Irony In The Book Thief Death

Death is a highly feared concept. It is viewed as the end, in many cases, bringing great sadness to those who have lost a loved one. The idea of death comes with images of pain and suffering, sickness and disaster, war and conflict. This causes death to be seen as the enemy. People try their best to escape the reality of death. However, humans are not immortal so at some point death does come. When this happens, death is blamed for all of the pain the family and friends feel due to the loss of a loved one. Death has a bad reputation because it is at the saddest and most awful moments in life and in history that death is most prevalent. In The Book Thief, death is viewed in a different manner. Through his use of irony, Markus Zusak redefines

the brutal archetype of death, in The Book Thief.
In the novel, death knows of all of the destruction going on around it regarding the events of World War II. The irony in this is that it would be expected that death would be thrilled during this time period because there are so many souls to pick-up due to the holocaust, but the opposite is true. Death seems to be beaten down and reluctant to do its job. This is evident when death says, “They say that war is death’s best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one. To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible . . . So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss however does not thank you. He asks for more” (Zusak 309). Death is talking about all of the work it had to do in the years during and surrounding World War II. The common idea of death being a cruel and overbearing force is not seen here. Instead, Zusak portrays death as tired and worn out from all of the work it must do because of the war. Death is reluctant to do its job, but when it comes to working, it contradicts the normal view of death by being a sympathetic force rather than a cruel one.
Death is usually viewed as a cruel force. Zusak uses gives death a much more sympathetic role in The Book Thief. The normal view of death is cold and sad. It is thought of as a brutal force that comes just to take away life. Zusak uses irony to give death a more caring role. This is specifically seen when death says, “Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries . . . I watched their love visions and freed them from their fears” (Zusak 350). Death is referring to picking up the souls of French Jews in a concentration camp during the summer of 1942. The way Zusak describes death in this instance is very comforting. The normal cruel and painful view of death is reversed into a death that is caring and tries to ease the pain rather than prolong it. This is ironic because normally death is what people fear, but in this case death is freeing the people from their fears. Death’s comforting quality can also be seen in how it foreshadows the most drastic pieces of Liesel’s story.
Death reveals some of the most shocking pieces of Liesel’s story far in advance of their occurrence.

Zusak’s use of foreshadowing is another sign of death’s sympathy, this time to the reader. Death seems to care about the reader. Instead of releasing all of the shock at once, death prepares the reader for what is to come. This can be seen when death says, “Preemptively, you conclude, as I would, that Rudy died that very same day, of hypothermia. He did not. Recollections like those merely remind me that he was not deserving of the fate that met him a little under two years later” (Zusak 242). While telling about Rudy rushing into the river to save Liesel’s book, death brings up the fact that while this occasion did not kill Rudy, he will die just a few years later. This is another piece of irony on Zusak’s part. Normally, people are not able to anticipate death, but in this case death tells the reader that Rudy will die. This is another example of death’s sympathy. It does not want the reader to be crushed by the news of Rudy death all at once, so it provides the information before so the reader can have time to process the news. In addition to death’s sympathy toward the dying, it also shows care toward people who were genuinely good people in the world. When death refers to Hans’s death and later to Liesel’s death this concept is evident. When describing the taking of Hans’s soul death says, “He was tall in bed and I could see the silver through his eyelids. His soul sat

up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do – the best ones” (Zusak 531). Death goes on to describe how Hans’s soul was ready and light. Later, death tells of how Liesel’s soul came to it in the same way. This leads me to believe that Hans was ready to go because he, unlike much of the rest of Germany at the time, genuinely understood that all people are human and deserve to be treated as such. Liesel learned this from Hans and treated people with the same care her father did. Both Liesel and Hans seemed to have life figured out making them ready for death when it came for them. This can also be seen in Rudy’s death. Death recounts this experience by stating, “I carried him softly through the broken street, with one salty eye and a heavy, deathly heart. With him, I tried a little harder . . . He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry” (Zusak 531). Death usually has a reputation of coming for every person and not taking any care in who the person was. Zusak uses irony to show that death, in The Book Thief, does care about the life of each person and recognizing the truly good people, rather than just going through the motions of taking souls and disposing of them. Death’s care about each individual soul it takes lends to another attribute of Zusak’s version of death, which is deaths understanding of situations in a way humans cannot grasp.
During World War II, thousands of lives were lost due to hatred and belief that some humans are superior to others.

While humans blame war, sickness, and disasters as the cause for suffering, death realizes that humans cause pain and death on their own. Death realizes that the pain and suffering that occurred during the holocaust was because of humans. Humans create their own horror and death must clean up the aftermath. This seems to confuse and scare death. Death concludes its story by saying, “I am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550). I think this is one of the most eye opening statements in the book. It is ironic because most humans spend their life in fear of death, but death reveals that it is afraid of humans. Death seems to be saying that it is haunted by what humans are capable of, in terms of hatred and violence. Humans have the ability to build up one another, but at the same time, they can tear one another down and destroy all that is good in the world. Death is forced to see the pain, suffering, and destruction in the world each day as it picks up the souls that died as a result. This could be the reason death is so beaten down and reluctant to do its job, because it does not like to see all of the suffering humans bring upon themselves. It could also be the reason death has such an interest in Liesel’s story. Death says, “There was much work to be done, and with a collection of other materials, The Book Thief was stepped on several times and eventually picked up

without even a glance and thrown aboard a garbage truck. Just before the truck left, I climbed up quickly and took it in my hand . . . It’s lucky I was there” (Zusak 539). Through picking up the book, death helps to keep Liesel’s story alive. This is ironic because death is usually regarded as the end of a person and their story, but in Liesel’s case death keeps her story alive by picking up her book.
Death is often known as a brutal force, but Markus Zusak’s use of irony brings on a new view of death. This view is one of sympathy, care for the individual, and interest in the lives of the greatest people. Having the story from the perspective of death adds a lot to the story. Reading death’s story allows for a new perspective on the Holocaust, one where the reader can see that there were still good people during that time. Zusak’s writing style transforms death from the stereotypical force to be feared into a compassionate and comforting force.