All The Light We Cannot See Literary Devices

Fear occurs within everyone. Whether the fear be of something concrete like spiders or something intangible such as a fear of being alone. No matter the type, fear is something that everyone must learn to overcome. In the book All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr it is shown that one must confront their fears or risk being overcome by them. This is shown through a variety of characters in the use of literary devices. These are Marie-Laure LeBlanc with the use of setting and imagery, Etienne LeBlanc with the use of metaphors and Sergeant Major Von Rumpel with the use of symbolism.

To begin, the setting is used to show Marie-Laure’s fear of being lost in Paris. She is fearful of being in Paris alone because she is blind and has a difficult time finding her way through the streets. Her father makes a model of Paris in an attempt to get her to memorize how to navigate the city. The first time he tries to get her to find her way home alone she becomes scared. This quotation shows her fright, “The world pivots and rumbles. Crows shout, brakes hiss, someone to her left bangs something

As she hides from the Nazi chasing her in the hidden attic she resigns herself to the fact that she cannot hide there forever. She formulates a plan and turns on loud music so the Nazi will find her. As she does this, she imagines seeing her dead father: “In her mind she walks a path in the Jardin des Plantes, the air golden, the wind green, the long fingers of willows drifting across her shoulders. Ahead is her father; he extends a hand, waiting” (Doerr 453). The imagery in the quotation shows how Marie-Laure has come to accept her death and her fear of the Nazi. The scene also sounds very pleasant, which relaxes both the reader and Marie-Laure. Although she ends up not being killed, Marie-Laure confronted the fear of death and managed to overcome