Anthony Doerr’s Use of Symbols in 'All The Light We Cannot See'

All the Light We Cannot see written by Anthony Doerr uses powerful symbols to create a modern take on a old story and provides his audience with new insights into WWII. This utilisation of symbolism adds depth and complexity to his story by connecting the audience to key ideas such as the strength of family demonstrated by the Model of Paris and the radio illustrating the protagonists sense of hope and the Sea of flames which connects to fate and freewill.

Doer's Literary Expression of Human Nature

As suggested by the title, the story is about vision and the ramifications that ‘sight’ and ‘seeing’ can have on people. This is articulated through the main character, Marie-Laure who has been blind since the age of six, yet she posses traits beyond her years demonstrated through her strong morals and integrity, even during terrible times such as the war. Through the use of language, the story of the wooden model of Paris that Marie-Laure’s father built is given meaning beyond just a structure. The model was constructed to help Marie-Laure ‘see’ Paris in a physical sense, to help her navigate her way through the city in real life but it also has a symbolic meaning that if she can navigate her way through Paris, she can navigate her way through life. This further represents the strong family ties that she shares with her widowed father, Daniel Leblanc. We see how our own choices have consequences and in this case Daniel preaches to Marie-Laure to reject supernatural forces, and assures her there is ‘no such thing as curses. There is luck maybe bad or good a slight inclination of each day towards success or failure but no curses’ and it is with this mindset that she ‘walks the path of logic, every outcome has a cause and every predicament has a solution every lock is key.’ When trapped at home rather than adopting the view that she is fated to die she relies on reason and logic to navigate the darkness and find her way to safety.

Doerr uses powerful triggers such as family and the prospect of separation to articulate the inhumane nature of war, which further emphasises that vision is more than just sight. It includes knowledge, morals and ethics. Everyone to some extent has elements of blindness when it comes to ones beliefs and views, however you need to keep your eyes open (as well as your mind) before its too late and they close forever. Certain things that you might see during horrific events like war can obscure ones vision in a moral and ethical sense. Doerr uses tense which puts the reader in the moment of the story helping to bring the themes to life making it more impactful. The chapters within the book are also kept short which makes the reader want to continue through to the end of the story.

Many readers cant relate to being in the middle of a war zone due to imagination, however Doerr’s use of strong articulate language demonstrates the mayhem and chaos that is unfolding in Paris. “As the sounds of the aircraft grows louder, Marie-Laure feels for one of the miniature houses in her model. She takes off the roof of the tiny house and finds a small stone underneath it. She whispers ‘Papa’?” Its clear that Marie-Laure finds strength and hope through the wooden model that her father built for her. Doerr balances images of utter destruction and cruelty caused by the war with visions of hope and the love that Marie-Laure has for her father.

Greater Things Can Come of Adversity and Heartbreak

Werner Pfennig, an intelligent and skilled orphan raised in a children’s house in zollverein with his sister Jutta is provided hope through his gift of repairing radios. This skill leads him to be accepted into the elite Nazi training school Schulpforta. Doerr uses Werner’s radio as a focal point to demonstrate the connection between Marie-Laure and Werner and in the absence of vision, they form a bond through communication. Doerr illustrates that the radio can be used for evil, such as assisting Werner to track down enemy soldiers, but it also offers hope. Through communication with Marie-Laure, Werner’s conscience began to change. Werner and Marie Laure only meet in the last few chapters in the novel and even then it is only a fleeting intersection of their lives. They are united with their ties of the radio and in those final moments we see the humanity in both of these people. Ultimately the radio is a rather powerful symbol of how important it is to form connections with others and how even the most unstable and fleeting methods of communication can be lifesaving even in a world of chaos, blindness and exclusion. Werner also reflects on a number of fond childhood memories, such as his sister playing in fields of sunflowers near their home. Werner’s reflection of his sister shows that she is an important part of his life and of happier times. Werner closes his eyes and thinks of his childhood recalls something he heard on the radio “only through the hottest fire can purification be achieved”.

The Sea Of Flames represented by a beautiful treasured Dimond who’s bearer has immortality and has a cost of losing all those they love is at the forefront of the novel; its the object that drives the plot and holds the characters purpose. Von Rumple, a geologists who ran an appraisal business has big red lips and pale cheeks. Doerr has characterised him this way to emphasise his unusual look making him seem removed and different to others he interacts with.

Von Rumple hunts down The Sea Of flames all the way to Saint-Malo, where he is determined to kill anyone that stands in his way. Without the Dimond, the novel would supply only a vast amount of suspense and climax, yet Doerr advocates that the Sea Of Flames is just an extremely basic fragment of carbon that has cooled and set resulting in crystallisation in a very distinct way. By Doerr’s symbolisation of the Sea Of Flames, a sense of hope is portrayed to the audience by his use of his as multi sensory approach, such as the description of fate and freewill. The Sea Of Flames represents two sides of the story, Marie-Laure and Werner have more science based beliefs as they don’t believe that a “gem” could possibly give you immortality; where as Von Rumple is determined to kill anyone who stands in his way to the Sea Of Flames which Doerr’s uses specific language choice to successfully enhance the themes.

Conclusion

In Doerr’s all The Light We Cannot See, he presents his key ideas with the use of text influence and imagery to demonstrate symbols. Extracting these symbols, the reader is able to imagine darkness, light and colour to enhance visual representation of the key ideas present in the novel. Doerr articulates the inhumane nature of war and how it can lead people to undertake horrible acts agains each other, however on the other hand, Doerr manages to express that humans can be filled with love and that the world is abundant with beauty, if only you open your eyes.