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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
Back in 1944, Marie-Laure has just heard someone walk into her home. It is not Etienne—if it were, then he’d already be calling for Marie-Laure. She realizes that the intruder isn’t a rescuer, either—a rescuer would be calling for survivors. Terrified, she rushes around the third floor, trying to decide what to do. Noises come from the kitchen. Marie-Laure decides to run to the sixth floor and hide in the radio room behind the wardrobe. She crawls through the wardrobe, open the secret panel on the wardrobe’s back, and crawls through. She clutches the stone in her hand, hoping it will keep her safe. She also takes her cans, knife, and brick with her.
Marie-Laure thinks fast—she correctly deduces tat the man walking into her house (whom we can guess to be Reinhold von Rumpel, strolling into the “eye of the hurricane”) is not a friend, since he’s not calling for survivors. She doesn’t have to think twice about where to hide, either—she knows that the safest place is the radio room, protected by the secret door in the back of the wardrobe. Marie-Laure is also quick-thinking enough that she takes supplies and a weapon with her. By now the Sea of Flames has become a mystical object for Marie-Laure as well—she hopes that the stone’s “curse” will protect her from her attacker.
Themes
