In the novel ‘The Book Thief’ written by Markus Zusak, Zusak uses the genre of magical realism to display the power of words and the impact it has on society. Magical realism is a type of genre that is used to display a realistic picture while also having magical and surreal elements. Magical realism can be used in many ways and in this case was used to display the Set in 1939 Nazi Germany, the book sheds a new light on the preconceived notions of Germany around WW2. Zusak does this in a number of ways throughout the book, some of which is the normalization of death, symbolism and altering the reality of the book.

The Story of ‘The Book Thief’ is set in Molching a fictional town placed around real places and towns; Zusak does this for a reason. The reason for this is because it shows and relates back to the power of words and the impact that it can have on a person. “Quite a way beyond the outskirts of Munich was a town called Molching” This is the first time that Zusak references the fake town and displays it in a way of any other town in Germany in WW2. Through the book Zusak brings in real time/ historical events into the town of Molching which further convinces the reader that the book may be based on true events or people. By adding in small but relevant events into the book builds up an idea of trust between the reader and the author. The relationship between the reader and the author is made from a bridge of words and by manipulating the historical background of the book shows the prejudice of humans. In WW2 Hitler used propaganda and the power of words to gain political power and turn a whole nation against everyone and Zusak relates this to the book as we are almost convinced that this could be real. ” It’s pathetic -how a man can stand by and do nothing as a whole nation cleans out the garbage and make itself great again” This quote from Hans’s son shows the effect of ones words on a person as he quotes the Jews as garbage or lesser people. Just like Hans’s son we blindly followed what the book was telling us and we did not look to see if what we were reading was real. Adding in fictional places and people shows the power of words, doing so helps us to rethink how and what the German people were experiencing through that time of war.

Symbolism of words is used heavily throughout ‘The Book Thief’ and is often referenced in the book as being either good or bad. Words can be used in different ways and throughout the book we see the true gravity of ones words on a person. Lisel is caught up or entangled in words, she surrounds herself with books and slowly learns how and what the world is like around her. One of the times that we see Lisel’s perspective change is when she reads the book that Max is writing for her. Lisel

Death is often looked upon as a dark and ominous feeling or taker of life, scythe in hand roaming the earth. In ‘The Book Thief’ Zusak personifies death throughout the book and almost seems more human as you read through the book. “In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He’d have loved it all right. You see ? Even death has a heart.” in this quote we see how death talks about himself and shows how even he has human characteristics. Death throughout the book gives us an insight into what he truly looks like, we feel a sense of naivety from death as we read more about him and his thoughts on humans. We also see how death is per sieved as a normal working class person ” Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” Death is almost working a 9 to 5 job, we see also a connection as we think he is almost human and we can sympathies with death. “You want to know what I truly look like? I’ll help you out. Find yourself a mirror” personifying death in ‘The Book Thief’ we see how the power of his words become greater and we see more clearly his ideas and intentions because of this. Another aspect that stands out is how the normalization of Death shows how death in WW2 was the not unusual occurrence . The normalization shows how Death was