Friday, May 22, 2009
Can Death Die?
When I was doing the reading one sentence really caught my attention. "It kills me sometimes, how people die." (page 454). This sentence is really interesting to me for many reasons. Firstly, this is yet another example of how Death must respond to a higher command, because if it was always Death's choice of who dies when and how, this statement wouldn't exist. Secondly, we once again see how even though Death may not be a human being, he/she/it does have feelings. Lastly, like we have talked about in class, Death has presented us with another "paradoxymoron". How can Death die if he/she/it is death itself? Who and how can Death be killed? I just thought that was a very interesting sentence Zusak has placed into the novel.
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I think Death can die, but I'm not sure how. On p. 389 on the bottom, a Jew dies and Death comments that the people around him think "Why him and not me?". After that, Death says, "Thank God it isn't me.", showing that he is grateful that he is not the one who dies.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I would like to add to my post, is that as you have pointed out, Death seems to have very mixed feelings about dying. He shows signs of wanting to die but then being glad he isn't dead.
ReplyDeleteI think when death said "it kills me sometimes,how people die" was just an expression because earlier he referred to someone who had died with his mouth open so i don't think he meant that he can literally die. When i read this i thought it was funny that death said that quote because he is death and i don't think he can die.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Antonio that Death cannot die. Death can sometimes seem very human, but he's not. He has been collecting souls since there were souls to collect, and Death has "lived" that long. Death also complains that he never gets a break or vacation, which means there is no replacement for him. If Death "died" what would happen? Would people live forever or would their souls remain trapped in their body with no one to collect them? I can't imagine a world without Death, because I don't think it is possible as long as there is life. I think Death talks about death a lot because he is constantly around death and likes to joke about it from time to time, but I don't think Death can die.
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