Foreshadowing

[emilybachman]

Death states on page 243 after hinting Rudy's death, "Of course. I'm being rude. I'm spoiling the ending not only of the entire book, but this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don't have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me."

Throughout the book, how does Zusak use the literary element of foreshadowing to pull the reader into the story and keep them wanting more? Does the author 'spoil' the story when he does that, why or why not?

[cole]

I think the point that the author is trying to make is that a story like this can't be spoiled. The climax is not the ending, but the journey. Coming from Death, it seems to be speaking about life. It is no mystery that you are going to die. To hear that your life is going to end doesn't spoil things because we all know the ending, the ending is not important. When we take our focus off of the ending it allows us to look more at the rest of the story, we become more interested in the journey rather than the final resting place.

[sophielowy]

When it comes to foreshadowing in the novel I feel as though no matter how many hints the author gives the reader, the ending of the book will still just be the ending of a book. It is no big secret that everyone will eventually die. Death is not some shocking discovery only made by those who come face to face with it. Death is just death, it will always lurk around the corner no matter what precautions are taken to avoid it. With this being said I agree with the comment made above that "the climax is not the ending, but the journey". In the novel death is talked about as a common event, "It was just another day, 1918" (Zusak 145). So on the topic of foreshadowing when death talks about a character in the novel dying it really isn't spoiling the story because the truth to the matter at hand is that everyone is going to die. The reason that people continue to be drawn into this novel is not because of the story of dying but it's due to the story of living. In the novel the author draws the reader in with detailed adventures made by the characters, if the reader chooses to stop focusing on the gloomy topic of death and starts to focus on all the challenges and thrills of living then the book can be viewed in a completely different light. From this point of view it doesn't matter if a character is going to die or even if the author blankly states that the character is going to die, what matters is how the character is choosing to live in the moment.

[Emma Kaer]

Death foreshadows many of the big key events throughout the story in a surprisingly obvious way in most cases. A big act of foreshadowing, in my opinion, occurred right at the beginning of Part two. "Turning around, or checking the stove-because when the book thief stole her second book, not only were there many factors involved in her hunger to do so, but the act of stealing it triggered the crux of what was to come. It would provide her with a venue for continued book thievery. It would inspire Hans Hubermann to come up with a plan to help the Jewish first fighter. And it would show me, once again, that one opportunity leads directly to another, just as risk leads to more risk, life to more life, and death to more death." (Zusak 83) This was a huge foreshadowing moment in this story. Death basically introduced the most important upcoming events of the story.

[jackh]

I think that it very much spoils the story, but it does so in a way that shows how an ingeniously crafted story like this one can still be extraordinary when it is spoiled. The book is very much focused on the day to day actions and experiences of the characters, for example the fun tidbits about Tommy Muller, rather than the end of the story. The majority of the book is comprised of small details that add to the richness and flow of the writing, but in the end make little to no difference. I think this could be applied to many other books too. For example, you could completely spoil the ending of The Secret Life of Bees, and you would still enjoy the story nonetheless. This sort of ability separates regular books from astounding ones. Yes, foreshadowing and such pulls the reader closer to the story, eluding excitement during the slow parts of the book, but it also helps the reader realize that the ending is only 1/3 of the story, and even yet much less valuable than 1/3 of the story..

[Holly]

Foreshadowing also takes place in the very beginng of the novel. When Liesel "steals" her first book and is given the title "book thief". The Grave Digger's Handbook could be the author's way of hinting at the reader that many death's are soon to occur, that the handbook will be needed later on in the story. This explains why Death is the narrator because multiple casualties occur throughout the story line.

[keelylipp]

When the author hints at the death of not only Rudy, but many other loved character in the novel, it strikes the desire to read more. Knowing that a character you like and can relate to dies somewhere in the novel, causes the need to read and find out not just how they die, but the legacy they leave behind and what they do with the rest of their life, even though they don't know it will soon come to an end. Once the character has passed, the reactions of other characters is just as important to the storyline. Once the characters have reacted to the loss, the new desire becomes how will they live their life out without this person in their life.