Thief Zusak's Roles In The Book Thief

In the eyes of humanity for all generations, death has been perceived as a very grim topic. In Markus Zusaks’ The Book Thief, Death is regarded in a way that contrasts the normal beliefs of humanity. Throughout the book, he is very compassionate and seems to empathize with various sensitive situations. While narrating the novel, Death expresses in several ways that make him seem more compassionate than expected, such as his overwhelming emotions toward malignant events, his allusions to the fact that he wants to be compassionate to the reader, and the fact that Death does not take pleasure in his job.

The character helps understand the theme in the story, that individuality must be treasured in our society, because it shows what the emotional and physical links to the society in the book, as well as the mental states and feelings influencing the text.

He tells the story from his point of view as he takes a special interest in Liesel Meminger, by watching her and reading her stories. Death feels like he has an emotional connection with humans, and therefore dislikes his job of taking souls away. “It kills me sometimes, how people die…He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry” (Zusak, 329). Death feels like his job is a punishment,which makes it difficlult for him because he shouldn’t have a conscience but he does. The way he narrates the novel, makes us feel like he’s trapped inside. As he watched over Liesel, there were obstacles that got in the way. He didn’t have a choice when he had to take the Hubermann’s and Rudy’s life away. At the night of the Nazi book burning, Liesel looked around to see if anyone is watching her steal the book, but all along she did’t know that Death witnessed all her acts of thievery. In The Book Thief, death is an example of an atypical narrative structure whom takes upon himself to watch over an orphan who lost all her loved one’s after the bombings on Himmel street. The way the story was narrated made the novel seem more interesting, and makes us view it in a different

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 promotes the idea of identity as deeper than what is defined on the outside of a person. The narrator states, "In those days, they said the Jews preferred to simply stand and take things. Take the abuse quietly and then work their way back to the top" (188). This defines Jews, as a whole, as weak and passive. Then Death says, "Obviously, every Jew is not the same" (188) meaning Max is different and cannot be put into that group. Max fights for himself and shows his strength to all. This shows that a person cannot be identified by their outside image and they are not the same as others in their religion.

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).

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.

As a Jewish man living in Germany during the late 1930s and early 1940s, Max Vandenburg was persecuted by the Nazi regime for his religion. Since the Nazis were higher on the Great Chain of Being than Max, he had no control over the Nazis dehumanizing him and other Jews, as well as any other atrocities the Jews faced during the Holocaust. When viewing the novel through the Marxist Literary lense the reader can see that there is a separation of social classes which represent levels of power. For example, Max is experiencing a power struggle because of his default social class. By noticing the power struggle in the beginning of The Book Thief, it shows how Max has limited power within society, so he has less say. Now readers realize how Max was confined in society which reveals the theme of entrapment. For the Jews, there was no escaping authority in Nazi Germany. Max could not leave the country, let alone walk down the streets of Molching, where he was hiding in a basement. Max suffered from a power struggle until him and all the Jews were liberated. Like Death said, not everything goes your way in Nazi Germany, therefore displaying the theme of entrapment in The Book

Guilt plays a very big role in “The Book Thief”. It is one of the ways in which characters suffer. Guilt is a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. The feeling of guilt is inescapable and it constantly makes you “look behind your back”. Analyzing my observations, I concluded that there were two major characters that experience guilt: Hans Hubermann and Max Vandenburg. “Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then, think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” (Zusak 211). This was a description of the feeling of guilt that Hans Hubermann was experiencing. He felt guilty because hiding a Jew. In Nazi Germany, this was very wrong. In fact, it was considered a crime. This feeling of guilt was eating him. Max Vandenburg was also being

In The Book Thief, Death, has some surprising characteristics. Everybody thinks of him as some bad person that takes everybody’s life away, but in the book, he describes himself as just the result of humans dying. In other words, he isn’t the one who kills people. In The Book Thief he has two big characteristics, which are, irony and humanity.

The change of people and the world are a result of many factors; hate and intolerance is one of the most significant ones. For example, it can change the way people act towards others and the mindsets of different people. As shown in The Book Thief: “But anything was better than being a Jew” (Zusak 161). In this quote, the main character, Liesel, reacts to when the Hubermanns let Max, a Jew, live in their basement; she feels a sense of pity and sorrow towards

Events can significantly affect someone’s way of life, whether it be their personality, or how they go about living. It’s just like how a child learns from their actions and consequences, or how a person’s beliefs are influenced by their family. The world is based on influence, as well as the characters from The Book Thief. Whether is be Max, Liesel, or Hans, they all have one thing in common, their trauma and important or powerful events throughout their life have influenced them to at a certain way.

In the Book Thief there is a character whose name is Max . He is a Jewish man who has been living in Liesel’s basement although it’s illegal to house a Jew. While Max was hidden in the basement he had written two books. One of the book he wrote was called “The Word Shaker.” This story was written about the Fuhrer and how he used his words to turn everyone against the Jews. In the story Max writes “ Yes, the fuhrer decided that he would rule the world with words. ‘I will never fire a gun’...His first plan of attack was to plant the words in as many area of his homeland as possible. He planted them day and night and cultivated them. He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout Germany...It was a nation of formed thoughts.”

ark Zusak’s The Book Thief (552 pages) is thrilling, dark story about a young girl named Liesel, who is trying the survive the great horrors of WWII. Set in 1939, Nazi Germany, The conflicts Liesel deals with are the death of her family, protecting a Jewish boy named Max Vandenburg, and surviving persecution by reading illegal books.