Molching:

Molching is a fictional place made up by the author Markus Zusak. It was based in Germany in 1939-1942 between Munich and Dachau concentration camp. Finding out that Molching is not a real place has made me sceptical as to what is fact and fiction in the book. There are many real things in the book such as the holocaust, the concentration camps and other places such as Munich. Markus Zusak has used this to show the effect of words and how they can influence thoughts and actions, like how Hitler influenced a whole country into believing in what he does, Zusak has influenced us to believe this place is real through facts surrounding it gaining our trust into believing what he says. Which this has caused be to second guess now what he says and this can also make me a better person to not just instantly believe what others say and take both sides of arguments and make my judgement of each real fact and not made up facts such as what Zusak did.

Death

Death is the narrator of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It has talked about itself in the text and given us information about how Zusak has created it as a character, like how he has made it travel through time inhumanly stated in the quotes: “It’s lucky I was there. Then again, who am I kidding? I’m in most places at least once, and in 1943, I was just about everywhere.” and “Oh, and one more thing. He would die with his mouth open.” It has also told us that It does not carry a scythe and wear a black robe like humans have stereotyped it to do. Death also makes many interesting comments and statements that have helped manipulate the storyline and move the story forwards. But now knowing that Markus Zusak has manipulated us into thinking that Molching is a place I cannot trust Death and what It has told us, as Death is just a character created by Zusak. I also know that Death is quite naive as It speaks often about humans as a waste of time and space as It thinks humans only live to die shown in the quote “You might argue that I make the rounds no matter what year it is, but sometimes the human race likes to crank things up a little. They increase the production of bodies and their escaping souls. A few bombs usually do the trick.” Knowing that Death is also naive allows me to say more definitely that I cannot trust what he tells us and I must second guess what he says about the characters, and the comments he makes that can change what I think about the story.