The Book Thief Persuasive Essay

¨Death may be the greatest of all human blessings,¨ - Socrates Humans are a burden to Death. We distract him like a task that can never be completed. In the last sentence of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death states he is haunted by humans. In contrast, great philosophers such as Socrates view death as a great achievement and the ultimate accomplishment. Death is exhausted from his job: he is weary from working to serve humans. Death is haunted by humans because we exploit his time and forcefully tie him to serve us, not realizing our actions take a toll on him. Humans are inconsiderate of Death, committing hateful acts against our own species, making him work hard to serve our prejudices. Additionally, he witnesses our acts of kindness and love, making him wonder how such great hatred and goodwill can exist

It’s only natural to be afraid of the unknown. However, The Book Thief adds irony to this fact, for humans and Death will haunt each other mutually until the end of time. People have harnessed Death time and time again and made him our own, so to think he cannot be partially controlled is a lie. Indeed, Death is unstoppable in natural scenarios, but he most definitely can be in human conflict. In a perfect world, crime and war would be nonexistent. Yet, daily, there are atrocious and heinous acts, such as murder. Death agrees, saying, “I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that’s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.” (Zusak 109). Unnatural deaths should be avoidable, yet they never are because humans love to escalate. Death fears humans because he fears what we are capable of; he is afraid to find the causes of unnatural death. However, he grudgingly respects us, for “Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.” (Zusak 491). Unlike Death, humans can do the very thing he stands for. We can