The Book Thief Narrator

[Calliope]

Ok, so The Book Thief is narrated by the entity of death, which onot something I have seen from a book before, and I think there is a reason the author used Death to tell the story. I think that it showed how much all the character's lives were affected by deaths of everyone around them and how death remains possible for everybody, young and old. What do you think is the reason for the Narrator being who he is? Please respond with your thoughts. 

[Carolyn]

I agree that the author used Death to show how much it effects the character's lives. If it wasn't for the death of Liesel's brother, she wouldn't of had the nightmares and wouldn't have wet the bed. Therefore, Papa would not have found the book and would not have taught Liesel to read. Liesel would never have even taken the "The Grave Digger's Handbook" in the first place.

[Caitlin]

I think Death and actual character deaths are two separate topics. Death himself is not the action of death, and that means he cannot be directly related to the impacts because he didn't really cause them. I think Death is irrelevant to the story plot in the long run. While demise is extremely relevant, valiant even, keep in mind that the narrator does not choose who lives and who dies. His impact on the story is only to us, the readers, because we only understand things from his perspective. Narrators who are not first person rarely influence events anyway, especially those of a omniscient nature (in a sense that he is immortal/undefined).
Death, in my opinion, is present to give a perspective without bias or exterior influence to falter the process of telling the story. He is an interesting entity, which that alone is not a bad reason! Also, there is a sense he is always watching, which is something symbolic on it's own. I agree that he proves anyone can die young or old in such a dire time, some more than others, just by being a spectator.

[Carolyn]

I agree that Death and the actual characters deaths are two different things but they both effect the characters lives. The death of characters has a more direct impact on them whereas Death is more subtle and less dramatic. I found quote on page 178 that describes how Death affects the characters lives even if they don't realize it, "That was the first time Hans Hubermann escaped me. The Great War. A second escape was still to come, in 1942, in Essen. Two wars for two escapes... Not many men are lucky enough to cheat me twice" (Zusak).

[Caitlin]

Well I suppose it depends on what you consider "affect" in the first place. By letting people escape it isn't necessarily Death's fault; it isn't something he caused intentionally and if anything is coincidental. It is less dramatic, though, so I agree.

[Luke W]

If you look at all the different instances that death shows up in some way or another in the book, it could mean so many things. I agree with everybody that Death and the character of death are entirely different things but equally affect everybody day after day.

[grace]

I agree that the author most likely made the narrater death because death affected all of the characters lives but I also have a few more theories why Zusak made Death the narrator. One being that the author didn't want a main character, for example Liesel, narrating the story because then the story would have a more specific point of view unlike Death being the narrator which allows the readers to understand more about the struggle and chaos during this tragic time period. My other guess why Zusak made the narrator death is that it set the tone for the story to fit the era the book was set in.

[isabelleansberry]

I agree that Zusak used death to narrate in a perspective that wasn't really biased by anything occurring in the book. If Liesel was the narrator, then the author wouldn't be able to tell the whole story like he can with death as the narrator. Death is able to skip around in the story line and talk about things that a human main character wouldn't be able to explain from their point of view. I think that was an interesting and intriguing choice that the author made on the narration, because it brings an entirely new point of view into the story, making it much more thought-provoking to the reader.

[Annie Potter]

The book started off with death, through Liesels brother, and the book ended with death- a great deal of it as a matter of fact. Throughout this book everyone had been affected by Death himself, which had caused a series of events from there on out and affecting each characters lives. I agree when people say that the author chose the narrator to be Death not only because there was a lot of death happening all around but how those deaths impacted the rest of the story. "I witnessed her face again, I could tell that this was the one who she loved the most. Her expression stroked the man on his face" (Zusak 538).