The Book Thief The Power Of Love Analysis

Immortal Love: The Power of Love in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (ROUGH draft) “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” This is a part of a poem by Emily Dickinson about love; now to elucidate just what it means. “Unable are the loved to die…”, to many who have lost loved ones they know this is not true. It is not saying that they never die but more referring to the power that love has. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, many tragic events take place. Starting in a pre-world war two Germany, and leading to being in the middle of war. The main character, Liesel, is brought to a foster home because her mother can not care for her, and to make matters worse her brother becomes ill and dies. Now this is not a very good start

Most would see that word and think of dark, horrifying things; most people would not think of love or happiness, and that makes logical sense. In The Book Thief, Death is the narrator, so he tells the story from his point of view. So when reading it, and finding it is about the power of love, it is quite ironic. It is a type of situational irony, Death, who has the power to make humans souls leave the Earth, in love with one. Death expresses his love for Liesel many times throughout the novel, starting from the beginning. When Liesel’s brother is dies, he is brought to be buried and Death is there. Normally he would leave but no, “stupidly I [Death] stayed, I watched”(21), there is no explanation for this except of course, Death’s love for her, “[y]ou see? Even Death has a heart”(242). In a way, he is responsible for the absence of her brother, but he does care for her he does have a heart. From this point on he watches over her and continues telling her story, and shows up at another important moment in her life, when she has just lost almost everyone she loves due to a bombing. He sees her book that she was writing in that she dropped, and, “[j]ust before the truck left I took it [Liesel’s book] in my hand...it’s lucky I was there” Death loves Liesel, and Liesel loves words. Since he loves her he cares about what is important to her, that is why he took the book. After this incident, Liesel has a happy life until her time comes which is when Death takes her by the hand and walks with her, shows her the book, and talks about all he has seen. This is the moment when he make the most eloquent statement to her,“‘I am haunted by humans’”, this just proves how he does love Liesel and how he cares for her, in all it’s irony, it is powerful. Death loves Liesel and this is ironic because it is not what you would expect, and even though it is not expected it is very important and crucial to the