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1. Key Pound
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
Meanwhile Werner is eight years old, and Jutta is six. One day, they find a radio near an old storage shed. Werner sneaks the radio back to the orphanage, and he spends the next few weeks secretly listening to it with his sister. At first, Werner can hear only static. But he plays with the wires in the radio until he’s succeeded in making it work properly again. The first noises Werner hears from the repaired radio are those of classical music: beautiful violin and piano melodies.
Like Marie-Laure, Werner has a clear aptitude for and interest in science. His love for radio is almost instantaneous—as soon as he’s listening to the radio, he’s appreciating its beauty and complexity. The radio is something of an escape for Werner: a way for him to get in contact with things beyond the walls of his orphanage and oppressive mining community.
Themes
