The Book Thief: Death Again

So, originally I was going to try to talk about Liesel  and Rudy and everything  happening on Himmel Street, but Death is just to intriguing. 

Death…

He is not like what people think. 

A thought:   If mother is Nature, than father is Death.

Death cares about those he saves, and feels as Nature does when they are harmed. 

Question—What would the world be like if we thought of Death as a being who is kind and caring, as one with feelings, as one who has compassion for those he takes from us, and pity’s us who keep going? 

He doesn't want us to be sad that they are gone.  He wants to take us with them, so that we to are safe from harm.  But, he knows that we must finish out our lives, so that when he comes to take us we understand and see clearly what life was for us and what it must be for those who follow us. 

Observation:  Death did not live a life, he came into being knowing, understanding, why he had to watch, why he had to do his job.  He does not fully understand the emotion that goes into living, only the emotion of dying, missing those who have died.  But he learns, as children do, the emotional aspect of life, and how important it is to our ability to learn.

Death was the best part of this book, the way he looked at things, the way that he attached himself to something that he had no connection with.  I think I want to read the book again this summer and see how I feel about it once I have chosen a college, and I am preparing to leave the comfort and safety of home. 

I think that I read the book at a good point in my life, because I’m a senior, I’m dealing with the fact that this chapter of my journey is almost over, and I’m going to have to move on into uncharted territory.  Death is right, we must live life so that we learn the lessons that it has to offer, and that is where I am.  

The Book Thief: Death

I've read the first hundred or so pages of this book before, and I put it down so that I could finfish it for this class.  That was a very hard thing for me to do, because I had become attached to the book.  I think one thing that drew me in was the way the book was narrated, from the point of view of Death.  I also like the way that he is personified in the book, as a very simplistic yet detail oriented person, with (at times) the emotion and vision of a child.  The fact that he focuses on all of these colors to distract him from the people and events they go with seems to me the way that a child might approach such a problem.  The way he looks at his job is also very interesting.  He doesn't come off as the Grim Reeper or the Devil, he comes of as Death.  Almost, like Death from the Tale of the Three Brothers from Harry Potter 7, only not as eager to recive those souls that must be taken from the world. But, as a more solom and respectful being of the souls he takes from the Earth, he does not like his job but he doesn't hate it either.  He knows that he is the one who must take care of these people now, and that it is a big responsibility. 

Liesel, on the other hand, understands what life...and Death...can do to someone, for her it means not having someone to go with to a new world.  It means taking something that will be her only reminder of what this world did to her brother. 

Another thing that I found interesting, was that the story is being told with the emotions of one who knows what has to happen next, by one who has seen life been given and taken; but, it is told with a sence of inocence that only a child can have.  The blend of styles is very well done, and it make s the characters more interesting to follow.  I particularly like Papa, he is very much experienced in many ways when it coomes to the world, but when Liesel comes into his life, an inosence is opened up in him, I think, that was very rarely seen or given to anyone. 

Death is an intreging being, and I think that the way he is written is a very interesting way to view Death.

I keep looking over at the book next to the computure as I type and I have to stop, because I want to know what is going to happen to the Jew that is hiding in a black room, and how it is all going to tye together!!!