Death Is Human Too: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be during the book, Death shows many emotions and features to his personality that reasoning would declare otherwise. One of those feature would be the colors.

Although colors are usually represented and used for the recollection of joyful experiences, Death uses the colors of the spectrum to enhance the experience of the Book Thief and as well as him own life too. In Death’s narration, his use of the colors illustrate the great ordeal of suffering and pain throughout the book’s setting. As an example Death says “The day was grey, the color of Europe. For me, the sky was the color of Jews” (Zusak, 349). This quote effectively describes Death’s use of the colors by relating it to the events taking place. The colors give perspective to the agony and painful hardships going on in the life of WWII. In a regular setting, colors are used to describe happy memories and any basic descriptions of a setting. Death says “Whatever the hour or color…” (Zusak, 5). By saying this quote, Death establishes the colors a...

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...g that he is portrayed and conveyed as a human. In concluding, by Death showing his human-like and sensitive side, this proves that he does in fact have a heart and soul and is conveyed to be a human.

In conclusion, Markus Zusak uses Death as his narrator to prove that Death is similar and almost completely identical to humans. He uses the narration to establish the spectrum as a key description of the Book Thief. He uses his job as “soul gatherer” in the war to describe himself and explain how the events affected him as a “person”. Death uses human emotions to convey that he is just like regular, normal humans. Death is known to be cruel, disturbing and all things horrific However, in accordance to new evidence, his persona begs to differ. Death is inevitable but he is human too.

Works Cited

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.