We're born. We live. We love. We die. That's how every story ends. Death gives every soul a voice in the end. No matter who, what, or when, Death always listens to your last words and thoughts. There could not have been a better voice for Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, as Death reveals everything, even after life.
Death sees everything and is especially present during this novel, set in Nazi Germany. He tells the minority experience as he finds and picks up the souls of Jews across the nation. He understands everyone's thoughts and feelings as they die, and he felt the pain and despair of the Jews on the streets and in the concentration camps.
"Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words" (Zusak 350).
There is no better voice to understand every soul than Death himself. An ever-present force that still sympathizes with humans. He has a personal bias towards Liesel, Hans, and Rudy, yet he's impartial and completely fair to life. He allows us to learn more about each character, all the while remaining a trustworthy narrator because he still tells the story as it is whether it's in anyone's favor or not, including his.
"I'm nothing if not fair" (Zusak 3).
The Book Thief is set during WWII, well before the Civil Rights Movement of the American Civil War. Therefore, it plays no role in that event, however it is not at all lacking in voice. During that time, The Nazi Party had total control over everything. They put flags up in homes, schools, and shops. Every building was decorated with the swastika, and every Jew was hiding for their life. Nothing could be done about it, as Germans who helped Jews were also punished. In a setting where walls and books were filled with endless propaganda, and children were taught the "righteous" beliefs of the Nazi Party, Death is arguably the only narrator capable of neutrality and fairness. For in the end, everyone dies.
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