If I’m going to be completely honest, this book was slightly overwhelming reading, and I couldn’t finish the entire book in the time allotted, I did get far into the book, enough to see growth in the characters, as well as realizations and a plot twist here and there. From what I have completed, I would highly recommend this book to others, especially those going through tough times or struggling, Werner and Marie are relatable characters, one being a loving child and the other being a stand alone wolf in the world. Through all of my high School career, I’ve never read an ‘assigned’ book with so much interest, and I’m glad that I chose the book I did, even if I have yet to complete it fully.

So, I was in our school’s JROTC program for multiple years, and as such, I know a decently large amount about the world wars, war crimes, and what can and can’t be used in a war. And I can’t quite remember which Geneva Convention outlawed the use of child soldiers, or possibly it was a United Nations sanction that banned it, but it surprised me that 3/4 into the book, Anthony Doerr talks about Werner’s enlistment, and how he was side by side with children soldiers ranging from as young as age nine to as old as age fifteen. This made me curious, and so I looked into Hitler’s child army and compared it to Anthony Doerr’s version that he created. Using this link Hitlers Youth Army, I learned that not only did children enlist in this youth army, but they did so joyfully “In fact, in Koehn[ A German ticket seller]’s daughter’s school, when boys who were born in 1929 were called to arms to defend the city in April of 1945, several of the boys had jumped up, shouting “Finally, Finally!” Crying “Who needs this silly Latin?” they mocked the weeping teacher who told them that they were to report for duty.” Just like American drafts, many underage people lied about their age and enlisted while as young as 12, and others, who knew life other than that under the Hitler regime, fought valiantly against enlistment, going as far as suicide to avoid serving a country they did not support. However, “Following World War I, in 1924 the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declarations of the Rights of the Child.” The League of Nations considered anyone under the age of fifteen unable to serve in conflict in war. Anthony Doerr brought to light a truth many don’t know, and that is how many underage people, and how many unwilling soldiers both sides of the war had.

So, I noticed a new thing. My classmates may be on to something, and I guess it varies reader to reader, I didn’t believe Werner to have antagonistic energy. In comparison to modern media, I had thought the character Werner to be more of a simple, hardworking orphan, just fighting to prove himself in the world. He was also trying to improve his position in the world at the same time, not wanting to end up working in a mineshaft for the rest of his waking days. Werner seemed like an underdog to me, one who would come up later in the novel to fight his way up the nazi chain of power, get a high ranking position, and begin schooling and learning while enlisted. However, later on in the novel, Werner talks about how much he relates to the other children joining Hitler’s army, from the nine-year-old kids who wanted to fight, to the children of ministers who were forced to fight. “For now, though, beneath the whip of the administration, they are all the same, all Jungmänner.” (Doerr 253) He is realizing and noticing his change, his development as a human, and how he does so and how the audience sees the change varies from reader to reader. His actions carry different meanings for every reader. Werner himself sees this change, and it affects him deeply “That his life has been so wholly redirected astounds him.” In that he attempts to distract himself, by “memorizing lyrics or the routes to classrooms, by holding before his eyes a vision of the technical sciences laboratory: nine tables, thirty stools; coils, variable capacitors, amplifiers, batteries, soldering irons locked away in those gleaming cabinets.” (Doerr 254)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Throughout Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, multiple objects are used symbols and motifs, one example is the model of Marie’s city, which is a symbol of the love and care Marie’s great-uncle has for her. Another symbol, which isn’t used as much, has a much deeper meaning, is Werner and Juttas radio, which is used to listen to French scientists and philosophers. From the beginning of the book, Werner is listening, knowing he has forbidden technology, is listening to foreign broadcasts, and could be harshly punished for his actions. “As the weeks pass, with Jutta asleep beside him, Werner looks out into the night sky, and restlessness surges through him. Life: it’s happening beyond the mills, beyond the gates.” (Doerr, 102) Werner knows that even though the broadcasts are fading, “as though the Frenchman broadcasts from a ship that is slowly traveling farther away.” (Doerr 102), that he is still learning, and that he can’t give up on his education. Werner never stops trying to learn and pushes to get a higher education, always reading, and listening to every broadcast he can. I think that in reading the novel I chose, I relate very much to Werner, in that I never want to stop learning, and if I can’t understand something, I will strive to find the tools it will take me to understand it. Werner is curious, smart, and determined to do whatever it takes to get where he wants to be. Looking back on this, I’m personally beginning to wonder if this novel may be less of a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet Story where Marie and Werner meet and fall in love and more of a Villainous backstory for Werner.