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All The Light We Cannot See Direct Characterization

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The novel All the Light We Cannot See takes place during World War II. The extract follows Claude Levitte, or Big Claude, who has run a parfumerie for ten years. Within the excerpt, Claude Levitte’s characterization is achieved through his conflict and his attitude and perspective towards his surroundings. Conflict between Claude and his country is used to characterize him. This is a man against society conflict. When Claude sees the German soldiers, he believes that they always know what they're doing, and it’s always the right thing. This contrasts his perspective towards his own country. He believes his country lacks direction and action, and does not do the right thing. He also has a struggling business, showing how the country is not doing much to help its citizens. He resents his country for never doing the right thing, which is shown in the way he respects the soldiers for …show more content…

He admires the soldiers. Claude takes note of their guns with barrels facing down and over their shoulders like a clarinet. This shows how he does not view them as scary people. He also sees them laughing, which means he views them as normal people. Instead of resenting them because of all of the death and misery they have caused for other people, he admires them. These thoughts and feelings towards the soldiers further support how his character is selfish. He respects these soldiers even though they have ruined the lives of many people. He respects them because of their actions and how they handle themselves. He believes they always do the right thing, meaning they have power. He admires this about them and respects them because they are on the winning, or more powerful side, which he compares to the power of his country that he resents. This makes him selfish, since he does not care about the terrible things they have done, and respects them just because they have power, even though it is used to hurt

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