All The Light We Cannot See By Anthony Doerr
The novel All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, is an intricately written story about two young adults during World War II. The two main characters Werner and Marie-Laure come from extremely different lives. Marie-Laure is a blind 16 year old girl who lives in a nice house in France with her dad. Werner is an orphan who lives with Jutta, his sister, who is the only person in his family he knows of. This book tells the story of how these characters that come from seemingly unrelated worlds cross paths in the most unexpected way. These characters are brought together by an item that plays a crucial role in this story; the radio. The radio is an item that plays a major role in Werners life. Although it may seem like just another piece
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Since Werner is naturally talented with working with radios, he works with Dr. Hauptmann while he is at school to create a directional radio transmitter. At the time, Werner is not aware what his creation will be used for, but he will soon find out. Shortly after, Werner is told that there was a mistake with his age and he is really eighteen years of age, not sixteen. Since he is now too old for the school he attends, he is transferred to work with a group of men in the field. Werner is given a radio to familiarize himself with and the men soon get to work. These men are using the radio to triangulate the position of any other radios that are sending out transmissions. After the men hear and triangulate the first “enemy transmission”, they arrive at a normal looking house. As soon as they get to the house Volkheimer orders the men to, “set the house afire… quickly don’t waste diesel”(Doerr 337) The men do exactly as they are told, and the people inside the building are soon dead. This quote shows that the men are using the radio to find and kill people. The men murder the people sending out the transmissions before interrogating them or giving them a chance to explain themselves. The radio in this part of the novel helps Volkheimer and his men to commit coldblooded murder. This begins to change Werner’s outlook on radios and he soon feels guilt about helping to kill these people. Although the radio used to be a symbol of happiness for Werner, it quickly changes in his mind to represent
Since Werner is naturally talented with working with radios, he works with Dr. Hauptmann while he is at school to create a directional radio transmitter. At the time, Werner is not aware what his creation will be used for, but he will soon find out. Shortly after, Werner is told that there was a mistake with his age and he is really eighteen years of age, not sixteen. Since he is now too old for the school he attends, he is transferred to work with a group of men in the field. Werner is given a radio to familiarize himself with and the men soon get to work. These men are using the radio to triangulate the position of any other radios that are sending out transmissions. After the men hear and triangulate the first “enemy transmission”, they arrive at a normal looking house. As soon as they get to the house Volkheimer orders the men to, “set the house afire… quickly don’t waste diesel”(Doerr 337) The men do exactly as they are told, and the people inside the building are soon dead. This quote shows that the men are using the radio to find and kill people. The men murder the people sending out the transmissions before interrogating them or giving them a chance to explain themselves. The radio in this part of the novel helps Volkheimer and his men to commit coldblooded murder. This begins to change Werner’s outlook on radios and he soon feels guilt about helping to kill these people. Although the radio used to be a symbol of happiness for Werner, it quickly changes in his mind to represent