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  • Essay / All the Light We Cannot See: How Werner Lost His Soul

    Anthony Doerr's novel All the Light We Cannot See was published in 2014; this novel depicted the era of World War II. The main characters of the novel are Frank Volkheimer, Marie-Laure, Dr. Hauptmann, Frederick, Jutta and Etienne LeBlanc (Doerr & Zach). These characters have lost their relationships or some other aspect simply because of the suffering of war. This article will mainly focus on the phrase spoken by Werner that he lost his soul in the war, but whatever the war, he lost his soul in many ways long before the war. These words relate to Werner's relationship with each of the characters in the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay All the Light We Can't See is the story based on two teenagers called Werner Pfenning and Marie-Laure, the novel depicts the era of World War II. . Marie is described as a curious and blind French girl and her father is a locksmith at the Paris museum (Doerr & Zach). Werner was interested in mathematics and science and therefore enlisted in the Nazi army with the aim of dismantling terrorists' radio broadcasts. Marie and Werner run away to Uncle Etienne for hiding a priceless diamond. But they are both separated in one way or another due to the impact of the war and finally meet when Werner saves Marie's life and scarifies his own life. This novel is unexpected because it does not show the experience of war but it is about the choices that are made by the characters in the novel regarding the lost souls in the living and the dead (Doerr & Zach). They have all experienced many situations and circumstances that made them lose their soul. Like Werner wanted to use his math and science skills to make the world a better place and benefit people with the knowledge he has, but instead he had to do all the wrong things himself because he was forced and mannered Werner was tested in schools and his decency extinguished the light that made him a good and special boy (Doerr & Zach). He says that he has lost his soul many times and in many ways, because he allowed himself to be seduced by the power recently bestowed upon him. Even he was so selfish or helpless that he was unable to stop the system that was raising him to ruin his own best friend. On one of the occasions when Fredrick demanded to throw ice water on the dying Soviet prisoner, he looks straight and thinks that the stars are burning, the prisoners are swaying and the boys are watching helplessly, the commander while tilting his head pouring water on the ground instead of declaring that he will not do it. It was cruelty and there was also the demand for blind obedience from Werner. In the Nazi training school, Fredrick was physically abused by his own classmates to the point of neurological damage and after this he was expelled from the school and after this incident. Werner was desperate to get Fredrick to open up and allow him to be enlightened in the basement of the bombed hotel, while also making him aware of his own beliefs (Doerr & Zach). Werner suffered because of his friend's suffering. He felt relief. Fredrick always traveled for love but ended up being physically paralyzed but he was still pure of heart. But on the other hand, Werner had personal convenience and gain. In turn, this causes him to relax his sense of self, which leads to harming his relationship with, 2014.