1st Comparative Text - The Book Thief

The first book of my course is "The Book Theif" by Markus Zuask. It is a novell about a young girl called Liesel Meminger, and her ordeal of living with foster parents throughout the second world war. The story is told from the point of view of the novell's Narrator. The Narrator follows Liesel arround, and is revealed to be Death - whether he is an angel, or the grim reaper, or anything else associated with a supernatural personification of death, it is unclear - but Death is portrayed as an individual full of sorrow and grief, due to his job of taking souls from the dying and placing them on the "conveyabelt to the afterlife". Death also mentions, at the burial of Liesel's brother, that he has a schedule to keep, and that his higher authority (or 'Boss', if you will) tells him that he is not supposed to ask why a person is to die, but is just supposed to go and do his duty. this reveals that, according to Zusak's personification of Death, a person's demise is pre-determined by something other than the reaper, and that his work is for a cause he dosent know about.
Death never says "My name is Death" or "I am the Grim Reaper". Zusak uses a combination of humor and dark language that causes the reader to realise his identity. He writes, "I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessairy. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables." Death explains here, as dellicately as he can, that the reader will eventually die and meet him, and that it's just a matter of time. Zusak also writes "I entered the train. My feet stepped through the cluttered aisle and my palm was over his mouth in an instant. no-one noticed. The train galloped on." Death talks about taking Liesel's brother's life here, and no emotive language is used. Death is quite used to taking the lives of those whose time has come, even the lives of young children. So, the Hand of Death comes without hesitation - allthough it is revealed that death resents his purpose, and tries to escape from it by finding distractions in colour and the study of human behaviour.
Death presents himself as one who speaks like the higher class of the time, using a diverse range of vocabulary, and adressing the reader politely. However, it is interesting to find that even with his deep understanding of linguistics, he finds it extremely difficult to express his emotions - particularly sympathy and depression. Perhaps this is because he simply was not made with feelings inside him, or that he is content with who he is. But, the reader comes to realise that the most probable reason for this, is that the centuries of being the Harbringer of Death, has numbed his emotions, and he looks to the world to feel good about himself again.
Zuask's style is unusual, in that he gives the unbiased Narrator a charactor, which the reader develops sympathy for, and yet can relate to as a neutral teller of the story.