Use Of Literary Devices In The Book Thief

The Book Thief
In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak tells the tragic story of Liesel Meminger and her experiences in 1939 Nazi Germany. Zuzak incorporates compelling literary devices such as toe curling foreshadowing, personification, and vivid imagery in the form of simile and metaphors to grasp the readers’ interest. Zusak’s use of various literary devices helps to deepen the text and morals of the story, and makes the dramatic historical novel nearly impossible to put down.
Literary devices Zusak included in the novel text was personification and metaphor. “The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs” (Zusak 9). This device is useful because it deepens the feeling of the plane crashing and makes the scene relatable

to the readers. The same plane was also referred to as a “metallic little bird” as if the plane was a bird flying and losing energy to continue gliding. Including personifications in the text helps the readers grasp the concept of what objects look like or their actions, similar to how metaphors can show how people in Nazi Germany looked like; “[The] [m]an… was the color of bone” (Zusak 10). Comparing the man to the color of a bone helps the readers imagine just how badly some people were being treated and visualize the experiences they went through (especially when considering that the man would have also been incredibly thin, adding to the meaning of the comparison). The horrifying visual of another human being so pale as to be compared with bone makes the visual that the author is trying to get across much more easily accessible to readers who might not have ever imagined such horrors.
Similar to personifications, similes can increase the understanding of descriptions, but Zusak’s use of similes helps characters in the novel understand unfamiliar surroundings. “The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it's stretched out like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole”(Zusak 247). Relating unknown sights to commonly viewed objects, Liesel is able to help Max understand what a sight outside is. Similes can also make plain text more interesting and emotional, “The room tasted like sugar and dough and thousands of pages” (Zusak 459). Incorporating human senses in a description can affect the images readers see when reading a novel, and simply make the text more interesting. Using a simile instead of “the room had lots of cookies and books” allows the reader to better understand the emotions and thoughts that Liesel must have been feeling at that time.
The third of the many literary devices the author profusely used was foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is like leaving little hints and is a great literary device to use in dramatic historical novels such as The Book Thief. He seems to strategically place foreshadowing events towards the end of chapters as if to keep the audience on their toes. “As usual, I collected humans. I was tired. And the year wasn't even halfway over yet”(338). Foreshadowing ideas and events similar to this leave the readers eager to find out what happens next. This foreshadowing is important because it can keep even non book readers interested in the novel.
The unfathomable ideas and occasionally horrific events presented in The Book Thief are dramatically enhanced by the literary devices that Zusak uses throughout the novel such as personification, simile, (metaphor), and literary foreshadow. By using these devices in his writing, Zusak allows his readers a much deeper insight into the lives and minds of the characters that he presents, as well as their reactions and thoughts towards the events of the time.