Bringing Death to Life: The Personifications of Death in Zusak's The Book Thief, Moore's A Dirty Job and Pendle's Death: A Life

Abstract: This essay examines the personifications of Death in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005), Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job (2006) and George Pendle’s Death: A Life (2008). The personifications are analysed in terms of gender, anthropomorphism, (im)mortality, agency in conceptual death and attitude towards their occupation as Death. The personifications are also compared to previous portrayals in relation to fear, denial and acceptance of death. The essay is based on a close reading of the three literary works, and it is argued that the authors give Death human characteristics, force Death to reflect on mortality, and disconnect personified Death from the responsibility of conceptual death in order to portray Death as a humane, likeable and sometimes humorous character. Death as an amiable character seems to differ from some earlier portrayals, where Death tends to be treated with respect, distance and fear. However, these two ways of depicting Death both originate in a fear of death, and could thus be seen as two sides of the same coin, where the earlier portrayals seem to express the fear in a rather direct manner while the more recent ones convey it indirectly through the need for portraying Death in a positive, comforting and reassuring way.