The Book Thief Narrative Analysis

Narrative Tension in The Book Thief

In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, the most apparent form of narrative tension is anticipation. As an example, he uses anticipation because everyone wants to see what is going on within the next pages of the book. He uses a variety of elements to keep the reader interested in what is going to happen. In the writing it states, “A SPECTACULARLY TRAGIC MOMENT/ A train was moving quickly. / It was packed with humans. / A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage. /” (Zusak 19). Anticipation is shown here because no one knows what the real cause of anything is. No one is sure why many people are on this train yet, and no one is aware of why the small boy died. This gives the reader a sense of anticipation because they are anxious to see what happened to the little boy, and what the cause of it was. Many readers will ask questions and be curious about what is going to happen next, so the readers will keep reading in hopes to find answers to their questions.

Anticipation can be found in many other parts of the story. The reader can see multiple possibilities of what can happen with information that they know. Zusak peaks the interest of many readers in many ways. He writes, “The book thief had struck for the first time- the beginning of an illustrious

This is because readers are anxious to see how the story will conclude or end. To peak the interest of the reader towards the end, Zusak makes the reader anxious. For example, Zusak writes, “Everything was good. But it was awful, too.” This cliffhanger leaves the reader waiting and anxious to see what happens next. In previous parts of the story, the reader gets an idea of the situation, but is unaware of what could happen in the very near future. Anticipation is used because as a reader, I am anxious to see what is going to happen, and what specific examples create the good and bad for the young girl named