Previous
Frau Elena
Etienne LeBlanc is an old, eccentric, and extremely reclusive (it’s implied he has post-traumatic stress disorder from World War I) man who lives in the seaside town of Saint-Malo, France. When his nephew, Daniel Leblanc, and his grandniece, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, come to live with him following the Nazi invasion of Paris, he becomes close with Marie-Laure, often spending long chunks of time reading books to her. As time passes, Marie-Laure’s courage inspires Etienne to take his own actions against the German soldiers, and he bravely aids the French resistance by broadcasting important information about the German troops on his radio. Etienne’s love for Marie-Laure is confirmed when, frightened that she’s been arrested, he overcomes his terror of going outside and rushes out of his house to find her. He later tells his grandniece, “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc Quotes in All the Light We Cannot See
The All the Light We Cannot See quotes below are all either spoken by Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc or refer to Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
3. The Professor
Quotes
“But I wasn’t trying to reach England. Or Paris. I thought that if I made the broadcast powerful enough, my brother would hear me. That I could bring him some peace, protect him as he had always protected me.”
“You’d play your brother’s own voice to him? After he died?”
“And Debussy.”
“Did he ever talk back?”
The attic ticks. What ghosts sidle along the walls right now, trying to overhear? She can almost taste her great-uncle’s fright in the air.
“No,” he says. “He never did.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
5. The Frog Cooks
Quotes
“Do you know what happens, Etienne,” says Madame Manec from the other side of the kitchen, “when you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water?”
“You will tell us, I am sure.”
“It jumps out. But do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then?”
Marie-Laure waits. The potatoes steam.
Madame Manec says, “The frog cooks."
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
7. The Bridge
Quotes
He says, “The war that killed your grandfather killed sixteen million others. One and a half million French boys alone, most of them younger than I was. Two million on the German side. March the dead in a single-file line, and for eleven days and eleven nights, they’d walk past our door. This is not rearranging street signs, what we’re doing, Marie. This is not misplacing a letter at the post office. These numbers, they’re more than numbers. Do you understand?”
“But we are the good guys. Aren’t we, Uncle?”
“I hope so. I hope we are.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
9. Sea of Flames
Quotes
“Marie-Laure,” he says without hesitation. He squeezes her hand with both of his. “You are the best thing that has ever come into my life.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire All the Light LitChart as a printable PDF.
Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc Quotes in All the Light We Cannot See
The All the Light We Cannot See quotes below are all either spoken by Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc or refer to Great-Uncle Etienne LeBlanc. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
3. The Professor
Quotes
“But I wasn’t trying to reach England. Or Paris. I thought that if I made the broadcast powerful enough, my brother would hear me. That I could bring him some peace, protect him as he had always protected me.”
“You’d play your brother’s own voice to him? After he died?”
“And Debussy.”
“Did he ever talk back?”
The attic ticks. What ghosts sidle along the walls right now, trying to overhear? She can almost taste her great-uncle’s fright in the air.
“No,” he says. “He never did.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
5. The Frog Cooks
Quotes
“Do you know what happens, Etienne,” says Madame Manec from the other side of the kitchen, “when you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water?”
“You will tell us, I am sure.”
“It jumps out. But do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then?”
Marie-Laure waits. The potatoes steam.
Madame Manec says, “The frog cooks."
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
7. The Bridge
Quotes
He says, “The war that killed your grandfather killed sixteen million others. One and a half million French boys alone, most of them younger than I was. Two million on the German side. March the dead in a single-file line, and for eleven days and eleven nights, they’d walk past our door. This is not rearranging street signs, what we’re doing, Marie. This is not misplacing a letter at the post office. These numbers, they’re more than numbers. Do you understand?”
“But we are the good guys. Aren’t we, Uncle?”
“I hope so. I hope we are.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
9. Sea of Flames
Quotes
“Marie-Laure,” he says without hesitation. He squeezes her hand with both of his. “You are the best thing that has ever come into my life.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
