Death In The Book Thief

In Markus Zusak's novel, The Book Thief, the narrator Death, makes a statement with regards to human beings,” So much good, so much evil. Just add water.” (Zusak 164). With integrating water, you are changing the “recipe,” thereby changing the outcome and determining whether it will be positive or negative. This personified version of Death expresses this because he can see how the circumstances humans are in, determines how they will react. Death observes how the circumventing conditions mankind is exposed to determines if they will bring out their wicked or righteous side. This is frequently noted in The Book Thief, where Death follows a young girl, named Liesel, during 1939 Nazi Germany. He is amazed by how humans can be both so good and

Germany was subjected to humiliation by the Treaty of Versailles, causing the country to lose its nationalistic pride. Then, when Hitler came to power and vowed to make Germany great again, the citizens concurred. Hitler blamed the reason for Germany’s downfall on the Jews and the Communists, which caused the commencement of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the mass killings of people the Nazis believed were inferior. Modern World History further explains, “They included Roma, Russians, Poles, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, and incurably ill. But the Nazis focused on the Jews.”(McDougal Holt 504). This illustrates how the Nazis, who were also humans, killed others purely based on racism and hate. Clearly portraying the brutality of humans, and their capability to take someone's life because they believed they were superior. Millions of people died, because of arrogant humans who thought they were more superior than others, showing how evil humans can be. Furthermore, the Holocaust wasn’t the only source of innocent deaths during the time of World War II. Air raids became an integral part of military strategy, however, this resulted in many civilian deaths. These were heinous acts, where many innocent people, who had no involvement in the war were killed. In one incident of these air raids, in London, 450 people were killed when school

Many individuals jeopardized their own lives to help people the Nazis were oppressing and persecuting. They did this by secretly hiding them, or helping them to escape to a safer place. An example of this in The Book Thief is when the Hubermanns, Liesel's foster parents, hide Max Vandenburg, a Jew, in their basement, at the risk of their own lives. Throughout that time, Leisel emotionally helps Max live through the atrocious time of World War II, which shows how light counteracts the darkness of humans. Even though humans are capable and frequently do take innocent lives, there are other humans willing to endanger their own lives, so another person can live. This can be also historically seen, where people put the effort to help save Jews. Specifically, a man named Oskar Schindler, who was at first a German industrialist only interested in making money, but later on he put his efforts into helping Jews. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org informs that Mr. Schindler was responsible for saving 1,200 Jews during the despicable time of the Holocaust. He saved the Jews from persecution by having them work in his factory. However, he did not maliciously treat them, he treated them with respect, fed them, and no one was beaten or killed. Showing even if humans are capable of being brutal , people like Oskar can be viewed as humanity’s coexisting side of