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10. Are You There?
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 has just helped Marie-Laure out of the wardrobe. He tells her, “You are very brave.” Marie-Laure and Werner then introduce themselves to each other. Werner explains to Marie-Laure that as a child, he and his sister listened to the radio broadcast. Marie-Laure explains that this was her grandfather’s voice. She adds that she’s very hungry, and Werner agrees. Marie-Laure produces a can of peaches, and Werner opens it with his bayonet. Together, they eat the peaches and slurp up the sweet syrup inside.
This scene is fascinatingly, and sometimes frustratingly, understated. Werner and Marie-Laure talk about the one great commonality in their lives: Marie-Laure’s grandfather inspired Werner to study science. And yet they don’t talk about anything else, even though (we know) they have a great deal in common. There’s the curious tension of so many things left unsaid, even in this rendezvous scene which the whole novel has been building up to.
Themes
