‘The Book Thief’, written by Markus Zusak, is a book about a girl and her life during the events of World War II. The book stands out from others as it is written with aspects of magical realism. The most noticeable is having the story as more of a narration, with the main narrator being a character we only know as Death. The reason that they are clarified as the main narrator is that the main character Liesel Meminger also has brief periods where the story is told by her. Magical realism is well known as being just the “real world with a twist”. There are many mainstream ideas presented to us by Zusak through the use of magical realism, but there are also a number of more hidden abstract ideas which can be explored in depth and be more rewarding to analyze them. Markus Zusak utilizes magical realism to present the audience/reader with his message mixed in with his story. Zusak uses the Book Thief as a wake up call, to people who can read more than just the words, to the people who can understand what we are and what we need to change.

Death is one of the first characters we are introduced to in The Book Thief, although we do not know him as death in the beginning, only as a narrator. As the text develops and the story moves forwards, Death has points where he describes how fascinating the humans are to him. With him being Death, it is unusual that he cares enough to notice humans more than just carrying their soul away. But he says he is “constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race” which is saying that the humans are constantly surprising him and he is unable to “simply estimate it”. Zusak giving the book a narrator such as Death is a technique he used to make it so the humans are not the ones who are in complete control. It is interesting to see an author create a character with such power but also make him seem to care about humans. It is a way to show us that humans are capable of great things, that we can do almost anything, just as long as we believe in it.

The Book Thief takes place during the events of World War II. Which was one of the globally known events of the world. But what Zusak does is show the life of Germans during that time, which a large number of people refuse to acknowledge as they were the ‘bad guys’ in the war. But having a story from their point of view, one that brings the struggle for the German people into the light. Markus Zusak is able to focus the audience’s attention onto German life during this event, and opens up a new view for people, how there was a small minority of Germans who disagreed with the treatment of the Jewish people by their Fuhrer. Zusak’s most noticeable character for disagreeing with the mistreatment of others is Hans Hubermann. Hans is many things: an accordion player, a painter and a generous man. But what he is not, he is not a supporter of the Fuhrer as others are, he is unable to speak out though. Which is perceived when it was explained in the book as “dangerous” to not have the flag of the Nazi party displayed in the window of ones home. It was placed within the text that any emotions against the mighty Fuhrer was treason and anybody who was found to disagree with the actions of Nazi’s were punished.

There are times in The Book Thief were Death seems as though he feels sorry for humans, because they miss so many things that happen around them. “People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends” Death says this, and he says it in such a way it shows us that he knows how narrow-minded humans can be, how we only focus on the beginning and ending colours of the day because they are the most noticeable, and because we aren’t out doing something we see as important. We only see the colours when we are not busy, which could be construed as how we never just exist, we always have to find a meaning to everything. We can never just be there, just existing and watching. A whole day goes by, with thousands of different colours and shades happening all around us. But we miss it, because we are all too caught up in something to make us busy, because humans are always busy, we always need to be doing something. Which Markus Zusak points out as one of our major flaws. Which connects to a previous quote from Death, just as he is always over-estimating or under-estimating, and never just estimating, we are always trying to find meaning to exist, never simply just existing.

The Book Thief. It seems like just a book about a girl in Germany, but as you read, the more you understand. The small actions of one person can change everything in such a big way. Adolf Hitler believed his ideology to be right and just, so he did something to make it known. Markus Zusak created a story about a girl, and he turned it into a book of ideas, of thoughts. A book to open peoples eyes to what was unknown, he showed us the life of Germans who did not agree with Hitler, he presented us with the message of hope. Hope that tells us we can do great things. He made us think, what if there is a being such as Death? Watching us since the start, knowing everything we do, and following a story of someone, somewhere, who is able to be more than the others. Zusak’s characters are all so different, but the same, they all are true to who they are, even if it makes things worse for themselves. they do what they perceive as the right thing to do. which is more than a lot of people in the real world can hope to achieve.