Figurative Language In The Book Thief

Words have allowed for the advancement and understanding of the human race. Authors choose words to express their ideas and share them throughout the world. Markus Zusak exemplifies an author’s goal to get there message across. In The Book Thief by Zusak, he uses words and all there power to entice key human aspects of our lives: emotion, logic and ethics.

The Book Thief which takes place in a WW2 Nazi germanic town has Death as a narrator. What makes Death a good narrator (and Zusak an even better author) is his way of noticing colors and all of human emotions. In the same way Death noticed Hans’ emotions as he carried his spirit, “There was… an immense, magnetic pull toward the basement, for the girl who was his daughter… Liesel. His soul

Though emotion is a strong factor in how readers and people make decisions, ethics and logic can arguably be more convincing. Readers can admire Walter, a minor character, but vital to the story for his commitment to saving his friend, Max’s life, “‘... people have been watching me…’ He left a small bag filled with bread, fat and three small carrots” (140). Although Walter can be seen here as selfish for his quickness to leave Max, Walter relies on his logic and ethics. He relays to his ethics when he knows that what his current leader, Adolf Hitler is saying is wrong and his logic for feeding Max as much as he can and his discreteness. Walter’s situation is similar to Hans helps other Jews besides Max, “Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (394). It can be seen clearly that the bread Hans is giving means a lot to the receiver and what makes this siginicant is that Hans is giving this piece of bread to a Jewish man on his way to Dachau. It is here where Hans is seen staying true to his own ethics by not allowing a starving man to continue to starve when he has food on hand. Readers feel for Hans and experience heartbreak when shortly after giving the bread, Hans and the Jewish man are struck down. Like Walter, Hans does not believe in his leader’s words or the current propaganda. Hans had his life saved by a Jewish man and in returns hides the