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Shelbie Carr
Mrs. Rutan
AP Literature and Composition
29 June 2014
A Morbid Panorama

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is captivating. As you read, your mind pieces together
a picture with every word written and you get lost in the story with death as your guide. You are
given a different perspective as you look through deaths eyes and see this world unfold and the
characters evolve. The imagery death uses allows you to feel apart of the story and develop a
connection to each character.

With death as our narrator, our minds automatically think of destruction, despair,
darkness, black, but death himself informs us that he tries to enjoy every color that he see
through the day-the whole spectrum (4). He tells us that us humans only notice the color of the
beginning of the day and the end, that we dont realize that the color can change multiple times
in a single hour. I like to think that this color is connected to the feeling in that moment; for
example, in a happy moment the color may be yellow compared to a sad moment when its blue.
Of course it is much deeper than that, or so it seems. He goes on to explain that noticing these
colors is simply a distraction that allows him to vacation from his timely job and after his
introduction of the idea of colors, he periodically mentions them throughout the story. Although
it never really mattered the color of the sky because it seemed to only serve as a reminder: that
you were looking through deaths eye because color was how he saw the world. Not only did
death see the world in color, he seemed to have a way with words.

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What truly enticed me was deaths charm. His metaphors and imagery helped me to
imagine the story. Being able to create this story allowed me to feel apart of it and every now and
then death would remind me that he was telling the story. I would find myself feeling as if Liesel,
the book thief, was telling the story or Max, the Jew, was telling it, but death had its ways of
pulling me back; for instance, he would switch from saying Liesel to the book thief. Both were
appropriate titles, but it provided a much needed nudge that Liesel wasnt telling the story death
was. He also added in his own notes, such as, she was a good woman for a crisis (211). These
notes happened often and were very informational as well as a reminder to the reader that he was
the narrator. These reminders were necessary, for me as a reader, in order to snap out of the
illusion that I was apart of the story, instead of just listen to deaths narration. He did allow for a
connection to be made to the characters as long as he was giving the description.

Thanks to death I was able to learn that Liesel Meminger loved books, but I think its
more than that; I think she loved words. She loved how you are able to put words together and
form a multitude of sentence, which led to these books. Throughout the story Liesel wanted to
read every book she saw; not because she was intrigued by every story, but because it was new,
fascinating, a distraction. These books allowed this book thief to transport from her own harsh
reality to a new world; similarly, to death and his colors. They both found things to use as
distractions from their realities because they had to endure so many struggles. Liesel was forced
to deal with the loss of her family and being brought into a twisted world and death is forced to
deal with oblivion around the clock. Luckily for Liesel, she was blessed with two comforters,
two angels, two people, who have guided her through this new world she was shoved in and
allowed her to find enjoyment in words. Hans Hubermann, Papa, is unconditionally loving to

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Liesel and was able to gain her trust. They shared a special bond that allowed her to become
more comfortable in her environment. This type of relationship worked for Hans and Liesel, but
for Rosa Hubermann, Mama, it was on a whole other spectrum. Rosa took a stern approach with
Liesel; she was the one who disciplined and kept order in the house. It wasnt until Max
Vandenberg, the Jew, came to stay with them that you saw her love for her family truly come out.
Although the book thief was blessed with these angels, we arent too certain death was given
angels of his own. Ridiculous. It seems absolutely absurd to consider death to have supporters,
but maybe the absence of them caused him to be that third person in the story. It could be the
reason he developed such an interest for Liesel.

Death doesnt teach us to much throughout the story, but he makes one thing very clear:
You are going to die (3). We all realizes this fact and know it all depends on when and where.
He also tells us that some people live longer than others and those who live longer are either
lucky or have a bigger purpose in life. Through this story we see the two extremes: Hans
Hubermann, who has cheated death on multiple occasions and Liesels younger brother, who
died on the train to the Hubermanns. Liesel has seemed to make it out, so far, in every situation
she has been put it and it makes me wonder whether there is more to life than luck?
Unfortunately, death doesnt clarify and we are left to decide for ourselves; maybe the answer
lies within the second half of the book.