Theme Of Death In The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.

The narrator, Death, attempts to shed some light on his form through this quote. He is usually imagined as a skeletal figure wearing a black cloak and carrying a scythe, though he shows that he is much more human that we think.

Hope is elusive and one needs courage to ensure it does not fly away. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak develops the theme of courage and hope throughout the novel, showing people need both to survive. He portrays the theme effectively through the characterization of Liesel as well as the symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion.

Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

Part One: Compare and contrast this persona of Death with the familiar personification of the Grim Reaper. How is Death from The Book Thief like the Grim Reaper, and how is he significantly different?

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

Death often foreshadows, or even just tells the reader, what will happen in the future of the book. This prepares the reader for what will happen in the future, making the book even more unique than it already is. It is not often that a reader learns of the death of a character before it actually happens (Cooley, Steffen). This is quite the opposite of what happens in The Book Thief. Death, as a narrator, knows what will happen and to whom it will happen to (Cooley, Steffen). One of the most extreme cases of this is the foreshadowing of Rudy Steiner’s  death. On page 241 Death openly says:”A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT RUDY STEINER. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did” (Zusak). This tells the reader that Rudy will die, but not telling the reader when he dies, adding more suspense to the book. Death also

The novel is narrated by Death, a guy who’s getting tired and bored of his job. He wants a vacation, but sadly no one can replace him. He tries to find ways to give meaning to his job. He is fascinated by humans and colours of the world, and he is curious of how humans are capable of so much ugliness and so much beauty. Death is some way more human than a lot of people.

This part of the novel resembles a point in Liesel’s character in which she was passionate about the things she was feeling - almost as if she was determined to do something about it. As this event occurred, Liesel was filled with anger about her parent’s disappearance. She had recently found out that Hitler had something to do with it, which pushed Liesel to the conclusion that Hitler was not a man to be celebrated. As her hatred for Nazi ideals grew, so did her bravery.

Also, Hans feels guilty for what he did to Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg. Since the Vanderburg family is a family of Jews, the believe only one person in their family would survive, because of this the only person they try to save is Max, sending him to hide (which Max feels guilty for leaving his family behind). Though he stays at his friend’s store for sometime, when it gets too dangerous for him to be there, his friend, Walter Kugler goes to Himmel Street and Hans agrees to take Max, feeling it’s the least he can do for Erik. For the period of time that Max is in the Hubermann home, he becomes close with Hans, Ilsa and Liesel, with him writing books for Liesel, making a snowman in the basement and fist fights Hitler in the basement. To get to the Dachau Camp, at least once a

Death is something everyone wants to avoid, but does Death, as a being, know more than individuals might suspect? Death is known as the narrator in The Book Thief and he knows everyone’s fate. However, numerous say Death knows all, but Death is baffled by Liesel. Liesel lived during the holocaust, and during this time, Death was everywhere. Death has feelings for everyone that rolls into his arms, and Death has a certain interest in Liesel Meminger and her family and friends.

In The Book Thief and The Masque of the Red Death, the portrayal of Death was very different. They both have some similarities however. For example, both stories personify Death as an actual character in the plot. In the Masque of the Red Death it states, "...

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).

In history, art has been known as a production of works for emotional power. Art is formed by artists who have a story to share. It is used to express a deep emotion they cannot quite put into words, for example, sorrow or grief. Throughout the novel, Markus Zusak shows people distracting themselves from desperate times of sorrow through art. The use of art in The Book Thief represents creative outlets used as a coping mechanism for each character. The forms of art in the midst of pain are an accordion, a sketchbook, and books. To someone who were to pick up one of these items wouldn’t see much importance but to the main characters, they are what keeps them inspired and hopeful during the catastrophic events caused by Hitler.