The Character of Death in The Book Thief

"I readied myself to insert my hands through the blankets. Then there was a resurgence- an immense struggle against my weight. I withdrew, and with so much work ahead of me, it was nice to be fought off in that dark little room" (Zusak, 317 and 318).

"Or maybe there was a woman on Grande Street who now kept her library window open for another reason-but that's just me being cynical, or hopeful. Or both" (Zusak, 328).

This is the scene in the book where Max is dying in his bed. Death is ready to take him, but Max isn't willing to let go of his life, even though he's constantly living in danger. Death said that "....it was nice to be fought off..." (Zusak, 318). This shows how the character of Death has progressed throughout the book. In the beginning, he would have just taken Max, even if Max wasn't ready. Now, he just thinks about how nice it is to have someone live when they were going to die. This quote also has a little bit of foreshadowing when Death says that he has a lot of work ahead of him.

"At thirteen tragedy struck again

when his uncle died"(Zusak 188).

This quote shows how Death is changing from being indifferent towards any living souls to being pretty involved in their lives. He's hopeful that the problem Liesel has with the mayor's wife will go away, even if it only means that Liesel will start going to her house to read again. He's more interested in her life than in any other human's, and for some bizarre reason, he just wants her to be happy. He thinks that reading with the mayor's wife, will give her that escape from the horrible outside world, and she'll be happy, even if it's just for a little while. He's almost becoming a guardian angel for Liesel. He watches over her when no one else will, and is happy when she is.

Death is in Max's life many times, and this is just another instance where Death sees Max, and is taking another soul from Max's loved one. This moment also made Death like Max because after his uncle dies, Max thinks he looks peaceful, and decides that Death will have to fight for his life. Death says he likes it when that's how people feel, and we start to see Death form an opinion.

"A statue of the book thief stood in the courtyard... It's very rare for a statue to appear before its subject has become famous" (Zusak, 121).

In saying this, Death proves that he's well aware of what happens in Liesel's future. He tells the readers that she will become famous, which leaves us wondering what, exactly, she's famous for? He changing from a patient onlooker to a pretty big character in her life's story. She doesn't know he's there, but he is. Death offers background information on her life, both past and future. Instead of being detached, and indifferent, like he should be, he's slowly evolving into someone who's becoming more and more interested in the events of Liesel's life.

"More than a thousand bomber planes flew toward a place known as Köln. For me, the result was five hundred people or thereabouts. Fifty thousand others ambled homelessly around the ghost piles of rubble" (Zusak 336).

Many people are dead or injured and Deaths job of collecting souls has become even harder. As the war gets worse, the lives lost become greater, and many people are affected by this. Death is tired of taking people's lives.

"It was simply when I knelt down and extracted his soul, holding it limply in my arms" (Zusak, 20).

"I climbed through the windshield of the truck, found the diseased man, and jumped out the back. His soul was skinny. His beard was a ball and chain" (Zusak 389).

As death carries out the body without many soldiers noticing, it shows how worthless jewish lives are to the Nazis. Death later said how people could smell him. While all of the jews realize that their peer has gone, the soldiers were smoking cigarettes and wanted the jews to walk part of the way to show their worthlessness. In all, the story develops here as the jews are showed as being more and more worthless.

This quote shows how the character of Death starts off in The Book Thief. He begins the book by being a little callous and indifferent to all human life. He finds himself superior to all of them. This quote shows how he's changing; he's gentle and caring to Werner, even though there was nothing connecting the two of them. This quote also marks the moment in time where he and Liesel first meet. Liesel is extremely important to him, and the rest of the book is spent following her through the main struggles of her life as Death watches her.

"I only know that all of those people sensed me that night, excluding the youngest of children. I was the suggestion. I was the advice, my imagined feet walking into the kitchen and down the corridor" (Zusak 376).

Death was there in essence. Everyone was afraid he was there, and that he would be taking the souls of them all. Death realizes this and realizes that this close call happens all over Nazi Germany during the war.

"Liesel was cooked: her knee, her chest, the muscles in her arms. I doubt any of them had the audacity to consider what they'd do if the basement was appointed as a shelter" (Zusak 344).

Death creates a connection to the Hubermanns in this scene. It describes the setting beforehand, describing each family member's position, but then it goes into another sentence, which sounds a little crude on the outside, about its FEELING toward the family. Death isn't 'supposed' to have any interactions or feelings toward humans unless picking up a soul counts. It could have easily just described the setting of the Nazis inspecting the basement, but as it was a huge moment in the book that would change the entire story line, I think death got caught up in the moment. It created an inference about what they were feeling/hoping. This may not seem like a big deal to someone reading the book and not thinking about what they are reading, but it is. Once death creates one connection based on what it knows, more and more will be created. Soon, it may be feeling a sense of compassion (which it does) to the character. Therefore, this scene was like spark that made death feel closer to Liesel and her family.

"I climbed aboard and took it in my hand" (Zusak 14).

Death meets the Book Thief and he picks up the book which starts her rein of stealing. This is really the first time he meets her, which is what starts his following of her life. This is the first time a person near to Liesel dies, so when Death and Liesel meet for the first time, Death is interested in her life.

"The bombs were coming and so was I" (Zusak 335)

This is the prelude to the bombings later to come. Death does this a lot in the book, where he tells us what is in store for the rest of the book, and as the story unfolds, we see how and why these are happening. He is beginning to do this more frequently now than at the beginning of the book showing Death is becoming more interested in Liesel's life.

"Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up every soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks" (Zusak 350).

When death describes the dead jews in the death camp, it shows how much more caring and emotional it's becoming. In the beginning of the book Death was very straightforward and just picked up souls and carried them away. Nothing else. But now, Death is starting to realize the importance of each life, and how cruel it is for the Nazis to just take them away as is throwing out the trash. It almost nurtures the souls by 'kissing' the cheeks and holding them gently. Death has really visibly evolved in this scene, as it realizes what deaths are meant and which ones are cruel. It realizes that there is more than just picking up souls and carrying them away.

The Character of Death in The Book Thief

By Mackenzie Dowd, Alek Morawiec, and Abigail Thrall