Death Theme In The Book Thief

Death is given a new light in “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. Death is personal yet very distant. He wants to be friends and every character knows him on a personal level but they cannot communicate. The theme of death is show in two different ways throughout this story. Death the character is personified and is also the narrator, but actual death is show in the concept that all the character’s have of him. From the beginning Death is given the form of a person. Although he cannot be seen by those he is near, he is forever longing to speak or connect with them. Death demonstrates that by saying: “I waved. No one waved back” (P. 24). He acts like a human and wants the attention that normal people get. Like typical human emotions, Death wants to be friends with Liesel. He spared her life

He uses colors to show the Nazi flag in a way that normal people would not see it. “The colors: Red: (The rectangle part) White: (The circle) Black: (The swastika). They fall on top of eachother. The scribbled signature black, onto the blinding global white, onto the thick soupy red” (P. 14). The red is representative of all the the blood that was shed in the streets, the black is all the people that died in the hands of the Nazi, and the white is representative of the snow that covered the world like the white circle of the Nazi flag representing the globe. Death makes these connects and point blankly describes them for all who read to also understand. Death ends “The Flag” with: “If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story. I’ll show you something” (15). By ending this character with these words, Death is inviting the reader to look at life through his eyes, or to be in his shoes for a while. This is powerful because normally one does not think to look through the lens of