Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief depicts the life of a young German girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II. Her story was told through the eyes of Death, who narrates her experiences living with her foster parents, the Hubermanns. As the story unfolds, Liesel gradually discovers the horrifying truth behind the Nazi regime as her foster parents take refuge of a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg. Despite being in the midst of destruction and recently coping from her traumatic background, she undertakes a journey of self-discovery and on enhancing her relationship with her newfound family. Zusak’s approach in tackling such a heavy subject was detailed - showing both the beauty and ugliness that it brought on the lives of the people during that era.
The first thing I found interesting was Zusak’s way of personifying Death, who was the narrator of the novel. At the beginning, Death offers a quick description of his job – to take and carry the souls of humans. During his “work” he had shown a keen interest on the life of Liesel and the Hubbermans. This offered a unique perspective for readers to not only get insight on Liesel’s past and current doings, but also the historical occurrences during that period.…show more content… Funnily enough, Death was also shown to possess human feelings, such as bliss and sorrow. For example, Death was pained and almost depressed of his job in taking souls away and observing the “leftover humans”: “the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise”. Perhaps Zusak’s purpose of this was to show readers the link between death and humanity. Death may not be an actual human being, but it was a way to show how in the end, it is what unifies us as a whole and is a part of what makes us essentially