Liesel's Death: A Brief Summary

The author achieves this by using Death as character but, also as an immortal and all knowing narrator. Zusak uses the omniscient Death to present a character's guilt giving a more objective look into a character's guilt. On the other hand the first person view would give the reader details that wouldn’t produce an accurate showing of the characters remorse. Instead the first person view would be clouded by emotions and filled with the thoughts of the character in the moment instead of the important details need to showcase survivor's guilt. For example when Death tells us about Liesel's nightmare on page 36, “She would wake up...screaming and drowning in the flood of sheets...the bed that was meant for her brother…”. The authors use of Death as a narrator reveals Leisel being haunted by her brothers death, but if it was Liesel's point of view it would be filled with her emotions at the time which doesn't help develop the survivors guilt which comes from more of a contemplative space. This is illustrated again when Liesel kisses Rudy’s dead body on page 536, “She leaned down and...Liesel kissed her best friend...true on his lips.” This helps establish the survivor's guilt by showing how haunted Liesel was by the fact that she never kissed Rudy who tried kissing her multiple times while alive. However if this event wasn’t in Death’s point of view survivor's

When a person observes/encounters death their willpower shows determination that helps them survive. The first glimpse we see of this is on page 21. On the train to Munich liesel's brother dies. His name is Werner. He later gets buried at a graveyard just by the train tracks. There was a little ceremony and Liesel and her mother carry on. One thing Liesel takes is the gravedigger's handbook. This is portraying to us on how she will eventually turn into a thief, hence “The Book Thief”. This quote is portrayed by death; “One eye open, one still in a dream. It would be better for a complete dream. I think, but i really have no control over that”. (5, 9) In this quote Liesel believes that the situation that had just occurred was a dream, but she knows that it is not. She learns to read the gravediggers book and it opens up the opportunity of books into her life. Another example of death is when Hans trades cigarettes for Mein Kampf. Hans’ history with Mein Kampf has been a wild one. On Hans’ way back from WWI he

With the author using a third person omniscient narrator, which is death, this improves the strength of the theme. With death being the narrator of the book it helps the reader see how death was all around Liesel. “You see, to me, for just a moment, despite all of the colors that touch and grapple with what I see in this world, I will often catch an eclipse when a human dies. I’ve seen millions of theme. I’ve seen more eclipses than I care to remember” (Zusak 11). Death darkens the story and this makes you feel their emotions. With a third person omniscient

Again, a main protagonist, Henry, links to the theme of death through some key events involving a character who was once alive in the novel but is now dead. This theme is evident when Henry’s “friend” named Trot, dies in an unexpected car crash. “Trot was dead. Dead. The word, although Henry had not said it out loud, began to take on some form, as if it was solidifying. He’d never had to deal with the word, or the world like this before. Trot was dead. He was gone. Now. Gone. Henry sat, hands draped, the silver case of his watch glittering at the corner of his eye. He felt weak and infinitely clueless.” (pg. 174) This quote establishes how Henry was completely and utterly shocked about the death of his friend. He couldn’t even bring himself up to saying the word. This shows a huge similarity to how individuals react to the death of a friend in today’s society. Metzenthen strongly represents the theme of death using Henry’s character. Similarly, with Henry, we sense that he is weary and heartsick over the thought of death. Throughout the novel, the author is able to illustrate the idea of death, and show how many people in today’s society also see it as a horrible and heartbreaking

I thought that I wasn’t going to hear of her again. The thing that struck me the most was when Death said “I am haunted by humans.” It’s usually the other way around, where humans will do anything to avoid death. I was surprised by what Death said more than anything else. I was expecting something along the lines of Liesel got a job and that was the end of her book thieving career.

In this novel, the audience learns that Death can have a very soft personality when he wants to, but before the reader gets to explore this side of the character, they are first introduced to his colder side, as exemplified by his blunt way of addressing many topics. The bluntness possessed by Death often portrays him to be cold and analytical, which is not a trait that is often associated with a person who is as emotional as Death has revealed himself to be. An example of this bluntness is when he says, “Here is a small fact: You are going to die.” (Zusak, 1) He states this so simply, lacking any grace in mentioning this unsettling fact to the reader, whom may be uncomfortable with

Chapter 13 gives another view on death. In this chapter we see what has happened to Nector, Marie and Lulu. Nector has started to lose his memory and is becoming like a child again. Lipsha, who is the son of June and Gerry. He has the gift of healing. He is

The knowledge that one’s family was safe was a large source of hope for money, but that hope could quickly turn to despair with the knowledge that they were dead. This emotional arc was exemplified by Eliezer’s relative, Stein: “ ‘The only thing that keeps me alive … is to know that

Death often foreshadows, or even just tells the reader, what will happen in the future of the book. This prepares the reader for what will happen in the future, making the book even more unique than it already is. It is not often that a reader learns of the death of a character before it actually happens (Cooley, Steffen). This is quite the opposite of what happens in The Book Thief. Death, as a narrator, knows what will happen and to whom it will happen to (Cooley, Steffen). One of the most extreme cases of this is the foreshadowing of Rudy Steiner’s  death. On page 241 Death openly says:”A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT RUDY STEINER. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did” (Zusak). This tells the reader that Rudy will die, but not telling the reader when he dies, adding more suspense to the book. Death also

Sentence 1: With different background and life philosophy, both Ivan Ilyich and Willy Loman end up with death. Family plays an important role that can be either negative or positive in Ilyich and Loman’s life. Their tension and bond with their family indirectly leads to their death, and the reaction of their family after they passed away eventually becomes the final evaluation of the meaning of their death.

Liesel and her brother are travelling by train to Munich with their mother to be given to their foster parents when she notices her brother is sideways and dead. After Werner’s funeral, Liesel, overcome with shock and

It was displayed early on with Liesel’s younger brother dying it also is shown throughout the entire film at times like war and bombs It’s something that none of the characters could escape from as it’s narrated by death. Quote by the narrator “I guess I should introduce myself properly, but then again you’ll meet me soon enough not before your time, of course I make it a policy to avoid the living” which obviously means that he is going to be showing death in the film. Liesel’s younger brother dies and a lot more other character he also states that he avoids the living which he did in the film by people dying. They used a voice over technique in the beginning when the narrator (death) was talking the film technique was used so the audience can understand it easier and also the feelings and thoughts of the narrator. Death was also shown when Liesel’s younger brother died. They used film techniques by having close ups of Liesel’s younger brother to show detail and also loud sound effects to draw the audience in. The next scene went straight to the burial of her brother which showed loud sound effects leading up to the burial which was to shift the mood and get the audience to have a sense of worry or fear and draw them in. These film techniques were used to entertain, communicate meaning and to produce a particular emotion to an

Her love for life and the desire to live long, take an ironic twist when she sees that her husband is actually alive. Watching the husband alive in front of her is indeed the real shock of her life. It strikes with such a force that it takes her life. It is very likely that her weak heart simply could not bear, what indeed was for her, the most tragic news. Her husband’s death meant life to her which she hoped would be long enough. “She says a prayer that her life might be long to enjoy all the seasons in her life”. (Chopin 262).

The loss affects him severely, he doesn’t quite make sense of it initially and finds difficulty coming to terms with the realization of his loss; however he sets aside a time of mourning and then continues his life(103). He attends his mother’s funeral and learns to live with his father, trying to understand him more and learn from him rather than allwoing the loss of his mother to consume he causing him to regress. He continues forward with his life, which is the right way to deal with this loss of life. He pays his respects and love to his mother and finds resolve and continues on with personal growth, education, and life. Both Nikolai and Tolstoy exemplify this as the right way to the loss of a loved one’s

If it weren't for words Liesel too would have died on Himmel street that day. Buried amongst the aftermath of what she once called home.