Friday, March 22, 2013
My Feeligns On Death
Death. Nobody likes talking about it because it scares us, and people, as human beings, tend to avoid what scares them. We lock our fears away in a far way closet set in the furthest reaches of our minds. Everybody fears different things, from spiders and snakes to the ocean and being left alone, but everybody, no matter what they say, fears death. This is weird because death surrounds us every day of our lives. We see it all the time, and know we cannot escape it so why do we fear it? We fear it because we do not understand it. Yea people understand what death is and why it happens, but what would you do if you had a look through the eyes of death? What if death is not just a thing, but more human then we think? "The Book Thief" gives us that type of outlook. Death's job is to take the souls of the dead to the afterlife everyday, so what happens when there is a war? He has to work double time. Death works every hour of every day of every year, and war means that he has to work harder. We know death and war go hand in hand, but what if they are not friends what if war is death's boss? Death himself tells us his point of view on war "They say that war is death's best friend, but I must offer you a different point of view on that one. To me war is like the new boss who expects the impossible" (309). World War II was a very busy time for death because he had to travel from one battle ground to the next and stop in bombed towns, and concentration camps on his way. Before I read "The Book Thief" I feared death, just like every other human, and I avoided it as best I could. After reading the book I can not say I no longer fear death, it would be a lie, but I have come to pity him.
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First off, I love this post! It’s honest and insightful, which makes it so enjoyable to read. I find it interesting how you pity Death because of the hard work he must do to free the souls of those who die, whereas I pity Death because he must go through every day watching people suffer until their last breath until he can finally “save” them. Not only that, but Death must also witness the expressions of pain, guilt, and remorse of those who lost a loved one. Can you imagine, having to go on day after day cleaning up after the “livings” acts of chaos such as war? Or how about having to watch a cancer patient slowly die when they do not deserve to, whereas a man in jail who raped three women is perfectly healthy? Death has a difficult job no doubt, so why fear death when we should really fear ourselves? Human beings are capable of such greater things now than they have been in the past; with the technologic advancements in our society today it only makes killing easier to accomplish. So I’ll ask the question again, should we really fear death or ourselves because in the end who really kills who? -Nichole
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this post is one of my favorites. It's insightful and I loved your perspective on Death itself. It seems like this book gave Death human-like qualities; which is a foreign, yet interesting concept to me. To be honest, I always thought Death to be ruthless and have no emotion at all. But then your point of view makes sense. Death does have to deal with all this suffering of many humans and taking their souls, so maybe it has some feeling.
ReplyDelete"After reading the book I can not say I no longer fear death, it would be a lie, but I have come to pity him. " Great line. Powerful way to close the post.
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