The Book Thief Literary Analysis

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The words of Death were smooth as silk on the paper, not jagged or rough. Nothing like what people would believe he spoke like. The words were spoken as from a soul of passion, love, and a fondness of colors. Humans imagine him as a heartless monster that enjoys his work, smiling devilishly to people who are taking their last breaths as their souls slip into his arms. His hollow eye sockets burning with an eternal flame from behind the shade of his hood, bony fingers wrapped around his scythe. However, he speaks with empathy and remorse. Death is an impartial bystander and an unfortunate result of human violence. In the book, he inserts dark humor and dry sarcasm. He attempts to mask such a dark subject, for his own mentality. The fact that he can be anywhere at any time sets him apart from any mere mortal that could possibly be the narrator. Death can be with Max Vanderburg as he fights the Führer in the basement, with Leisel as she thieves with Rudy or with Papa as he plays the accordion.…show more content…
He has no effect on the outcome of the war since he is the outcome. When he speaks his words are slanted towards neither the Germans nor the Jews. Another reason why Death is the best possible narrator for The Book Thief is his humor. Even though he is in a dark time, he still manages to sneak in a few zingers and jokes. This lets the reader ‘breath’ while reading about submerging themselves in such an obscure story. The last and the most obvious explanation to why he is the narrator is the fact he can be anywhere at any time. Even though he only sees Leisel three times and is reading the story from her journal, he can recall where he was and when. Like when he reaches for Papa so many times, his silver eyes dancing just out of reach or softly pulling the strings of Max’s reluctant
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