Foreshadowing In The Book Thief

In Markus Zuask’s brilliant novel The Book Thief Liesel Meminger is introduced as a young German girl that of which is coping with the recent loss of her younger brother while growing up during WWII in the care of her two new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubberman. As a family the three of them risk everything they have, including their very own lives, in order to hide a young Jewish man named Max in their basement for an extended period of time. Throughout the book Leisel and Max develop a friendship like no other and begin spending time reading together thus resulting in an unbreakable bond between the two of them. Despite the story line, this book is not like any other book out there due to the fact that Zuask chose to use death as a narrator therefore affecting the novel drastically for each and every reader.
Although it may seem strange to choose a character who is often times seen as harsh and unforgiving to describe in depth a series of events, it

was actually very beneficial because it allowed Zuask to alter the everyday image of death by giving him traits that wouldn’t normally be associated with a character such as this. For instance, death is cheerful. On page three he says, “I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful.” In this sentence death admits that he himself tries to be positive and optimistic about virtually everything he encounters. On top of that, death is caring. On page 336 he says, “I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I’d throw them over my shoulder. It was only the children I carried in my arms.” This statement shows that death knew that these were only innocent children that had just died for reasons that they may be too young to even understand. It also shows that death realized children often must be comforted in times of need and in knowing that decided to hold them closely in his arms thereby providing that sense of comfort. These two quotes, along with many others, are how the author was able to reveal the warm and compassionate side of death that is rarely portrayed or even thought to exist.
Although Zuask’s choice of narrator had numerous advantages it also had several risks such as how blunt and upfront death is with every little thing he says.

For example, on page 3 death says, “You are going to die.” This quote, although strong and interesting, leads to confusion among many readers due to the fact that they don’t realize it is a huge foreshadowing of the end of the book. In addition to that on page 241 death says, “He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.” The “he” death is referring to happens to be Liesel’s best friend, the young boy with the hair of a lemon, otherwise known as Rudy. He had died, along with many others including Liesel’s mama and papa, in a tragic bombing. These quotes, both spoken directly by death, were found toward the beginning and middle of the book. Showing that the things death says are often times so honest and direct that they reveal the ending therefore leaving a slight possibility of Zuask losing a portion of his audience’s interest and or losing them all

together.
In conclusion, death being used as a narrator is a unique way to better capture an audience and keep their interest throughout the entire novel. It also allows the readers to gain a deeper perspective on the character death meaning that rather than just seeing the everyday horrid image of death, the readers begin to see the empathetic and gentle side of him. Even though there are many advantages to this choice of narrator the author must be very careful and strategic with how a character such as this presents events in order to lessen the possibility of losing readers. Regardless of the risks, Zuask’s choice was very advantageous and useful to his novel The Book Thief.