” This image gives us a sense of the lifelessness and misery they felt.
Rivers
Rivers are another symbol that Trudi refers to repeatedly. She sees the river as a source of empowerment: "The river was rough and greedy - not ashamed to demand its rightful share: it strained against the embankment, swallowed rocks, and gushes through the tiniest crevices". She also compares herself to a river due to her ability to access people’s minds with ease: "As the river, she washed through the houses of people without being seen... as she flushed out their stories."
Snowflakes
The image of the snowflake is used to symbolize uniqueness: “High in the hazy sky, the snowflakes looked tiny and all alike, but as they drifted past the narrow window of the sewing room, all were unique - long or round or triangular - as if they'd borrowed their shapes from the clouds they'd come from.” Uniqueness is a key theme of the text. Trudi feels isolated due to her uniqueness, but later discovers that everyone has their own differences. Although the snowflakes first appear to be the same, on closer inspection each one is different.
