I liked Death. I know, it's an odd way to begin a response to such a powerful book, but I enjoy the character of Death within The Book Thief. He's highly cynical, and his narration is often morose, but he provides what I see as genuine insight. I viewed Death as having a unique objectivity. He wasn't pigeonholed by nationality, religion, status as a victim or perpetrator, and he is in essence timeless – an eternal universal.
I think this text is valuable in bringing many lessons into the classroom. It is useful for discussing the role of the narrator (as discussed above) and the liberties an author can take with that element of a story. Additionally, it serves well for the purposes of emphasizing literature as a window into a historical area, as well as providing a voice for the oppressed.
But perhaps most interesting in the emphasis the text places on words – both written and spoken. Oration and propaganda, literacy and literature, and embedded narratives within one another. Zusak, through his own written narrative, has put the role of language in a historical context. I believe that this text could get students excited about writing and speaking, reading and listening. If they can get through it. I would imagine that the thickness of the book would be off-putting to students. The language was simple and the book was fairly easy to read. But even as a grad student, approaching the book of that length was intimidating – I can't remember the last thing I read that was over 300 pages. But I believe that if a student picked up the book, and actually gave it a chance, they would enjoy it. The young characters in the text are endearing. Liesel in particular demonstrates a hope in trying to reclaim the very essence of words in order to further her own compassionate means in a time marked by violence and desperation.
I have read very little on World War II beyond history texts, and nothing that could be considered non-fiction. The only insight I have to the personal aspect of the victimization of the war is The Diary of Anne Frank. If I remember correctly, the last lines of that book (or at least near the end), were “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” This stands in contrast to Death's utterance, “I am haunted by people.” This quote brings me back to the original point I made in this post – I like death. He gives us a lens with which to view the events of the book, and he makes clear the brutality of war. Yet Liesel, like Frank, recognizes both the horrors of war and the good in humanity, and tries to look for both. In this sense, the book ultimately, offers insight into what it means to be human, and how this emerges throughout various historical contexts.
I am happy you acknowledged how ostensibly intimidating the novel is because of its size. The fact that this drives some away from reading it is sad, but true, and presumably even truer for adolescents. The text is ultimately one I would consider teaching, and I think the Death-is-the-narrator factor may give resistant students a reason to want to read the book.
ReplyDeletePersonally, however, I am not convinced about how well Death holds up. At times, Death's voice is excellent and about as authentic as one could write it. But I think for large portions of the novel, Death's voice is quite similar to a standard third-person omniscient narrator, albeit from a first-person perspective. Given the book's length, perhaps it was simply too daunting for the author to be consistently faithful to the Death persona.