he even need a vacation? What does he need distraction from? . . . It's the leftover humans. The survivors. They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail" (5).

One human that interests him is Liesel, of course, because she is "an expert at being left behind" (5). He goes on to say that he saw her three times, but he also swipes her book, reads it, and presents it to her after her long life. He's amazed at how many times she escapes him. He is also impressed when Max escapes him a few times—like the time he fights Death off during a night of intense sickness, as shown in the following passage:

"I readied myself to insert my hands through the blankets. Then there was a resurgence—an immense struggle against my weight. I withdrew, and with so much work ahead of me, it was nice to be fought off in that dark little room. I even managed a short, closed-eyed pause of serenity before I made my way out" (318).

It seems from this passage that Death is also impressed with humans' strength and their will to keep going even when the world is falling down around them and they are facing the cruelest and most evil times in history.

By the end of the book, Death recognizes the extreme spectrum of emotions and experiences that humans face during their lives—from war to peace and back again. He marvels that he is there for "the greatest disasters" and "the greatest villains," but there are a few stories throughout history that distract him enough to teach him and interest him. Therefore, one way Death attempts to understand life is through human stories. In the same manner that humans are haunted by images of ghosts that represent death, Death is haunted by images, colors, and people that represent life.

At the end of the story, Death hands Liesel a book and tries to talk to her about beauty and brutality, but because of her life’s experiences Death has nothing to say. Death then confesses to Liesel that humans haunt him. Death’s work involves the collection of souls from the dead and although his work is routine, sometimes he encounters souls that distract him. One of these souls is that of Liesel, who encounters both beauty and brutality in her life. She is separated from her father and later witnesses the death of her brother and separation from her mother. Liesel’s life is not all gloomy when she develops a close friendship with Rudy and Max. Death is interested in Liesel because he meets her several times during her life and it is such occasions that haunt him because at the end of it all he has to do his work.

In The Book Thief, Death is capitalized because it is personified. The idea that this non-human being can be “haunted” adds to the personal qualities of its characterization. In this way, Markus Zuzak draws our attention to the crimes that humans committed in Germany during World War II. Death points to specific places and times when the killing became too much even for it to process. Although Death’s purpose is to collect souls, when so many people are dying, it can barely do its job. This gives it pause, and it stops to think about the contradictory qualities of humans—“so ugly and so glorious”—as well as the specific, individual people it is taking. As Molching, the town where Liesel goes to live, is near Dachau, a concentration camp, Death’s proximity to Liesel also keeps him close to the thousands it is taking from the camp.

The haunting of Death inverts the usual relationship, as humans are more generally worried about what Death will do. The idea of Death having a sensitive, human-like aspect can also be traced back to depictions centuries earlier. As this tradition is especially associated with German art, it has special meaning in association with modern Germany. In 1942, Allied bombing destroyed one well known mural on the theme in a Lübeck, Germany church.

The personified Death is haunted by humans because humans give him something to think about while he carries out the job of gathering souls when people die. In the first section, "Death and Chocolate," Death says, "As I've been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane." Death focuses on the colors of the sky and the colors of the souls he picks up. But Death also knows incredible amounts of detail about all the people he encounters. We (readers) get a lot of information about Hans, Rosa, Liesel, and all the characters from Death. He is not only fascinated with colors; he is also fascinated with people's lives. In describing what he looks like, Death says: 

You want to know what I look like? 

I'll help you out. Find yourself 

a mirror while I continue. 

This gives the impression that Death assumes the likeness of he/she whom Death is coming for, or thinking about. This is from "Death's Diary: 1942. He is haunted and/or obsessed to the point that he assumes human likenesses. " In this section, Death tells us about himself: 

So many humans. 

     So many colors. 

They keep triggering inside me. They harass my memory. 

Death is, quite simply, fascinated by humans. When he says he is haunted by them, he means that he can't get them out of his mind. He, personified Death, and death itself are inextricably linked to humans. But this personified Death being so interested in human lives, suggests that death itself is not some cold, dark angel. Rather, death (or Death) is understood in this novel as a thing or persona with a kinship to humans; thus, death has a kinship with life. 

Shortly before Death's final line (that he is haunted by humans), he reiterates his fascination with human beings: 

I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race--that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant. 

Death is fascinated that humans are capable of such wonderful things while also being capable of such terrible atrocities (such as the death and destruction in World War II).