All The Light We Cannot See

“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?” Anthony Doerr weaves in life lessons in deep sections of the book,  All The Light We Cannot See. Take your opportunities, takes risks before you cannot, is what the author is trying to say in this quote. The author teaches us various themes and issues throughout the problems of the characters. Marie-Laure becomes a blind girl, Doerr teaches us how she overcomes her obstacles with the help of others. Werner is a Nazi, tied between sides, he allows us to step into his shoes. 

Anthony Doerr teaches the idea of patience through the story of Marie-Laure and her father Daniel. Marie's eyesight were deteriorating in the beginning of the book, slowly, she became blind. She wanted to give up on life, not wanting to do anything. As a normal human, losing one of the senses is a big deal. Her father, Daniel, felt heartbroken when he saw this happen to his daughter, so he took his time to help Marie learn everything she needs to know, by making her a model of the area, helping her memorize the streets. Slowly, being blind wasn't a problem for her. Dainel and Marie-Laure teaches us that anything can be possible, if you are patient, everything takes time, you just have to wait.“All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?” Doerr also includes this quote, relating to patience. What happens after? Doerr also teaches the reader that you have to be ready for both good and bad case scenarios. Once the wait is over, there is a journey ahead of you, anything is possible with patience.

Through Werner and Jutta's story, Anthony Doerr helps us understand that, it's the way you look at things that make it righteous or evil. Werner learns how to create radios during his time in the Children's house. He is then invited to the Political Institute of Education and ends up tracking down illegal radio programs. He starts working for the Nazi when he passes the entrance exams. Doerr shows us Werner has a good intention, helping his country, but in the end, he is killing innocents, and he is known as the enemy. Perspective is that fine line between the good and the bad, Doerr implies that Werner is a good person with the right moral but he does not understand the other side.

Lastly, the author shows the hardships of war. There are many deaths, sacrifices. War is a time of madness and depression. Werner and Jutta, siblings are separated when Werner is invited to the institute. Jutta loses the one she can look up to all the time, her family because she is an orphan. Werner feels the same too, he writes letters to Jutta, but her rage gets the most of her, pretending to be angry at Werner. Soon, Werner stops writing letters to Jutta, she feels lonely and depressed. She starts sending letter to Werner, "Why don't you send letters any more?" She feels sorry for how she acted before. On the other hand, Marie-Laure, the opposite side of the Nazi's, loses her father. Daniel is arrested and sent to a work camp, and just like Jutta, Marie loses the one person she could call family.

To conclude, Anthony Doerr teaches the reader life lessons. War, which is the major theme the author gets through this book, can break a family, or mess with human emotions. Marie-Laure and Werner, come together in the middle of the war, two opposing sides combine in a time when peace seems impossible.