All The Light We Cannot See Analysis

560 Words2 Pages

In many cases, freewill is either present or non existent in children. During world war two, many children in Germany were deprived of their free will, and when the war was over, many German citizens were left scrambling to find freewill again. In All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, one of the main characters, Werner, struggles with finding his voice and his freewill within a Hitler youth training school. During his experience there, he stands by and watches as one of his only friends is bullied and in the end left as a shell of his existence. Werner struggles with what he should of done and if it really is beneficial to blend in with the rest of the boys at the school; while Werner may recognize his wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of others, he feels …show more content…

When first introduced to Werner, the reader is able to see that he does have some sense of freewill. When he and his sister find the radio, despite them basically being illegal, they smuggle it back to their home and fix it up. While radios at this time were used for nazi propaganda, Jutta and Werner both enjoy listening to the radio broadcasts from outside of Germany. Eventually we see Werner fall into line with many of the Hitler youth and he refuses to listen to anything outside of German broadcasting, due to his fear of being found out. Werner eventually destroys the radio. So while Werner shows evidence of at one point having freewill, the outside influence of the nazis eventually overpower him, leaving him as yet another Hitler youth that follows orders blindly. Another instance in which we see Werner do nothing, is as mentioned before, when Frederick is being bullied. Frederick for a while appeared to have no sense of free will, but after he and Werner return, the reader can clearly see he has found his courage again, especially when

Show More
Related

  • Proselytism In Arnold Geier's 'Broken Glass Broken Lives'

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Proselytism, or the act of forcing beliefs onto others in an attempt to convert them, is exceptionally prominent during teenage years, but continues to prevail as the years advance. Propaganda used before the Holocaust convinced teenagers to join auxiliary groups like the Student’s League and Hitler Youth. Hitler convinced adults to join auxiliary groups as well, apart from the main Nazi party. Behaviors established as the norm in such groups were spread throughout all of Germany and eventually became common conduct. Each account in Voices of the Holocaust supports the idea that the Holocaust was caused by the Nazi party’s overall ignorance due to wrongful

    Read More

  • Analysis Of All The Light We Cannot See

    1822 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer, was not your traditional love and war story. It’s about a young blind girl named Marie growing up in the war, who had a connection with a young boy named Werner who is a part of the Hitler youth. There are a few other characters who are all in different parts of the world, and yet they eventually all meet up together and find out they all have some type of connection between each other. All of the characters in the book were affected by the war, and caused them to change into the characters that they ended up to be.

    Read More

  • All The Light We Cannot See Sparknotes

    1565 Words  | 4 Pages

    He was very skilled around working a radio. He had the challenge of having to go to the National Institute even though his beloved sister Jutta disapproved of his decision to go. While he was at the National Institute he had to use his radio skills to help the Nazi leaders and soldiers kill hundreds of people. This was something Werner had to deal with and he suffered greatly with the idea that he was hurting and killing so many people with his “talent” for radios. This was one of the hardest parts of the war for Werner. The thing that kept his true character was that he continued no matter what to communicate and stay in contact with his sister, Jutta. He made most of his decisions based on his sister. One of his biggest struggles was he was at the National Institute and he was apart from Jutta. As it is said in the following quotes below Werner was torn with his decision because deep down his true character is being a loving brother and to protect Jutta. “Mostly he misses Jutta: her loyalty, her obstinacy, the way she always seems to recognize what is right.” (263) “Perhaps she’s the impurity in him, the static in his signal that the bullies can sense. Perhaps she’s the only thing keeping him from surrendering totally.” (263). Also in this quote Werner's love and consideration for Jutta is displayed. He even gave Jutta the opportunity to not show Frau Elena who was essentially the mother figure to the both of them. “I’ll

    Read More

  • Intolerance In The Book Thief

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, a young boy named Bruno is friends with a child in a concentration camp, even though he knows he is not supposed to. In The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss, some of the Sneetches have stars and some do not. This leads to a lot of bullying, but in the end allows the Sneetches to realize that the way that someone looks does not matter. In The Harmonica, the young boy that is given a harmonica uses it to help many people feel better throughout the time of hate and intolerance. The boy plays for many people that live in a concentration camp. In The Whispering Town, many of the people overcome hate and intolerance by helping the Jewish people escape. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the many children’s books written about the Holocaust help overcome hate and intolerance in today’s world, so that something as awful as the Holocaust will never happen

    Read More

  • The Halo That Would Not Light Analysis

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lucie Brock-Broido’s “The Halo That Would Not Light” is a poem about the loss of childhood and its inevitable end. When one is born “the (raptor’s) beak (lets) loose of you” (ll 1-2), and drops your tiny body into the “scarab-colored hollow” (ll 3-4). The raptor letting the tiny body loose into the scarab colored hollow alludes to the old nursery stories of the stork delivering babies in cribs for their new families. When children are young they often have positive outlooks on the world and believe that everything is possible, like the magic in the “hollow hat” (l 13) or the “cardboard box” (l 5). They believe strongly in all in possible wonders of the world and it isn't until their “endless childhood” is finally “done” that they loose the

    Read More

  • Exploring Hitler's Propaganda through The Boy Who Dared by Bartoletti

    1868 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth dared to speak out for what he believed in even if it meant walking into the hands of death. Helmuth decided to spread his views on the way the Nazi Party deceived and manipulated the Germans. The Nazi Party started indoctrinating the youth of Nazi Germany by teaching the Nazi ideology at a very young age. One major ways Hitler did this was through the Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth was founded in the 1920’s. The main goal of this organization was to eliminate the inferior and strengthen the youth. In Hitler’s words, “The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp’s steel.” (“Hitl...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Search For Light By James Wright

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    James Wright was a poet that dealt with many hardships in his life, but he found a way to turn those negative moments into beautiful works of poetry. As a child, he lived in poverty with his family and later on suffered with depression and alcoholism. Growing up in Ohio, Wright learned how to work hard which is reflected in his poetic achievements. Wright turned his struggles into poems and for him to be able to achieve success through his pain is what makes his work American. Frank McShane wrote “The Search for Light” in Peter Stit and Frank Graziano’s James Wright: A Profile, and in the book McShane includes: “James Wright knew how restricted most American lives were” (131). For Wright to be able to live the “restricted” life McShane is discussing,

    Read More

  • All The Light We Cannot See Character Analysis

    1816 Words  | 4 Pages

    Foremost, circumstances originally cause characters to alter their views and actions which will result in a loss of their identities without change. This idea is shown in All the Light We Cannot See, when Werner begins his final test for the Hitler Youth, which involves showing trust in the Nazi party. He jumps off a high platform to then be caught by a flag held by recruiters and after, “He rolls to his feet uninjured. The examiner clicks his stopwatch, scribbles on his clipboard, looks up. Their eyes meet for half a second . . . ‘Heil Hitler!’ yells Werner” (116). Unlike the boys who had done the activity previously, Werner does not hesitate to jump because he is desperate to make himself stand out as a way to prove his commitment to the Nazi party. He places himself in this situation not because he supports their cause, but rather because he believes his enrollment in the academy is the only way to pursue his innate talent of engineering. This idea shows he is willing to commit himself to a cause he has little knowledge in if that means he is able pursue the future he wants. Furthermore, when

    Read More

  • Transition from an Innocent Child in Boy in the Striped Pajamas

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children are not really prepared when it comes to transition into becoming adolescents. Their lack of responsibilities as children may lead to a more difficult transition, which could lead to a number of difficult years for the person. Take for instance if Bruno would have not gone into the camp and lived. He later would have realized that he lost his best friend to in the holocaust, a cause that his father was part of. This would have been very traumatizing and would have effected how he was as a person. Sometimes child’s innocence is the determining factor of how smooth the transition from being a child to an adolescent is.

    Read More

  • Understanding Racial Hatred in Carl Jung's Book, The Personal and Collective Unconscious

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever questioned what made the Nazi’s try to completely wipe out all of the Jews? The obvious answer would be Hitler made them, but when we consider free will we cannot accept this statem...

    Read More

  • Moral Essay: What Are Morals?

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    For instance you find that when a child is prohibited from touching a certain object they hesitate when trying to touch to see whether there is any one observing them. Therefore, in such cases there is no need of teaching them because it is instinctive. Thus the child is able to make decision even later in life using his knowledge to do what is right or wrong. You find that the choices they make from child hood to adult hood are usually between acceptable and forbidden generous or selfish, and kind or

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Descartes Natural Light

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rene Descartes’ natural light is his saving grace, and not Achilles’ heel. Descartes incorporates the concept of natural light within his epistemology in order to establish the possibility of knowing things completely without doubt. In fact whatever is revealed to the meditator via the natural light is considered to be indefeasible. The warrant for the truth of these ideas does not rely on experience or the senses. Rather the truth of the idea depends on viewing the concept through clear and distinct perception. Descartes’ “I am, I exist”, (Med. 2, AT 7:25) or the ‘cogito’ is meant to serve as the basis for knowing things through clear and distinct perception. Descartes’ cogito is the first item of knowledge, although one may doubt such things as the existence of the body, one cannot doubt their ability to think. This is demonstrated in that by attempting to doubt one’s ability to think, one is engaging in the action of thought, thus proving that thinking is immune to doubt. With this first item of knowledge Descartes can proceed with his discussion of the possibility of unshakeable knowledge. However, Descartes runs into some difficulty when natural light collides with the possibility of an evil genie bent on deceiving the meditator thus putting once thought concrete truths into doubt. Through an analysis of the concept of natural light I

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Wonders Of The Invisible World

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Wonders of the Invisible World”, written by Cotton Mather, is an account of the Salem Witch Trials. He retells information that has been passed down to him without actually being present at the trial and simultaneously explains his theory to why witches were suddenly emerging in Salem, Massachusetts. There were quite a few holes in the Salem Witch Trials, especially regarding whether or not these events occurred the way they are said to. Mather’s book shows us how intense the Puritan ideals were, attaching anything out of the ordinary to a higher power and in doing this shows the flaws of the religion which caused to Salem Witch Trials.

    Read More

  • Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

    2169 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first stage is the punishment and obedience orientation. This is observed in children ages 1-5. The subject is in avoidance of physical punishment and deference to power. The child behaves according to the socially acceptable norms, due to the fear of punishment by an authority figure. (4) The physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness. “What is right is to avoid breaking rules, to obey for obedience’s sake, and to avoid doing physical damage to people and property.” An example of stage one is evident in the soldiers of the holocaust who were asked to simply “carry out orders” under the threat of being punished. This illustrates that adults, as well as children may possibly be functioning at stage one. (2) An individual at this stage doesn’t consider the thoughts or feelings of others, nor are they able to relate two points of view. As in Piaget’s framework, ego-centrism and the inability to consider the pe...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Lost Childhood By Yehuda Nir

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Childhood is a powerful and important time for all humans. As a child, the things one sees and hears influences the choices and decisions they make in the future. “How a child develops during early and middle childhood years affects future cognitive, social, emotional, language, and physical development, which in turn influences their trust and confidence for later success in life” (Early and Middle Childhood). Yehuda Nir’s, The Lost Childhood is a first person memoir based on the life of a youthful Jewish child who survived the Holocaust. Taking place from pre-World War II 1939, to post-World War II 1945, this memoir highlights the despicable things done during one of the darkest times in modern history. Prior to being published in October

    Read More

More about All The Light We Cannot See Analysis

Open Document