The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

In the novel, The Book Thief, Death is the narrator of the story, and follows around the protagonist, Liesel Meminger, as she lives in Nazi Germany, and how her life changes when a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg shows up at her door, taking refuge in Liesel and her foster parent’s basement. Markus Zusak’s choice as Death influences many themes of the story, where if Liesel or an unnamed narrator wouldn’t have the same influence.
One reason Zusak probably chose Death as the narrator is because Liesel would have been too young or immature to narrate the story. As you know, Liesel is a young girl, around the age of ten when Max arrived, and she just recently learned how to read, so she doesn’t have much knowledge of what is going on politically

in her country, except for political acts she witnesses herself. Hans, her foster father, knows this, so he has to explain to her what is going on with Max, and the possible consequences if she told anyone. “‘Liesel, if you tell anyone about the man up there, we will all be in big trouble.’ He walked the fine line of scaring her into oblivion and soothing her enough to keep her calm … ‘At the very least, Mama and I will be taken away.’ … ‘Do you understand me?’ … ‘I understand, Papa, I do.’” (203-204). This shows that Liesel doesn’t understand what is happening in the situation regarding Max. If Liesel did know, she wouldn’t need father to scare her into not speaking about their situation. Death knows why Max is there, and how important it is that the family keeps quiet, as well as knowing the emotional significance of Papa and Mama helping Max, without having been a part of the relationship between the characters.
Another reason Zusak might have chosen Death over a human narrator is because too much fear exists among them, as well as any other emotion, where Death has seen so much.

He has the ability to experience emotion, but his emotions don’t overpower his narration, and tends to remain impartial. A large part of the chapter, The End Of The World (Part II), more specifically, pages 533 through 539, you see Liesel discovering the mass destruction of her town, which inhabited everything she had known and loved. This, as well as many other smaller events, have made Liesel extremely emotional. Even when Papa had to tell her the consequences of telling people about Max, she began tearing up at the mere thought of them being taken away. “The shock made a hole in her, very neat, very precise. Tears welled … The girl began to sob so uncontrollably that Papa was dying to pull her into him and hug her tight.” (203-204). Since Liesel experiences so much hardship and pain throughout the book, her thoughts will be overshadowed with emotion, instead of being able to analyze who is causing the pain. Since this isn’t Death’s own hurt, Death won’t have Liesel’s emotions that are tied to the pain taking over the story, and preventing strong storytelling. This doesn’t mean Death can’t express emotion at all, because that would leave out a key element to any story. Death is able to empathize with Liesel about the pain she is feeling, but that pain doesn’t take over how Death tells the

story.
Zusak could have also chosen Death as the narrator is because he experiences World War II in a way that no human can.

Many believe that War and Death are best friends, but that is truly not the case in this narrative. Death finds that War is his boss, yelling down his neck, always wanting more and more. Death is weary from what he witnesses everyday, and the lives that humans have left for him to collect. “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. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly: ‘Get the job done.’ So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more.” (308) From this quote, you can tell that Death is tired of seeing humans destroy each other, because the weight of carrying the souls of humans who died too young, who died thinking they were doing the right thing, is too heavy a burden for Death to carry. Death addresses that many of those who died, died doing what they believed was right, years before they were supposed to, because War wanted more. “I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me.” (174-174) Death knows that these men didn’t deserve their death’s, regardless who they were fighting for, and died purely because War wanted more and more. More and more lives taken, and still aren’t

enough.
Markus Zusak’s choice of using an inhuman being who can empathize with humans and their pain, all while not letting it take over their storytelling, and presenting a story about World War II, as well as war itself, that no human narrator would know, shapes the story in such a unique way that a human narrator would have no experience of, and not tell the story Zusak has written properly.