What happens in Chapter 15 of Number the Stars?
In Chapter 15 of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, the suspense that has been brewing throughout the novel reaches a critical point. Annemarie's father has sent her alone through the dark woods to deliver a small packet to Henrik's boat before it leaves for Sweden. She runs the familiar route, but is stopped at a Nazi checkpoint with soldiers and their dogs. The soldiers demand to know what she is carrying. Thinking quickly, Annemarie claims the packet is her uncle's lunch. The soldiers rip it open—finding only a handkerchief and a piece of bread. Frustrated and suspicious, one soldier holds the handkerchief to his dog's nose, but the dog doesn't react. The soldiers allow Annemarie to go on her way. She makes it to Henrik just in time. It’s only later that she learns from her father that the handkerchief had been treated with a special powder—dried rabbit blood and cocaine—meant to mask the scent for the dogs, a real resistance tactic used to help Jewish refugees reach Sweden.
Analysis
Lowry crafts this chapter as the novel's most intense test of courage, primarily using physical sensations and silence. Annemarie runs alone in the darkness—like a child without any adult protection—and the writing reflects her breathlessness with short, sharp sentences that don’t allow for comfort. The chapter's key technique is dramatic irony: Annemarie is unaware of the contents of the packet, which makes her fear authentic and her improvisation spontaneous. The reader shares this lack of knowledge, turning the soldiers' inspection into genuine suspense rather than mere procedural tension.
The dogs serve as the chapter's main motif. Throughout the novel, Nazi dogs have acted as tools of harsh surveillance—extensions of state power devoid of reason. In this chapter, Lowry flips that symbol: the dogs fail. Science and human ingenuity have effectively neutralized the regime's most primal enforcement weapon. It’s a small, precise victory, and Lowry avoids exaggerating its significance.
The revelation of the handkerchief's purpose comes after the danger has passed, presented in calm, almost clinical language by Annemarie's father. This tonal shift—from adrenaline to quiet explanation—is intentional. It emphasizes that resistance isn’t about glamorous improvisation but rather careful, deliberate action. The chapter also subtly honors the real Danish resistance, grounding the fiction in documented history without turning into a lecture. Annemarie's solitary run symbolizes the novel's broader message: that ordinary people, when pushed, discover they are braver than they thought.
Key quotes from Chapter 15
“She had been so frightened. And she had done it anyway.”
Annemarie reflects on her own actions after safely delivering the packet, marking the novel's clearest articulation of its definition of courage.
“'My dogs smell it,' the soldier said, and thrust the handkerchief toward the dog's nose. But the dog turned away.”
At the checkpoint, a soldier tests the packet's contents with his dog, and the animal's failure to react signals the quiet triumph of the resistance's scientific countermeasure.
“'It was very important,' Papa told her. 'The handkerchief was the most important part of what you carried.'”
Annemarie's father reveals the packet's true purpose after she returns home, reframing her unknowing bravery as part of a larger, carefully planned act of rescue.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 15
- handkerchief
- In this novel, a specially treated cloth packet whose scent confuses and neutralizes the tracking ability of German police dogs.
- dried blood
- One of the substances coating the handkerchiefs used to destroy the dogs' sense of smell — part of the secret chemical mixture that protected escaping Jews.
- anesthetic
- A substance that causes loss of feeling or consciousness; here used in the powder on the handkerchiefs to deaden the dogs' sense of smell.