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7. Gray
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
Werner develops a horrible fever during his time in the army. His fellow soldiers take care of him, and Volkheimer offers him coffee, but Werner declines. Werner continues to find illegal transmissions, about one or two a week. He tries to convince himself that everyone he’s monitoring is an enemy of Germany, and wants him dead.
Werner’s fever seems like an externalization of his inner turmoil—it’s like his body is physically rejecting the hypocrisy he is forcing upon himself in trying to believe that everyone he kills deserves to die.
Themes
As the months drag on, Werner thinks more about Jutta and Frau Elena. One day, he and the other soldiers are riding through the mountains on a train. Werner thinks he sees Jutta and Elena sitting at a table in a cabin, surrounded by dead children.
Werner thinks of his behavior in the Germany army as a betrayal of the people he loves most: Frau Elena and Jutta. This guilt then manifests itself in this horrifying hallucination.
Themes
