All The Light We Cannot See Character Analysis

In the French coastal town of Saint- Malo in August 1944, War World II is coming to its high point. The allies are landing and fighting against Germany. Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” has an extensive-range of language and characters who are both courageous and heartbreaking. Doerr brings together the stories of a French girl named Marie-Laure, who has lost her eyesight and a German orphan named Werner. As Hitler upsurges, Marie-Laure and Werner lives and families are torn apart by the war. Anthony Doerr 's’ stresses the damage of life that war creates. Since the characters were affected by the war and also affected by their experiences, all characters went through a change throughout the book.

Anthony Doerr describes the effects

Werner is a German orphan from the poor coal mining district of Germany. He was raised in an orphanage with his sister, Jutta, by Frau Elena. His father died in the coal mines, Werner doesn’t know much about his parents. Jutta and Werner had a strong sibling connection they relied on each other. Instead of playing with the other children at the orphanage, he would rather read or explore. At the age of eight Werner finds and repairs an old, broken radio in an alley near the orphanage. Werner falls in love with the radio and physics of broadcasting. As the years progress, Werner grows more absorbed with physics and radios. Werner has never wanted to work in the mines because he doesn’t want to end up like his dad. During the age of 15 his opportunity to get out from working in the mines had come, he was given a task in which he had passed and was able to get in Schulpforta. There Werner excels in his physics and is chosen by his professor, Dr. Hauptmann, to help create a radio tracking device for the German army. At school, he meets his only two friends: Fredrick, his bunk buddy, Frank Volkheimer, who is known to be a “Giant”. Although Werner was given the opportunity to go to school, he drastically started to change. When Frederick was being “bullied” Werner didn 't stop them, instead, he followed their lead. Through the school, his sister’s, fear of him changing had started to come true. At sixteen years old Werner is sent to the Eastern front to fight in the war. Serving

Werner often shows regret after finding rebel radio operators because he feels responsible for their deaths. He is haunted by the death of young Australian girl. She was Werner’s first person to see killed with his own eyes. Throughout the book, he is also worried about Jutta if she is okay. Although Werner started to change when he saw the death of the child, it wasn 't till he heard Marie that he started to go against his duties and followed his own decisions. Werner is seen as a mentally strong person when he is able to locate Marie he realizes that her life is in danger. With this in mind, he helps her with Von Rumpel. As Marie and Werner are fleeing Saint-Malo, Marie gives Werner a key to an underground cave that contains a puzzle box that has the Sea of Flames inside. Thirty years later, Jutta returns the puzzle box that contained the Sea of Flames to Marie – Laure. Inside the box was the key to the cave. Mare believes that Werner must have gone back to the cave and left the stone where she hid it but kept the puzzle box to return to Marie after the war. Werner left the Sea of Flames in that cave because he refused to give into greed and take it for his own gain. Instead left it there, just as Marie – Laure would have wanted. From the time that Werner started to attend school little by little he started to change, but towards the end when he finally realized what he was doing he started to wake up and notice reality. It was as if Marie-Laure had helped with the last