Death In The Book Thief Essay

Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.

“The power of words, written or spoken, have life. They can change the world.” (search quotes). The power of words should not be underestimated. Liesel proves this to be true in the novel and the film The Book Thief. She uses words to develop relationships with her foster father, Hans Hubermann; Max Vandenburg, the illicit Jew in her basement; and her neighbours. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is much more relationship development compared to the film The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival. This consequently causes the theme of the power of words to be less prominent in the film.

Through all of the irony and vivid coloring, The Book Thief is more easily understood after acquiring knowledge of reading literature with greater care and meticulousness. Applying chapters of How to Read Literature like a Professor can better enhance a reader’s awareness of hidden messages and symbols within certain works of literature. In Chapter Two, Foster explains how meals suggest a communion between all parties involved in it. Markus Zusak also uses meals and food to bring families together in The Book Thief. Foster also explains, in Chapter Eleven, how violence in literature usually stands for more than just violence.

Death’s detailing and descriptions of his soul gathering in the war and his human-like emotions further to the conclusion that is Death being or resembling humans. By Death saying “Far away, fires were burning…I had just picked up 200 murdered souls” (Zusak, 478), he discusses and implies his soul gathering and subtle emotions about what it is like to be Death. In Death saying “murdered souls”, Death shows the emotion of compassion towards the Jews being slaughtered in WWII. Death uses his experience as a gateway to express his inner feelings toward the situation with Liesel Meminger. By Death saying “I was on my way to Molching for more [souls]” (Zusak, 478), it effectively shows the connection in which is the third time Liesel and Death are united. This further depicting that Death uses his personal experiences of and with Liesel Meminger and War to express his true colors. In a final attempt to completely share his ideas,

Throughout The Book Thief, death is portrayed as someone with a delicate side. “Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on your shoulder. I will carry you gently away.” (Zusak 4) Death is gentle with the souls that he carries. “ I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words. I watched their love visions and feed them from their fear.” (Zusak 350) During this chapter, death is

Narration is important in almost any book,  which is why it is especially important in   Mark Zusak’s: The Book Thief.  He uses foreshadowing, perspective, and interaction with the  reader to make the book so much more interesting. Zusak's selection of Death as the narrator heavily changes and alters the way the book is read. Death allows the reader to have a completely new and different perspective of Death itself, he heavily foreshadows very important events in the book, and he interacts with the reader many times throughout the book. By presenting death as the narrator, Zusak provides a more outside and impartial view of humanity’s pain and suffering (Johnson).

Relationship to meaning: Death is important to the story because he provides a detailed explanation of what is going on with all characters and he isn’t bias towards any specific character.

Through following the life and hardships surrounding Liesel; Death learns how humans can simultaneously have a good side and a wicked side to them; he learns much about human nature, but is still confused by this aspect of humans even after studying the life of Liesel for about seventy years; and he still does not fully understand this aspect of humans, so comes to a grim conclusion about them. Starting from the first chapter of The Book Thief, it is apparent that Death has a complicated and unorthodox way of seeing things. On the first page, he says “First the colors. Then the humans.

Death perception is what sets apart the wise from the foolish and the sensitive from the weak minded; this statement is both true within life and the epic poem Beowulf. Many statements within the spectrum of death in the current world relates and dates back to this one poem, even more so now through the translation of Seamus Heaney. Passed along as a folk tale from as early as the 5th century to the 9th century, and then composed in about the 10th century, Beowulf creates a solid base for many of today’s present and worldly ideals. Countless themes are taken from this poem, but one theme that many people may glaze over is the extremely morbid tone of death and its purpose. Used as an archetype for the audience, the purpose of this morbid theme of death is to help understand and cope with mortality, especially during that time period. Accepting/ understanding is wiser than foolishly attempting to escape or cheat death as the poem blatantly proves after closely analyzing its purpose of discussing fate and death before the battles; choosing to always stand by good morals and actions; and the major significance of the main character’s death along with a couple counterarguments. By examining each aspect, the reader will gain the realization as to why Seamus Heaney decided to create this theme that he did with the direction from “The Beowulf poet [that] was captivated by the imagery of death” (Tanke 356).

Death. To many, it is the end of life and start of a new beginning from this world, but in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death is our narrator. He is the one who guides us through the life of a young German girl named Liesel during Nazi Germany. Death manages to see her three times, and soon enough, becomes fascinated by her and the trials she must face in her life. Liesel manages to change Death’s character, surprising him in a way he thought humans never could and changing his viewpoint on them forever.

The acts of human nature can become a very difficult concept to understand. Markus Zusak uses Death throughout the The Book Thief to express the complexity of human nature. Death illustrates how complicated beings humans are and how they hold the capacity to act in both evil and beautiful ways. Throughout the novel Death helps give readers insight to the ignorance displayed and the pain it may cause a person. In the most troublesome and discriminatory times of the Holocaust, Death will point out the beautiful acts of compassion carried out by characters involved in the novel. Sometimes beauty and pain is mixed within the sacrifice some make for those they love and are loyal to.

What is the Grim Reaper? Who is Death in The Book Thief? Both of these figures have things that make them alike and things that make them unique. Some similarities between the personas of both are that both of their roles were to collect the souls of the dead, they were both personified in many different ways and both could never be fully human. As much as the characters are similar to each other, there are quite a few things that make themselves unique. One is that Death acts as a person even though he could never actually be a person. He can convey emotions such as sympathy, pain and anger which are shown throughout the first part of the novel. Also, Death is only around to collect the souls of those readily to die, whereas Grim Reaper hunts down the souls of innocent people and takes their life. “...The boy’s spirit was soft and cold, like ice cream. He started melting in my arms. …” (pg. 21)

3. The Book Thief offers a unique characterization of Death by making him appear as someone who does not enjoy his job. He describes himself as having a tough boss at his shoulder, hissing “Get it done, get it done.” He is constantly trying to avoid becoming emotionally attached to any of the people he has to work with and around, particularly the survivors, and has to distract himself by focusing on

It’s interesting to see Death’s perspective and view on humans change throughout the book. At the beginning, it was almost sarcastic or lighthearted but at the end it realizes how terrible the human race actually is. “I am haunted by the humans” was the last line of the novel and it is such a hard hitting sentence (Zuask 550).

He perceived death in a Christian manner by revealing the fact that we will all wake up from the dead to live the eternal life, so death is not frightening because if it looks like a sleep, then one day we are going to wake up from this sleep and it is a lowly slave that depends on fate. The poet is very arrogant since he believes that people cannot be defeated by this death and it cannot kill anyone.