Who Is The Antagonist In The Book Thief

When people think of protagonists and antagonists they think of these people: Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor, and Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Generally protagonists are the heroes and antagonists are the villains. However, in The Book Thief the author, Markus Zusak, intentionally chooses the protagonist and antagonist to be different. Liesel is the protagonist and her progress is slowed by Death, the narrator. Death is the antagonist, but he does not mean to go against Liesel or hurt those around her. While there is contrast between the characters, Death is sympathetic toward Liesel and does not mean to cause her suffering. The book includes many different characters, yet Liesel is the protagonist. Each character included somehow relates or interacts with Liesel through the book. The fact that Death is
Liesel can never win against death because she will die eventually. At the beginning, Death tells the reader, “You are going to die” (Zusak 3). Surviving to live a full life can be considered defeating Death as Liesel did. Evident when Death says, “I am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550), he may have been defeated by humanity. Death needs the colors to distract him from the survivors. Death was haunted by humans and the survivors, and Liesel was one of them. Whether anyone wins or loses against death is impossible to know; it must be decided by the one who has died. Markus Zusak intentionally chose Liesel and Death to be the protagonist and antagonist. The fact that they are the protagonist and antagonist is visible throughout the entire book each time Death slowed Liesel down. Death may not have been meaning to do this, but his job is to take the souls of the dead, setting him as the antagonist. In the book thief's battle against Death no one will know who wins. Death is the antagonist to all of humanity, and the battle may be over for many, but who