All the Light We Cannot See Flashcards

Anthony Doerr Biography

• Born in Cleveland.
• Studied history at Bowdoin College in Maine.
• MFA program at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
• Published The Shell Collector (2002) and Memory Wall.
• Won four O. Henry Prizes.
• Wrote About Grace (well-received, but didn’t sell well).
• Published All the Light We Cannot See in 2014.
  • National bestseller.
  • Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014.
• Writer in residence at Iowa University.
• Has a wife and two twin sons.

Historical Context: World War II

• Axis Powers vs. Allied Powers (1939-1945)
  • Axis: Germany and Italy (Fascist states).
  • Allies: England, France, and the U.S.
• Fascist Authoritarianism
  • Italy and Germany ruled with an iron fist.
• The Holocaust: Isolation and murder of Jews, Romani, disabled people, and homosexuals.
  • Forced identification, designated areas, and labor camps.
• Celebration of the Aryan racial ideal (tall, blond, blue-eyed).
  • Werner Pfennig praised for his blue eyes and blond hair.
• Approximately 21 million people killed, including at least 6 million Jews.
• Legacy: Trauma, guilt, and shame for Germany and Europe.

The French Resistance

• Germany invaded France in 1940.
• French citizens submitted to German authority.
• Resistance groups fought the Germans, led by Charles de Gaulle.
• Pride for France, but France didn’t defeat Germany until 1944 (U.S. and England invasion).

Literary Allusions

• Jules Verne: Around the World in 80 Days (1873) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870).
  • Optimism in science and technology (shared by Marie-Laure).
• Structure
  • Two plots (Werner Pfennig and Marie-Laure LeBlanc).
  • Interconnected stories & compared to Victorian works:
  • Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1853).
  • George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda (1876).
  • Similar structure to:
  • Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed (2013).
  • Chronicles experiences over a tumultuous era, ending with a young girl growing into an old woman.

Key Facts

• Full Title: All the Light We Cannot See
• Where Written: Ohio and New Zealand
• When Published: May 6, 2014
• Literary Period: “Everything is connected” trend of 21st century fiction
• Genre: Historical drama, “two-plot” novel
• Setting: Saint-Malo and Paris (France), and Berlin and Essen (Germany), between the 1930s and 2014.
• Climax: Werner Pfennig meets Marie-Laure LeBlanc in the wardrobe and saves her life.
• Point of View: Third person, mostly present tense

Extra Credit

• Anthony Doerr won the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award (45,000 prize).
• A Hollywood studio optioned All the Light We Cannot See in May 2015 for a feature Film.
• The book is told in almost 200 short, un-chronological chapters featuring Werner and Marie-Laure

Plot Summary

• 1934
  • Marie-Laure (6 years old) and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, live in Paris. Daniel works at the Museum of Natural History.
  • Marie-Laure loses her eyesight and goes blind. Daniel teaches her Braille and builds models of Paris.
  • Marie-Laure learns of the Sea of Flames diamond (brings eternal life, kills loved ones). Daniel assures her the curse is a myth.
• Werner Pfennig (8 years old) lives with his sister, Jutta, at an orphanage in Germany. Frau Elena teaches him French.
  • Werner and Jutta find a radio and discover broadcasts on science. Werner becomes known as a great repairman.
  • Werner repairs Herr Siedler’s radio, who recommends him to the National Institute.
  • Jutta grows distant from Werner.

1940

• The Germans invade Paris. Marie-Laure and her father leave the city. Daniel is tasked with hiding the Sea of Flames.
  • Daniel and three other employees are given diamonds (three fake, one real) and sent to different parts of the country.
  • Daniel decides to travel to the coastal town of Saint-Malo, to live with his uncle, Etienne LeBlanc.
  • Marie-Laure discovers that Etienne is an eccentric but highly likeable man. Etienne has a vast knowledge of science and radio.
• Werner begins his time as a student at the National Institute, where he’s taught Nazi ideology.
  • Werner wins the favor of Dr. Hauptmann, a professor who gives Werner challenging physics assignments. Werner is working with Hauptmann to design a complex radar system.
  • Werner befriends Frederick.
• In Saint-Malo, Daniel builds Marie-Laure a model of the city. Marie-Laure also befriends Madame Manec.
  • Marie-Laure learns that Henri LeBlanc (Etienne’s brother) made radio broadcasts on science (the same broadcasts that entertained Werner and Jutta).
  • Daniel tells Marie-Laure that he has to leave immediately. Daniel sends Marie-Laure a letter, in which he claims that he’s in a “good place.”
  • The German presence in Saint-Malo becomes intolerable. Madame Manec and her elderly friends work together to undermine the Nazis.
  • Harold Bazin gives Marie-Laure the key to a secret hiding place. Madame Manec grows sick and dies.
  • Etienne and Marie-Laure decide to fight the Germans together. Etienne launches secret radio broadcasts.
  • Marie-Laure buys bread from the bakery, which contains a scroll with important resistance information.
• At the National Institute, Werner resents his teachers while also enjoying their sadistic games.
  • Frederick is beaten, and he loses most of his mental faculties. Werner loses Dr. Hauptmann’s favor. Werner is shipped off to fight.
  • Werner uses radios to track down enemy broadcasters in Russia, and his fellow soldiers then murder them.

Early 1940's

• Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel tries to track down the Sea of Flames diamond. He determines that the real diamond is probably in Saint-Malo.
  • Von Rumpel arrives in Saint-Malo. Werner and his fellow troops are shipped there.
  • Von Rumpel learns that Marie-Laure will know where the diamond is. Werner is ordered to find the location of a resistance broadcast network. He determines that the network is located in Etienne’s house, but he decides to let it continue.

1944

• The Allies prepare to bomb Saint-Malo. German soldiers prepare for an air raid by hiding beneath a hotel. Etienne is arrested and sent to jail.
• American airplanes drop leaflets ordering all French citizens to leave the town. Marie-Laure stays behind.
• Marie-Laure realizes that her father has been hiding something in the model of Saint-Malo: the Sea of Flames.
• Marie-Laure survives. Werner and Volkheimer are trapped in a cellar under the hotel with only a radio.
• Werner hears Marie-Laure say that the man in her house is trying kill her.
• Volkheimer and Werner decide to use a grenade to bomb their way out of the cellar. Werner then goes to Etienne’s house to save Marie-Laure.
  • Von Rumpel tries to shoot Werner, but Werner manages to overpower and kill von Rumpel.
• Werner leads Marie-Laure to safety. Marie-Laure hides the diamond in Bazin’s grotto, and gives Werner the model house with the key to the grotto hidden inside.

After the Bombing

• American soldiers arrest Werner, and Marie-Laure is reunited with Etienne.
• Marie-Laure and Etienne move back to Paris, they remain close. After Etienne dies, Marie-Laure becomes a noted scientist.
• Werner is sent to prison and dies when he steps on a landmine.
• Volkheimer tracks down Jutta and gives Jutta the tiny model house, Jutta finds the key to the grotto.
• Jutta then finds Marie-Laure and gives her the model house. Daniel was arrested and died of influenza while he was in prison. Marie-Laure has left the Sea of Flames in the grotto.

2014

• Marie-Laure is an old woman with a distinguished career behind her. One day, she goes walking through Paris with her grandson, Michel. She thinks about the people in her life who have become “spirits”: Etienne, Manec, and above all, her father.

Major Characters

• Marie-Laure LeBlanc: An inquisitive, intellectually adventurous girl. She became blind at the age of six. She becomes close with her great-uncle, Etienne LeBlanc, and her cook, Madame Manec. She becomes a French resistance fighter.

- Werner Pfennig: A young, intelligent German boy. He has whitish-blond hair, blue eyes, and is strikingly intelligent. He seems like a model of the Nazis’ “Aryan ideal”.