Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Discussion 1: Character
One thing that makes this novel especially unique is that it's narrated by Death. Death really is personified: the descriptions it uses about itself are very similar to that of a person. For example, Death describes itself carrying souls away in its arms, and at one point, says it likes the statement Max makes about punching Death in the face. These human-like characteristics have resulted in me picturing Death as a black shadowy gas with the figure of a person, sort of like someone's shadow or shillouette. However, this is only when Death is actually mentioned. The character is in a way inconsistant. Sometimes as I'm reading I forget it's Death narrating at all, and instead think of it as your average third-person narrator. When Death is mentioned, or makes a referrence to itself, I get a sudden wham of realization. Oh yeah, Death's narrating. Still, the idea is very interesting and it's fun seeing the sort of sarcasm and bluntness Death brings to the story.
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I forget that Death is the narrator, too. I wondered for a minute if Death was still the narrator, then Death commented that it admired a person who liked colors. I was a pretty surprised to read the commentary all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the idea that Death is personified. And I for sure see Death as a person type thing that is just walking around the world in shadows and stuff, waiting until the coast is clear to do his job. I wonder if people can see him?
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to forget who's narrating. He uses his perspective as death to get across ideas that the reader might not get by themselves, such as saying how Hans cheated him twice. Which translates to Hans was saved twice. Or how death saw Leisel three times, which means three people close to Leisel died. The narrator's satirical personality makes this book as good as it is.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea, Eliza, about how death uses his perspective to get ideas across, and how he does it in a satirical way. I just think it's interesting how he really only appears when making these statements or getting these points across, and the rest of the book just seems like your average 3rd person narrative.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you described death as a silhouette. I pictured him as a cloud or a gas like you said as well but a silhouette really makes him seem there in a sort of eerie way. I am always forgetting that Death is the narrator and i think the biggest reason is that if death is narrating you would expect it to have something of an uncomfortable feel in some way, but like you said he adds a sarcasm and bluntness to the book that makes it easy to forget that he is in fact Death.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the appearance of Death, "a black shadowy gas with the figure of a person". As I was reading I noticed Death's personality, but I didn't take his appearance into account. This description of him really suits him well.
ReplyDeleteThe way you described Death makes it sound really creepy and mysterious. And I definetly agree that having Death as the narrator is unique...I have never read a book where the narrator is Death.
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