Analysis:

What purpose do colors serve for the narrator? Why does the narrator need distractions?

Colors in the sky serve as a distraction for death. The colors appear in the sky when someone passes away and one can imagine during the time of World War II that happened quite frequently. The colors can range from a deep pink all the way to a chocolate shade, which is his favorite color. The reason for the distractions is to make death’s job a lot less morbid then it actually is. Now it’s not the part of collecting the souls of the dead that is depressing for death, it’s the one’s who are still alive that make his job so painful. Needless to say he can’t stand watching them fall-apart with broken hearts, due to the passing of their loved one’s. As said by death himself “I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise”. It’s “funny” to think that someone like death who is viewed to be gloomy and dark would need to be distracted because his job is getting too dark and saddening.

Quickwrite:

What impression does death give of himself? Do you feel you can trust him as a narrator? Why or why not?

While death is talking he portrays himself as a sly character, though you get glimpses where he shows his feelings. He tries to act tough but deep down you know that his job puts a beating on him. He does not consider himself a scary person though you will be damned if you say he is nice: ” I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. Just don’t ask me to be nice.Nice has nothing to do with me”. Death say’s that he is trustworthy and fair and that I can believe. You may think ‘why trust death? He will kill the characters!’, but that is where it lies. Death does not kill the characters he takes the souls of the dead, there is a great difference there. Also, because death was an extremely common part of life during that era, death would always be on his toes seeing watching everything happen. Which is also a bonus because it let’s us see other people’s lives and not just the girl’s (though she is the main focus in the story). Death has been around for a very long time, which also means that he has seen everything happen which leads to great background information so we can better know our characters. He doesn’t only give us flashbacks but also foreshadowing that always keeps the reader guessing and wanting more.