Color Symbolism In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

By using the color motif, Markus Zusak demonstrates that everyone in The Book Thief needs an escape, whether it’d be color itself or a moment that sheds their life with color and pure ecstasy. Throughout the book, it is seen that Zusak uses a lot of color motifs or color imagery, describing situations vividly or a characters actions to the point that you can see it right in front of you. From what the book has shown, color not only describes the actions of the characters, but it describes their own versions of an escape. Whether it was shown from the vivid description of these character’s actions, the demonstration of them working to escape their pain, or showing the color and beauty of the world around the characters, it is commonly seen that color has left a major impact on how the story occurs and how these characters develop.

Death says, ”I do try to enjoy every color I see - the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress”(4). This motif continues on especially as Liesel meets her step father and death describes how his eyes affect her, death says,” Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father’s eyes. They were made of silver. Like soft silver, melting. Liesel, upon seeing those eyes, understood that Hans Hubermann was worth a lot,”(34). Both of these ideas describe the theme of escape because it shows how these colors and these actions bring these two characters back down to earth and gives them an immense feeling of calm. Death describes the sky as his stress reliever as he carries the souls away and Liesel is described to have home and comfort within her father’s