Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, may have chosen to use literary devices for many reasons, including appealing to a younger audience and providing imagery. First of all, Zusak used personification to provide a different point of view to the story and provide some imagery. The first thing he personified was Death, making him the narrator and giving an overall view to the ongoing scene. For example, when Liesel and her brother, Werner, were on the train, Death described the scene: “A suddenness found its way onto his lips then, which were a corroded brown color and peeling, like old paint. In desperate need of redoing. Their mother was asleep. I entered the train” (Zusak 20). Death entered the train and took Werner’s soul as his mother
