The Fate Vs The Will in All The Light We Cannot See

The ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, in the year 1945 said that, “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time”. This statement is referring that the person who is thinking about the future all the time, waiting for the fate to do something with it, should stop going forward in his life and start taking actions that really matter in the present that craft your real future. This statement has an enormous impact not only for the meaning that it has, but also for the importance in the time that it has said. Anthony Doerr explores the power of will and the fate in his novel, All the Light We Cannot See, through the life of the different characters. Doerr reveals how much a person can control their own future with their will or being pulled by the current of their fate; especially in tough times as the war and the duties that one would have to fulfil. These opposite ideas are demonstrated by Doer through the characters Marie, Werner, and Frank (the general) throughout the novel.

Across the Second world war, the regular soldiers had to fight for one of two reasons; the fate of their nationalities or their will to defend their principles. Furthermore, Doerr follows both ideas in his novel. For instance, most of the soldiers follow their fate fighting for their country. Looking at this statement in depth, The Economist newspaper writes in their article that, “When the war continued, Adolf Hitler again succeeded in persuading the Germans”. This demonstrates that most of the German population has been influenced by the words of Hitler and that most of them followed the fate of supporting their leader´s ideals. In comparison, the allies side had another point of view fighting for what is the correct thing to do. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that, “Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live” (Roosevelt). This phrase states that one has to do what is correct for yourself does not matter what, as long as you believe in your will you are correct. In times of war, one can see the clear difference on both sides and what are the people fighting for. Therefore, the importance of the fate and the will in the war is expressed by Doerr in All the Light We Cannot See forcing in some way at how is one crafting their own future. Especially with one of the main characters, Werner Pfennig, who follows his general´s orders but at the same time, he is struggling with it inside of him because he knows that is not the correct thing to do.

Furthermore, one can notice how the will play a significant role in how one can control their future. After Marie reunites with Madame Manec and her uncle Etienne, she can hear them having an unusual conversation, “´Do you know what happens, Etienne,´ says Madame Manec from the other side of the kitchen, ´when you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water?´ ´You will tell us, I am sure.´ ´It jumps out. But do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then?´ ´The frog cooks´' (Doerr 285) In this quotation, Etienne's servant, Madame Manec, tries to convince Etienne to help her oppose the Nazis in small but important ways. Manec wants to tamper with Nazi mail, send messages to soldiers fighting the Nazis, etc. Etienne refuses to help Manec, he is too afraid of the consequences. Manec analogizes Etienne's caution to that of the proverbial frog in the pot of water. Her point is that human beings, like frogs, can be made to grow accustomed to even the most nightmarish of conditions, as long as things change little by little. In other words, Manec argues, Etienne is going to keep giving his tacit acceptance to Nazi atrocities, because he will always be able to rationalize his indifference as 'caution.' Manec is trying to share her will with Etienne but he struggles with it because of his fear. As the story goes on, Marie reunites with her uncle Etienne and Henri while they are talking, she listens at her uncle saying that, “The war that killed your grandfather killed sixteen million others. One and a half million French boys alone, most of them younger than I was. Two million on the German side. March the dead in a single-file line, and for eleven days and eleven nights, they’d walk past our door. This is not rearranging street signs, what we’re doing, Marie. This is not misplacing a letter at the post office. These numbers, they’re more than numbers. Do you understand?” “But we are the good guys. Aren’t we, Uncle?” “I hope so. I hope we are” (Doerr 360). In this scene, Etienne takes his place alongside Marie-Laure as an opponent of the Nazi occupation in France, especially now that she is carrying the Sea of flames with her. Etienne and Marie-Laure will work together to oppose the Nazis in any way they can. Although their actions may seem small and insignificant, Etienne explains, he and Marie-Laure are actually taking a major step toward defeating the Germans. By sending radio broadcasts to other enemies of the Nazis, Etienne and Marie-Laure will effectively be killing Nazi soldiers. As the passage shows, Etienne doesn't take his responsibility lightly. As a man who lived through World War One, he is reluctant to kill anyone, whether on the enemy side or not. Indeed, Etienne questions whether he is doing the right thing by opposing the Nazis at all but Marie hesitates him. Marie is a witness of how Etienne and Manec are trying to fight against the fate of being killed by the German soldiers, using their wills to build their own future.

On the other hand, another character that struggles into the fate and the will is Werner. While he is talking with her sister at the orphanage about his will he mentions that, “It’s not forever, Jutta. Two years, maybe. Half the boys who get admitted don’t manage to graduate. But maybe I’ll learn something; maybe they’ll teach me to be a proper engineer. Maybe I can learn to fly an airplane, like little Siegfried says. Don’t shake your head, we’ve always wanted to see the inside of an airplane, haven’t we? I’ll fly us west, you and me, Frau Elena too if she wants. Or we could take a train. We’ll ride through forests and villages de montagnes, all those places Frau Elena talked about when we were small. Maybe we could ride all the way to Paris.” The burgeoning light. The tender hissing of the grass. Jutta opens her eyes but doesn’t look at him. “Don’t tell lies. Lie to yourself, Werner, but don’t lie to me” (Doerr 133). In this quote, Werner, who has just been accepted into a prestigious Nazi military academy, tries to justify his attendance at the school to his sister, Jutta, who's going to remain at the orphanage. Werner argues that his military education will be invaluable for his career because he could learn to be an engineer. Werner even suggests that he could use his training to fly Jutta out of the country. Jutta then accuses Werner of lying to himself suggesting that the opposite is true: Werner will be trained to become a cog in the Nazi military machine, he won't have any more freedom than anyone else in the party. He is accepting the fate of becoming a Nazi with the excuse of following his will, but it is not completely true. In addition, Werner is studying in the Nazi academy and he has a friend in there who says that, “Your problem, Werner,” says Frederick, “is that you still believe you own your life” (Doerr 223). Werner's friend Frederick, has a conversation with Werner. Werner tells Frederick that he has ambitions of becoming a great scientist or engineer. Frederick's sad reply, suggests that Werner is too willing to believe in his own individual freedom and agency. Werner believes that he will be allowed to use his military training and engineering skills for his own ends. Nevertheless, the opposite is true: Werner will be forced to use his abilities for other people's ends: most of all, Hitler's. Frederick calls out Werner's delusions of control and freedom. Werner is more willing than his peers to believe that he has headed for a bright future, because he's the very image of an Aryan, light blond hair and blue eyes. Frederick, a bespectacled, nerdy boy, is not so naive about the Nazi regime, he knows that everyone is a slave to Hitler and his Fascist regime and with this following the fate of the German government.

Furthermore, there is one last character that is able to manage his future according to his will and his fate at the same time. Frank Volkheimer is with Werner in the repair room when Werner says that, “Atelier de réparation, thinks Werner, a chamber in which to make reparations. As appropriate a place as any. Certainly, there would be people in the world who believe these three have reparations to make” (Doerr 205). Werner's thinking in this scene suggests that he is fully aware of the sins he has committed as a Nazi, encouraged by Volkheimer. Based on his experiences in the military academy, one might think that Werner truly believed that he was doing the right thing by joining the Nazi army. Instead, it seems that Werner was lying to himself all along, he recognizes that he was committing war crimes by working for the Nazis, but it is too late now, he must follow the fate that he has been entrusted with. As one might know Volkheimer is a German General that teaches to Werner, while they were at Russia is known that something out of common happens, “Volkheimer who always makes sure there is food for Werner. Who brings him eggs, who shares his broth, whose fondness for Werner remains, it seems, unshakable…” (Doerr 366). During his time in Russia, Werner witnesses the Nazi soldiers committing terrible crimes against their enemies. And yet Werner also sees Nazis showing remarkable kindness. Volkheimer, takes good care of Werner, sacrificing his own happiness for Werner's sake again and again. It is strange to think that the same soldier who is so tender to his friends can be so brutal to his enemies. Volkheimer's behaviour in this passage suggests how thoroughly the Nazis have trained their soldiers to do evil. Even Volkheimer, someone who seems like a highly moral, responsible man, shows no signs of protesting when he's ordered to kill women and children on the opposing side of the war. Nazi propaganda is so strong and pervasive that it compels its soldiers to do evil while believing that they're doing good. Once again the government takes control of the will of the people and turns into a fate for the benefit of Hitler.

Doerr shows how the will and fate are possible to control in order to choose their own future. The talented writer demonstrates that as long as one is focused and convinced enough, it is possible to build the future. Marie, Werner, and Volkheimer had demonstrated that they are capable enough to craft their paths with good or bad choices. Thus, Doer indirectly communicates to the reader the things that one could do by himself.

Works Cited

1. Churchill, Winston. “Winston Churchill for Traders & Analysts.” The International Churchill Society, 5 Mar. 2013, winstonchurchill.org/publications/churchill-bulletin/bulletin-057-mar-2013/winston-churchill-for-traders-a-analysts/. Accessed 19 January 2019.
2. Roosevelt, Franklin. “FDR’s First Inaugural Address.” American RadioWorks, 2019, www.americanradioworks.org/fdrs-first-inaugural-address/. Accessed 19 January 2019.
3. Doerr, Anthony. All the Light We Cannot See. Fourth Estate. 2015. Printed