Previous
9. Little House
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in All the Light We Cannot See, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
World War II, the Nazis, and the French Resistance
Interconnectedness and Separation
Fate, Duty, and Free Will
Family
Science and “Ways of Seeing”
Summary
Analysis
As the war drags on, Saint-Malo falls into disarray. There are always airplanes flying over the city. One day, Etienne goes to Madame Ruelle’s bakery. There, Ruelle tells him that the resistance needs the locations of German guns and military outposts. Etienne says that the only way to determine these locations would be by walking through the city with a pencil and paper—an obvious crime for which he’d be shot. Nevertheless, Ruelle insists that Etienne must determine the gun locations tonight—tomorrow, the Germans will be imprisoning everyone who could be a member of the resistance in the Fort National. Reluctantly, Etienne agrees to help.
Etienne faces a moral challenge that’s almost as difficult as the one Werner faced in the German army: he has to decide between fighting the Germans and protecting Marie-Laure. Reluctantly, he agrees to fight the Germans, despite knowing that broadcasting gun locations could lead to his arrest or death, thus leaving Marie-Laure alone and in a great deal of danger. But perhaps Etienne’s decision reflects his respect for Marie-Laure’s independence—and what he knows Marie-Laure herself would want him to do.
Themes
