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The Book Thief Character Analysis Essay

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The Book Thief Character Analysis Essay
The Book Thief- Profiler
Character: Death
Ryan Pfanstiel Period 3

Reason for the Drawing:
Although most assume Death looks like the Grim Reaper or a scary skeleton thing, in The Book Thief, Death is not. In fact, he even tells us what he looks like when he says, “I do not carry a sickle or a scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance… Find yourself a mirror while I continue” (Zusak 307). Essentially Death is saying that because all humans die, we all resemble death. Humans can and will die, and thus he is one of the things that is constant between all humans. Due to this reason I drew a man looking into a mirror to show Death. I just
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Death shows his straightforward nature when he states, “I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result” (Zusak 6). Death is very blunt and often says things with no explanation. He says what he thinks and never really elaborates. Another personality trait is his sympathy towards humans. Not only is he saddened by our choices but he even feels bad for those whose relatives/friends have died. For example, “It’s the leftover humans. The survivors. They’re the ones I can’t stand to look at… crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise” (Zusak 5). The final personality trait is how thoughtful death is. Throughout the novel, Death he makes it clear how much he knows and how he always gives deep meaning about life and how something can be sad but also wonderful. On page 550 Death discusses his thoughts, “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality… how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant” (Zusak 550). Since the beginning of time, Death has been around carrying souls into the afterlife. He has seen a lot, and learned a lot, and through his narration Death always seems to want to tell us something

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