Despite the book thief being a powerful, suspenseful novel, death isnt exactly the most skilled storyteller sometimes. Markus zusaks the book thief, set in germany during world war ii, follows young liesel meminger as she struggles with the loss of her mother and brother and must go to live with foster parents, hans and rosa hubermann. The the book thief quotes below are all either spoken by death or refer to death. Tools of characterization character analysis names. Detailed analysis of characters in marcus zusaks the book thief. As world war ii continues and he must collect so many souls, he grows weary with his work. Death is initially sardonic, with a darkly wry sense of humor, but as the novel progresses and world war ii. In this lesson, well look more closely at the narrator, death, through some of his interesting. Hence, death s descriptions are usually full of colorful visual effects, and every gorgeous color used by death uncovers significant details of the story. A 23yearold jew who hides from the nazis in the hubermanns. The novel ends when she is an old woman and death comes to collect her soul. The narrator also reveals the fates of most of the characters beforehand, particularly the details of their deaths.
The protagonist of the story is an adopted girl on the verge of adolescence, with blonde hair. Learn all about how the characters in the book thief such as death and. He takes an interest in liesel and her story, and he believes that liesels story. This creates a different kind of suspense, where the reader knows some of the storys end but still wants to. He takes an interest in liesel and her story, and he believes that liesels story is one of a handful of beautiful. This paper examines the personification of death in the book thief and its impact on young adult readers using slavoj zizeks analysis of the. Characterization of death in the book thief 5 personality of the death when he depicts a scene with colors, to which he is extraordinary sensitive. Get free homework help on markus zusaks the book thief. Deaths duty is to carry the souls of the dead away. Narrated by death, a male voice who over the course of the book proves to be morose yet caring, the plot follows liesel meminger. In its line of work, death tries to focus on colors as a way of distracting itself from the survivors of those who have died. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one.
Death admires maxs brave spirit, even while acknowledging the futility of fighting death. Liesel changes from an angry, distrusting character to one who. Throughout the novel, the deaths of prominent characters reaffirm the presence of mortality. Liesel is nine years old, almost ten, at the start of the novel. For one thing, death aint the bad guy that would be hitler. Death also takes the time to attampt to explain itself by describing what it does its character is somewhat cynical and sarcastic, it is very matter of fact. Death s duty is to carry away the souls of the recently departed, which it has apparently done for millenia. For another, death is in some ways pretty humanespecially considering how inhumane a lot of the homo sapiens running around in the book thief are. For another, death is in some ways pretty humanespecially considering how in humane a lot of the homo sapiens running around in the book thief are. Death enjoys noticing colors, particularly in the sky, and he is mystified by the contradictory nature of humansboth beautiful and ugly. Death is initially sardonic, with a darkly wry sense of humor, but as the novel progresses and world war ii accelerates, death.
Death is not only a narrator but also a main character that can. The book thief cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. You see, death cant keep a secret, and he tends to be a plotspoiler. Death is initially sardonic, with a darkly wry sense of humor, but as the novel progresses and world war ii accelerates, death expresses weariness and remorse about having to collect so many souls. The most unusual thing about the characterization of death is that the book thing uses death s perspective to narrate the story.
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