all the light Flashcards
1
Q
nazi cruelty/ heartless nature
A
- they think bombing a city is like “an unholy tooth” that they’re about to “pull out.”
- Doerr shows the ten fold effect this had on individuals
- ‘city is gradually pounded to dust’
- ‘yet everything radiates tension’
- ‘as if the city has been built upon the skin of a balloon’
- ‘darkness will inevitably snuff them’
- ‘desparate to stay removed from the waking world for as long as possible’
- treat others like no more than a ‘volley of bullets’
- ‘[steel] your body’
- His plight resulted in him feeling a ‘hunger to belong’ and so disconnected from his past self where his hands ‘[do] not feel like his own’.
- minds be ‘locked in total darkness’
2
Q
model of Saint Malo compared to actual
A
- shows the mental strength of Marie Laure
- representative of her traquil state of mind as she is only exposed to the model not the chaotic reality
3
Q
futile nature of relationships during war
A
- each time Werner listens to the radio, the mans voice is growing quieter and quieter
- Werner smashing the radio, symbolic of Jutta and Werner as it ties many childhood experiences
4
Q
superficial society
A
- entrance exam places more importance on their Aryan ideal; hair colour but fails to test what actually differentiates individuals; e.g. intelligence
- the only non race related challenge is jumping from a tall ladder; thus soldiers are taught to being heartless and having an unhesitating willingness to die.
- ‘measures the distance between Werner’s temples’
5
Q
Jutta and Werner
A
- “Don’t tell lies. Lie to yourself, Werner, but don’t lie to me.”
- As Jutta knows the repurcussions, Werner doesnt
6
Q
Nazi regime
A
- ‘breathe nation’
- ‘not trust their minds’
- ‘ties a million ears to a single mouth’
- ‘you have to accustom yourself to that way of thinking’
- ‘pure math’
- ‘they are more than numbers’
7
Q
Willful ignorance
A
- symbolised by the ostrich burying its head into the sand
- he turns a blind eye by deliberately not writing to Jutta as she ‘always seems to recognise what is right’
‘shes the only thing keeping him from surrendering totally’
‘ “Werner washes Frederick’s mess tin for him; he shares homework answers,” helps him in private but fails to stand up for him publicly
8
Q
war creates a world of selfishness
A
- Although Daniel tries to explain to the police officers that the saws are used for his daughter
- ‘when it comes to his daughter: a fear that he is no good as a father’
9
Q
staying true to one’s beliefs
A
- Frederick “ pours the water onto the ground,” stating “I will not”
- his refusal to comply with the cruelty and the blind obedience, he is physically damaged to the point of neurological damage
- ‘is it right to do something only because everyone else is doing it?’
10
Q
frog analogy
A
- Werner was made to perform things he wouldnt normally be willingto commit however, this analogy is indicative that if the transition is slow or unnoticeable enough then they can
11
Q
Marie and Etienne
A
- she was ‘the best thing that has ever come into my life’
- once she leads him to be a part of the french resistance, ‘he feels alive’
- rather than becoming versatile, he ‘shut himself like a corpse’
12
Q
Werner has always been given hope/opportunities or confusion
A
- ‘Werner thinks the cellar may have its own faint light’ (foreshadowing his moral insight)
- he chooses to not write back to Jutta
- Werner feels like he “is succeeding… [and] being loyal… being what everybody agrees is good” yet “every time he wakes and buttons his tunic, he feels like he is betraying something”
- Werner rejects his conscience questioning him ‘is this not wrong?’
- ‘straining in darkness’
13
Q
Marie Laure is versatile
A
- her hearing improves and has a strong moral code; willingness to assist in the french resistance, and her responsiblity towards her father, wishing ‘that Papa hasnt anywhere near it’
- ‘Marie Laure knows this…even though she is blind’
- ‘Papa’s thick hair is wet from the snow … and his scarf is draped asymmetrically over his shoulders’
- ‘recognise the different houses, angles of the street’
14
Q
Werner wants to escape his fate
A
- ‘he walks the tunnels of the mine…slabs of it descend over him as he treads’
15
Q
mentors
A
- supporting figures that ‘[believed] in him’\
