Background Information


The novel All the Light We Cannot See , written by Anthony Doerr, is set during world war II. During this time the popularity of radios boomed as they became the most popular form of communication. They served as the primary source of information for the public, including news updates, morale boosting, and propaganda. Both sides of the war, the Allied and Axis powers, relied on radios throughout the conflict. Radios were also extremely important during warfare as they were relied on heavily by military forces to communicate on the battlefield. Radios during this time reached their peak in popularity and is often referred to as the Golden Age of Radio, which lasted from the late 1920s to the early 1950s.



The History of Radio





Radios in All the Light We Cannot See


In All the Light We Cannot See radios play a crucial role in connecting characters and shaping the plot of the narrative. They symbolize hope for the two characters Marie-Laure and Werner. For Werner, a radio signal, broadcasted by Etienne, sparked his fascination in science during his childhood. This would eventually push him towards becoming a nazi soldier to pursue this intrest. For Marie-Laure, the radio in her great-uncle Etienne's house serves as a way to offer hope to the french resistance. Throughout the novel, there are many moments where a radio creates a seemingly invisible link between people.



Important Quotes


"
. . . The little radio with its four terminals and trailing ariel sits motionless on the floor between them all like a miracle.
pg.34


This quote is from Werner's childhood when he discover and fixes a broken radio. He spends three weeks trying to fix the radio, until he was finally able to get a signal from it. The first thing he hears from the radio is music. Hearing the radio finally work caused Werner's eyes to fill with tears as this was a transformative experience for him. Growing up in an orphanage painted a bleak future for Werner, but this radio opened a door to a world of possiblities. It gave him a new goal in life to pursue science, but also would eventually lead him to a dark path of becoming a nazi solider to achieve this goal. This parallels Marie-Laure's experience of using a model of her neighborhood to learn how to navigate throughout it. Similar to Werner, Marie-Laure had little hope doing her childhood do to her blindness. Her father creating a model of her neighborhood helped Marie-Laure regain her independence which give her a since of control and freedom. These moments of empowerment formed core aspects of Werner and Marie-Laure's characters.


"
I can hear ships at sea. Madrid. Brazil. London. I heard India once. Here at the edge of the city, so high in the house, we get superb reception.
pg.135


Etienne states this to Marie-Laure. After World War I, Etienne is traumatized from the horrors of war. Madam Manec explains to Marie-Laure that he was not the same after coming back from the war. He became a recluse and stopped going outdoors, so much so that he has not left his house in years. Radios became one of the few things he engaged with after the war. They became his way of maintaining a connection with the world without actually physically interacting with it. Etienne's early broadcast with his brother also were the very same broadcast that Werner Listened to as a child. Specifically, Etienne and Henri broadcasted Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This is signifigant because this book fueled the curiosity of both Marie-Laure and Werner as children.


"
. . . when a girl's voice says directly into his good ear: At three in the morning I was awakened by a violent blow.
pg.392


Werner has been trapped in the cellar of the Hotel of Bees for 4 days at this point. He and Volkheimer are starving and sick. When Werner first hears a girl's voice on the radio he believes it to be a hallucination, but when he hears it again he knows it is not. Marie-Laure is broadcasting Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea while also trapped in a place she cannot escape. She does this to feel less alone as she does not have access to human contact. The radio acts as a lifeline for both Werner and Marie-Laure. They are both at a low point in a story, but the radio comforts both of them by connecting them to each other across the chaos of war.