English 10

Mr.
Jimin Son
16/3/19
What role does Death play in the book as the narrator?
The novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, opens in a very
unique way; the narrator, Death, starts the novel ominously by stating the fact that
you are going to die. Most of the time, Death does not take too much notice of the
lives of humans, however he takes an interest in Liesel Memingers story, as he
believes that it is one of a handful of beautiful stories he possesses. Death first notices
Liesel on a train with her mother and brother, where her brother dies during the
journey. The rest of the novel is his narration of the succeeding years of the life of the
nine year old German girl Liesel, who lives with her foster parents, the Hubermanns,
in a small town of Molching, Germany, during the Nazi Regime from 1939. Death, as
the narrator, provides a different aspect of the book; although Death is a first person
narrator, he makes it seem like a third person narration through the perspective of
Liesel. Furthermore, Death allows the readers to feel closer to the unique perspective
of World War 2 as he plays a role of taking souls of dead people. By providing
humorous, informative and dark asides, he takes a different approach into providing
relevant background information and stories about key characters. Thus, Death
narrates the book in a unique, omniscient perspective.
Zusak uses Death as the narrator in order to provide the story of Liesel and the
people she loves and loses during World War 2, in addition to snapshots of the events
occurring. Death mentions that he is not the cause of death, but simply a result
(Zusak 2.3); thus, its important to note that Death plays a role as witnessing the

people die and in turn taking their souls away. For example, when Liesels brother
died in the train, Death extracted his soul and then picked him up originally, the
spirit soft and cold like ice cream. By applying simile, Death provides the story of
how he took Liesels brothers soul by comparing the spirit to the temperature of ice
cream. However, the death of Liesels brother is only a start. As the novel continues,
everyone that has a connection with Liesel, faces Death; starting from the death of her
brother, it continues to the demise of her foster parents, the death of both Ilsa
Hermann and Frau Holtzapfel sons, and the demise of everyone on Himmel Street in
the end of the story. Thus, Death as the narrator was always there to take the souls of
Liesels loved ones; hence, playing as a symbol of tragic loss of different individuals
throughout the book, which strengthened the gloominess of the historical situation
during World War 2, and the pain Jews like Max had to go through. Furthermore, in
order to relate Liesels story to the readers, Death explains the death happening in
other parts of Germany, Poland, and Russia during World War 2, providing details of
the context occurring throughout the book. Hence, Zusak approaches the readers
differently by creating an unique perspective of death occurring during the historical
period; instead of using a third-person narrator, Death is able to weave the deaths of
Liesels beloved ones as part of the story. Hence, Death plays a role as both the
narrator and character, as he weaves the novel.
The second role Death plays throughout the book is provoking curiosity in the
readers mind by applying foreshadowing into different situations, provoking a
different sense of what will happen. Foreshadowing also provides humor, as when
Death skips around the storys timeline, he apologizes for giving parts of the story
away. From the prologue, Death foreshadows the demise of Himmel street as A
packet of souls were glued down where there will be hurled bombs, thrown down by

humans hiding in the clouds. Zusak used foreshadowing as a literary technique by

designating Death as the narrator as it intrigues readers and gives a sense of what will
happen next in the story. Death further foreshadows the destruction of humans and the
death of Liesels loved ones during the World War 2 by: I guess humans like to watch
a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, thats where they begin. Their great
skill is their capacity to escalate. Death believes that war was caused by the same
reason of why humans like to destroy sand castles, and houses of cards; the real
problem occurs when humans start to look for more dramatic destructions, which in
turn brings war, and hurting others. Here, Death provides an interesting narrative view
as he frankly mocks the evil humanity for destruction. Death further invokes readers
curiosity by foreshadowing different characters death; the death of Rudy Steiner,
Liesels best friend, and Hans Hubermann, Liesels foster father. RUDY STEINER :
He didnt deserve to die the way he did. (Zusak, 241). Hans Hubermann was not
granted membership in the Nazi Party. Not yet anyway. The following quotes
evidently foreshadows that both Rudy and Hans will die; this provokes curiosity in
the readers mind as Death does not state how Rudy and Hans die, especially because
the narrator does not mention which tragedy will occur. Near the end of the book,
Death also reveals that Liesel is the perpetual survivor, thus meaning that she is the
only character who makes it through the brutality of World War 2. Since only Death
can foreshadow such characters death, it can be clearly seen that the narration of
Death certainly has the effect of foreshadowing the death of other characters and the
disruption of humans. The Book Thief consists of a great deal of foreshadowing;
hints, revelations and outcomes, these three factors are all hinted in the various events
that happens throughout the novel. Zusak used Death in order to use foreshadowing

more effectively as it further provokes curiosity and intensity, emphasizing

individuals actions during war.
The third role Death plays in the book is illustrating stronger imagery in the
readers mind by purposely narrating the story through the application of colors
because it's the only way Death can express what he sees, and feels since he is not
human. The colors help create the atmosphere in the story as well as the mood. It
creates imagery, allowing the readers a better understanding and a picture of what
Death saw and experienced. The use of colors are applied in situations for Death to
describe the skies and souls in the moments he takes the peoples spirits away. Colors
are highly symbolic; Death illustrates Europe the day was gray, the colour of Europe
to illustrate the gloomy atmosphere covering Europe. On awful days of war and
destruction, Death uses dark colors like gray. When Liesel meets her new family,
death uses color to describe the warmth she felt; Hans Hubbermans eyes were silver
and Liesel understanded that he was worth a lot. The usage of the color silver
symbolizes warmth, security, and reliability. Silver further plays as a symbol
throughout the novel as Liesels favorite key Hans would play on the accordion was
as well silver. Hence, Deaths use of colors to describe the situations created a vivid
imagery as well as a continuous symbols.
Death, playing a role as the narrator, provided snapshots of the events
happening outside Himmel Street by applying writing techniques - foreshadowing and
colors. Instead of using a third-person narrator, Zusak, by using Death as the narrator,
offered a unique perspective of death occurring during World War 2. Since the
historical context was during the World War 2 where people continuously died,
writing in a perspective of Death, as he is the one watching the war go on, and
moving the souls to the after life, he frankly talks about how he become more weary,

fatigued, and haunted by humans of what they do to each other; thus, providing a
frank view. In summary, it is evident that Death has contributed as both a strong
symbol and a clairvoyant view towards the outside world during the World War 2.
{Word Count: 1336}