ipl-logo

The Book Thief Zusak Analysis

314 Words2 Pages
In the excerpt from The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak defines Death as a deity that has thoughts and feelings. Zusak conveys the concept that Death, the narrator throughout the story, has an almost human-like nature.
Through various methods, Zusak personifies Death so that it appears to have its own charisma about it, as well as its very own character. During this scene, Death is here to take a dying pilot’s soul and carry him away. The entire passage, voiced by Death, is told in a first person point of view. When a boy places a teddy bear on the dead man’s lap, Death describes it as a “smiling bear”. The phrase, “smiling teddy bear”, is repeated again later in the text. The word “smiling” is not something that is normally linked to death.
Open Document