The Book Thief Analysis

The fear of being haunted constantly lurks in the shadows of every individual’s life. Although the terrifying anxieties that result from being haunted can be obscured behind fabricated smiles and optimistic speculations, they are often exposed in human’s everyday nervous tendencies. In Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, this concept of looming uncertainty plays a central role in the lives of all the characters as they navigate their way through Holocaust-era Germany. The narrator of the novel, Death himself, reveals the story of Liesel, a young girl living in a foster home on Himmel Street. As Liesel matures, she learns to read with her foster father, plays soccer with her friend Rudy, and finds friendship in a hidden Jewish man. Throughout her life, Liesel’s tale becomes ingrained in Death’s thoughts. In stating that he is haunted by humans, Death is relaying how humanity 's moral conflicts consume and terrorize his existence. Death’s struggle with suffering humans, his battle with the concepts of good and evil, his ability to persevere, and his inability to understand humanity contribute to his haunting nightmare. As an essential companion to life, Death is constantly surrounded by and forced to observe the living, whose emotions and experiences produce torment within Death’s own thoughts. To Death, one of the most haunting aspects of humans are their inevitable pain, suffering, and heartbreak. It is not the act of removing a soul from the body that inflicts pain upon