Markus Zusak deceives the reader into changing and colouring their preconceptions of Nazi Germany in his novel ‘The Book Thief’. Zusak uses this to highlight the power of words and how they grip us. The elements of Magical Realism is used by Zusak to deceive the reader three separate times; The first is the narrator Death and his colouring of the text, the second is the creation of the town Molching in Germany and the final time is the use of the symbolism in a burning book highlighting the power of words. Through this colouring we can see how Zusak deceives the reader into reconsidering their preconceptions of the power of words and what they can do to us.

Magical Realism is a genre that alters reality for the audience to change a preconception of the audience. Magical Realism is where fiction or fantasy is used in a otherwise mundane or boring world. It first appeared in English in the mid 1950’s but first appeared in German in the mid 1920’s. Zusak certainly “had a healthy sense of irony”, writing about Germany with magical realism. Zusak uses elements of magical realism in the novel the book thief by adding the narrator of Death and creating fictional places in an otherwise real world. This is magical realism because it alter the reality of the novel away from what the reader might have expected in a historical novel. This means that the reader is pushed into a way of thinking during the novel.

Zusak uses the element of Magical Realism, Death, in the novel ‘The Book Thief’ to show the horror that humans can be and the monsters we can make of ourselves. Death does this by normalising death and making the reader identify with Death. So when Death states, “that’s the sort of thing I’ll never know, or comprehend — what humans are capable of”. It reinforces the fact that humans can be so horrible and black to each other, that even Death does not understand how it is possible. As the reader is viewing this from a point in the future compared to the text, where atrocities like what happened in WW2 seem far fetched and impossible, the reader feels safe to assume that they won’t happen to them. Death however shows that no matter the time or sophistication of the humans they can still act in great horrors, big and red or dark and black, if they feel like they are threatened or owed it. Death as a character actually has “to slowly suck on” colours like a drug because “it takes the edge off the stress”. This colours the readers vision towards the fact that Death finds some of our actions so horrible that he relies on drugs to keep himself somewhat sane. This challenges the readers preconception of the human race at any point in time and how much we can do if we feel righteous.

Zusak uses the element of Magical Realism, Molching, in the novel ‘The Book Thief’ to show that humans for their great intellect can still be persuaded with words. Molching shows the power of words because it is a fictional town but the reader believes that it is a real place as it is linked to real places that are well know, such a Munich. “Quite a way beyond the outskirts of Munich, there was a town called Molching” places the town for the reader meaning that it seems very believable and so the reader believes it. Therefore when the reader does find out that the town of Molching is made up they start to question what else is made up; what else have they been lied to about. As the reader is now fact checking the book and the things that they learnt of in the book, they play into Zusak’s hands making them think about how they got trick and the power that words have over them as a person. It also challenges the reader to think about real life and what could have been told to them by governments that is a lie. This challenges and changes the conceptions that the reader has on the world and therefore we become more aware of our weakness as a society, that we take what people in power tell us is the truth as the truth. This is very evident in the USA where people, educated people believe whole heatedly what the president tells them even if there is evidence showing the opposite. We as a modern society must open our eyes and use the facts that are there to create our own opinions and not use the opinion of another individual. If this was done we, as a global society could fix many of our current problems easily.

The final element of Magical Realism that Zusak uses in his novel ‘The Book Thief’ is the symbolism of books. Zusak uses the symbolism of books to show the reader the power of words and what they can do to us. “Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up” is a quote from the scene where Liesel is stealing a book from a book burning. The book is so hot that it starts to burn her almost “eating her up” with the raw power of the words. As the book is banned by the Nazi’s it hold banned words. These words are so powerful and different from what she knew that her being burned symbolises the power of these words. These forbidden words empower her to search and cry out for more words like them. Liesel now knows the power that words have over us and she can use it. Nazi Germany was created under Hitler because Hitler was able to talk the general public into believing what he was saying even when he was in prison. This shows that Hitler understood the power of words like Liesel but could use it to greater effect, controlling a country. When Liesel steals the book the symbolism shows how powerful this book will be for her as it starts her on the journey to understanding the power that words have over us and what we can do when we understand that power.

Markus Zusak in the novel ‘The Book Thief’ uses elements of Magical Realism to challenge and change the preconceptions of readers of the power of words. Zusak shows the power of words through three separate ideas or entities; The character Death, the setting of Molching and finally the symbolism of books in the novel. These show how words have power of all of us and how they can change us for better or worse. This shows to the reader that we are controlled by what we are told. This allows the reader to see their own weakness and therefore work with it rather than against it.