2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

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Extended Essay

English A: Literature

Death characterises Liesel as ‘one of those perpetual survivors – an expert at being left behind’ (p.6), and rescues her abandoned diary when the opportunity arises in order to understand more about her story. Death’s fascination with Liesel begins when he collects her brother Werner's soul, as the two children journey to their new foster home in Molching. The book thief first makes an impression due to the fact that she ‘catches [Death] out’ (p.21), and is able to see the moment where her brother’s body no longer has a soul. This causes Death to pause and witness her reaction, which is one of anguish and grief. The brief moment allows Death a glimpse into the emotions of humanity, and although he attempts ‘for two days’ to ‘go about [his] business’ and ‘keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger’s brother’ (p. 23), he does not heed his own advice, and returns to Liesel’s side. Death views this decision to be ‘the most elementary of mistakes’ (p.8), but becomes curious about Liesel and her story. It is stories such as Liesel’s that Death is invested in, due to his yearning to understand the human race. Although it is the reaction of those left behind that makes Death’s job difficult, their resilience and ability to progress through life is something that Death is wanting to learn for himself. The novel's epilogue contains a very significant scene whereby Death collects Liesel’s soul – ‘at a very old age’ (p.577) – and returns her diary to her; titled The Book Thief. This final interaction between Death and Liesel outlines the life that she has had, and in her soul Death views ‘a long list of lives connected to her – her three children, her grandchildren, her husband’ (p.578), as well as Rosa, Hans, and Rudy. Despite the atrocities that she has faced, and the number of souls that have been taken from her, Liesel is able to live out her life contentedly. Because of this, she is able to greet Death when he comes to retrieve her soul. The novel's final pages allow Death and Liesel to reflect on both the beauty and brutality of life, and, as Death says, ‘how [could] the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious… so damning and so brilliant’ (p.584). The characters of Death and Liesel are essential to one other because, without the presence of the other, each would not have been able to learn something about themselves. Liesel learns how to live after loss. Death learns how to handle the stresses of his job whilst understanding humanity, and thus himself.

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