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Analysis Of The Book ' The Book Thief '

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Imagery: “First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.” (1) Describe: The first passage of “The Book Thief,” already leaves the reader questioning what on Earth these words could mean; however, the answer to this question isn’t Earthly at all. Death is the narrator of this story, and he is only trying to help us understand how his work is done before he allows us to actually witness his work being done. Analyze: Throughout “The Book Thief,” Death makes numerous references to the colors right before he lifts someone’s soul out of their body. The colors are how Death views the sky when a human dies. Our narrator seems to focus his attention on these colors not only as a distraction to the dismay of taking a life (the colors are edible to Death), but also to catch a glimpse of what that particular life was like; a person’s purest form of character, which may help the reader to have a “in a nutshell” understanding of the person. This use of imagery suggests that the human soul is just the universe trying to express itself for a little while, and when the body holding such a soul is terminated, the soul will be reunited with the natural world before becoming whole again, thus, resulting in the colors that Death sees in the sky. Point of View: “*** A REASSURING ANNOUNCEMENT *** Please, be calm, despite that previous threat. I am all bluster- I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.” (6) Describe: Before Death (the

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