Reimagining Death: Perspectives in The Book Thief

We all see things differently depending on our perspective. That may be the only viewpoint we get without somebody else’s opinion. Markus Zusak shows us an interesting view on Death in his novel, The Book Thief. The Book Thief is a story of a young girl, Liesel, who grows up in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death. Death does not usually have a voice, and it is interesting that Zusak chooses Death as the narrator. Throughout the book, Death interrupts to give us background information, little details, or often the blunt truth. One of Zusak’s purposes in The Book Thief is to show a new perspective of Death, and how he may be different than how we expected.

One way Zusak does this is by giving Death feelings. We normally see Death from the

perspective of humans that are grieving for the people he takes away. When we think of a personified Death, we imagine that he would likely enjoy people dying, and want them to die. We would never expect Death to be anything but grim and depressing. We especially would not imagine him sad about taking someone away. Zusak shows us that this is not always the case. Death tells us that Rudy, Liesel’s neighbor and best friend, did not deserve to die the way he did. He thinks that taking someone like Rudy is robbery because he had so much to live for. Then he tells us, “Even Death has a heart” (Zusak 242). Death tells us that he is not heartless. He does not like to take people away before he should. He cares for who he takes and carries them away gently, even if unwillingly.
Another way we see Death, is we see how he views his job.

Death knows his job is never ending. He always has somewhere to be, and his work can literally pile up. At one point in the book Death says, “They say that war is Death’s best friend, but I offer you a different point of view on that one. To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. . . You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more” (Zusak 309). This is significant because Death does not like war, or even death because of the work it creates for him. Because of this, Death always has work to do, and does not always enjoy it. Markus Zusak said in an interview, “. . .that gave me the idea that Death is weary, he's fatigued, and he's haunted by what he sees humans do to each other because he's on hand for all of our great miseries” (npa n.p.). This quote from Zusak himself shows us that Death is worn out from everything he has seen. He has seen his fair share of tragedy. He has picked up countless people. In the end, his job really is never

ending.
Also included by Zusak is the idea that Death cleans up after us.

Death is only in the world for a short time, while he picks up the souls of people who have died. He says that he should not linger in the world, meaning that he is not from or a part of the world. Death even says, “I am a result” (Zusak 6). Death is saying that he does not cause the person to die. He comes afterward, to pick them up. Humans can make his job harder by killing more people. In the novel, we see Death going to many places to clean up because of World War II. An example of this would be when Death is talking about his constant trips around the world and how some time he has even more to do. “But sometimes the human race likes to crank things up a little. They increase the production of bodies and their escaping souls” (Zusak 308). This quote is important because Death explains that it is the humans who are killing each other, and how they make more work for him. When more people are killed, Death has to make another trip to get them. Therefore, Death has to clean up after the human race yet again.

One reason Markus Zusak wrote The Book Thief is to convey Death in a new way. He does this by giving Death unexpected emotions, where he can be sad about taking someone away. Death also does not like his job, and cleans up after the world. Zusak showed us a new perspective on Death, but also showed that you can make wrong assumptions about someone without hearing what they think. To sum

it up, in our everyday lives, we should be careful to make assumptions about people.