Sunday, March 22, 2009

Discussion 4- Question

The one question that i have been waiting to ask while reading this book is-

Why did markus Zusak choose to have death as the narrator? I can find several answers, but i don't know if the author wants the reader to figure it out on their own, or if there is one specific answer.

10 comments:

  1. This seems to be a popular question, Hannah, and it seems to get me everytime. The most concluded answer I can give is to give more emotion and character to the plotline. Also, the darkness of Death is becomming more familiar to the reader so the reader is less biast to some of the darker aspects of life.

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  2. I personally think that the choice is just to separate this holocaust book even further than other books from around that time. Also, the tone of Death is kind of creepy and adds a darkened tone to the story that is already considerably dark and eerie.

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  3. I agree with your question. Did Zusak have one specific reason to have death as the narrator or was it just the way it played out, meybe we'll find out.

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  4. The topic of Death is a popular one, like Maggie said, and it really is confusing. In my opinion, the author chose Death as the narrator because of the topic of the book. It takes place during the Holocaust, which was an abundant time of death, and the whole book is kind of eerie and gloomy. That is the only answer I can come to on this topic otherwise, this choice is a mystery to me!

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  5. Yes, a lot of people are questioning the choice of Death as the narrator. I think there are many reasons Zusak chose to do this: to be different, to show how significant death was during this time, and also to show how terrible and complicated Death's responsibilities are. In the book, Death hates his job. He destracts himself by looking at the colors around him, and not the people, but it is still impossible for him to feel completely heartless. I think Zusak is trying to make a statement about death in this book, and how even Death himself hates the concept of Death.

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  6. I had a similar question. I think that Death was made to be the narrator for two main reasons. Firstly, Death tells the story from the point of a bystander, which is very hard to find at the time. Secondly, it could probably just be irony. The fact that Death is telling a story about death...how ironic. Zusak must have seen this and thought it would be a perfect blend of hopelessness in the book.

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  7. My question is pretty much the same as yours and I think that he chose death as a narrator because death is such a significant part of the book and takes place a couple of times. Death is also such a different view from other books that I have read, so it definitely switches it up a bit. I also wonder if there is a specific reason or not but that is just my assumption.

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  8. I had a question similar to yours. In my opinion, I think the author wanted to have this book unique with Death narrating, whereas other books having to do with this time period may of had an actual character telling the story. I also agree that Deaths adds to the dark tone of the story.

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  9. I feel he is a unique choice also. He is so much different from all other narrators I have experienced in other novels. He is very intellectual in his descriptions, that always make me think about things differently, and I think this is a good choice of Death as the narrator.

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  10. I asked a question almost exactly like this. I think he just chose it to be different, honestly. I don't think it really added anything to the story. It just made death seem almost like a joke to him. I just thought his whole... mindset was a little off somehow.

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