THE BOOK THIEF
BY MARKUS ZUSAK
Colour Symbolism

Narrators introduce and give insight when
accounting tales

Death uses colours to introduce and give
insight to himself, Liesel and Hitler
Death and Chocolate
Chocolate
• Symbol of pleasure, desire, luxury and the
power of possession
• Greatly liked and converted in most
cultures
• Has the potential to sicken and generate
dislike in large amounts though
Death as a Character
• Wants us to desire his company
• That we be left with a pleasurable memory
after he has left
• He realizes however that he often doesn’t
have that effect on people
Death as a Narrator
• Presents our characters uniquely and
creatively
• He gives us an insight to each character
before or as we meet them
“First the colors.
Then the humans”
Painting Personalities
• Death portrays us
through a sky painted
symbolically with a colour
that gives insight to each
character
• The colours symbolize
parts of each characters
personality and how
Zusak wishes us to see
them
Liesel
• “Blindingly white-snow
sky” is Liesel’s colour
• White symbolizes purity,
innocence, death,
passion and hidden
flaws
• Liesel also is white
because she is a symbol
of truth in a world of lies
Black
• Is elegance, mystery, sophistication
• Is rebellion, individuality, power
• Is a great beauty of bittersweet
sorrows, of dancing shadows and
depth
HITLER “I swear I could see a black
signature in the shape of a swastika. It
loitered untidily above.”
• Was a man of great
elegance and power
• Rebellious and an
individual
• He was the cause of
much death and suffering
• He is seen as evil
however he is so much
more
The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak



Colours as symbols
can link to almost
anything
They are universal like
the effect of war
The Book Thief uses
colour symbolism to
portray our characters
of Death, Liesel and
Hitler