Light is a spectrum of wavelengths, only a tiny portion of which is visible. A scale so large that “mathematically, all of light is invisible.”

Stay with me for a minute while I digress. The movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is underrated. I really enjoyed it (even the volcano-skateboard part). But of all the scenes in it, one exchange seemed especially meaningful .

You can watch the part I’m referring to here as Sean Penn talks with Ben Stiller somewhere in the Himalayas.

Some moments in life don’t need to be shared with the entire world of Twitter and Facebook and Instagram to be meaningful. They only have to be experienced. Some moments are just meant for you to ponder, to reflect, to internalize, to remember. Moments like these can change who we are.

You need to read All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Never mind that he won a Pulitzer Prize for it. Never mind that he’s an acclaimed author with multiple awards for other works. This book is worth your time. It contains moments meant for you. It can change you.

I had several thoughts as I read it that I’m going to share here. But there are also some I will keep to myself—the most meaningful ones. You will discover your own when you read it.

Writers Mean What They Write

I remember high school English. We used to wonder if the authors of classic literature really meant to write about all the symbolism and morals that our teachers talked about. We thought maybe they made up all the analysis and the meanings when the author really wrote it all for fun. I have a different perspective now.

Authors (I’m mainly referring to fiction authors) write about certain themes, things that are important to them. A portion of this occurs subconsciously, but most of it happens intentionally. As an author, when I write about what I feel and what I think, my philosophy and my ideas, I am purposeful, deliberate, and careful.

The tricky part of this is making sure the story and characters are complete on their own. If not, the whole thing becomes stuffy, boring, and preachy. So writing means entertainment and engagement while also allowing the theme to show through subtly enough that the reader will recognize it but also so that they can ignore it if they want to.

Fortunately, blog posts don’t have to be like that.

All the Light We Cannot See

In All the Light We Cannot See, WWII historical fiction, Anthony Doerr explores several interesting themes. His narrative follows the narrow views of each of the two main characters, Marie-Laure and Werner Pfennig, two young teens experiencing the war in France and Germany. Neither of these characters knows much about what is really happening.

But even from their limited and young perspectives, the reader gains a sense of the overall effects of the war on the individuals who suffered through it.

His characters experience relatively common problems shared at that time by thousands across Europe, the weight of oppression, the fear of invaders, and the struggle for survival. Doerr writes it well.

He writes about our perception of reality as compared to reality itself. This is one of the themes I like to write about too, so I think it stuck out to me. How do we see and interpret the world as compared to how it really is? Can we even see the world as it truly is rather than how we think it is?

He also deals with standing up for what is right in spite of the personal cost. Several characters face difficult choices, some prevail, while others give in.

But his recurring message, his main theme, is how much of light is invisible to the eye. Werner is a young German boy inducted into the Nazi national political schools because of his aptitude for electronics. Radio waves, electromagnetic radiation (or light) outside of the visible spectrum, are a focal point of Werner’s story. As a very young boy, he learns about principles of science, especially light, through broadcasts on his homemade radio.

Perhaps as an emphasis to his theme of invisible light, his main character, Marie-Laure, a blind girl living with her father in Paris, provides an inspiring perspective on life. Although she can see nothing, her perception and understanding of what is right is often the clearest. Marie-Laure’s story is one of hope and perserverence.

Perception and Reality

How can we pierce our own version of reality? Doerr poses the problem through Marie-Laure’s father, who carried a dangerous secret throughout much of the story. When he feels the fear of pursuit, he begins to look at everyone with a wary eye.

“Figures bicycle past. Pinched faces streaked with suspicion or fear or both. Perhaps it is [his] own eyes that have been streaked.”

When we see distrust, disgust, or derision on the face of someone else, is it because that is what they feel, or because we think they feel that way? When we hear an insult, was it intended, or did we interpret it?

At times, I think we make judgments on behalf of others without really knowing the truth. It’s easy to exclude ourselves from something because “they wouldn’t want me,” or “that person doesn’t like me, I can tell.”

Later in the story, after moving to Saint Malo, Marie-Laure and her uncle Etienne have an interesting exchange that I enjoyed.

“Etienne, are you ever sorry that we came here? Did you ever feel like I brought a curse into your life.”

“You are the best thing that has ever come into my life.”

Marie-Laure thought of herself as a burden to her uncle, an unwanted difficulty. She was blind, her arrival interrupted Etienne in his previously singular existence, it took effort for him to take care of her. Her problems brought him problems. But unbeknownst to her, she had reinvigorated his life, had saved him from despair.

She hadn’t seen it, but she was a relief to him. Her presence had changed the downward trajectory of his life and brought him back to a purposeful and meaningful existence.

I love this quote from Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.”

Too often, our eyes become “streaked” with our own prejudgments. Empathy can help us break through this cloud of perception. Trying to see things from someone else’s point of view can make all the difference.

Standing Up

A second theme Doerr weaves into his book is standing up for what is right in spite of the consequences. Nazi Germany was a terrible proving ground for those with strength of character. To say it was dangerous would be to trivialize what it meant to stand up for goodness.

Two of Doerr’s secondary characters really demonstrate this point. The first is Madame Manec, Etienne’s housekeeper, and Marie-Laure’s friend.

The French Resistance earned renown for their organization and success. They contributed in significant ways to the eventual defeat of the Nazi occupation. But that’s not to say any part of it was easy. Every minute spent as a resistance fighter risked death, and not only death for yourself but for your family, friends and neighbors.

Madame Manec wanted to make a difference. She organized her friends and formed a group that passed on information about German military positions through a hidden radio in Etienne’s attic. But she didn’t just do that, she also took care to share her meager rations with those in need in the city. Her resistance was not just against an oppressor, but against all suffering.

More tragic of an example was Frederick, a friend of Werner’s in the political school. Here the Nazis trained future SS and regular army officers. Eventually, as Germany’s stockpile of able soldiers dwindled, these students suddenly became eligible for combat, even as young as twelve.

As part of their training, students participated in the execution of political prisoners through a gruesome midnight ritual. Most of the students either enjoyed or endured the night, but Frederick did not. Instead, he refused to participate altogether.

Although Madame Manec’s form of resistance carried with it great risk, Frederick risked everything with no possibility of secrecy. And he stood alone. Facing his entire school and his merciless instructor, confronted with a helpless victim who he was supposed to help kill, he said simply:

“I will not.”

Those three words carry incredible meaning. I felt their significance as Frederick said them. I emphasize the ability of each person to choose their course in life. Is there coercion? Yes. Frederick faced it. Can there be threats and intimidation? Yes. Frederick resisted it. Can there be humiliation or ridicule? Yes.

But in the end, we either will, or will not.

The Meaning of Light

What did Anthony Doerr mean by the title, All the Light We Cannot See? He returned to this thought throughout the book, but interpretation is wisely left to the reader.

He might have simply meant that radio waves carry words far beyond the range of visibility. And these waves directed lives in ways the hearers almost couldn’t perceive. Scientifically, the physics of photons, the movement of waves, and the mathematical invisibility of all light is vastly intriguing.

But is it more than that?

Could he have been referring to a piece of coal, as Werner often wondered, that when burned releases the energy of the sun captured millions of years before? This energy lay waiting in the earth until needed, mined, extracted and burned. Energy that remained invisible until the furnace forced it out in orange flames.

And is that potential energy equivalent to the power that lies dormant within people, the ability to stand up for what is right in the face of evil? Was Frederick more powerful than the sunlight trapped within the coal?

There is light we cannot see in every person, and at times it surfaces just when it is needed.

Is this light the goodness of the world, of people, goodness that is often masked by negativity? Goodness is all around us. People do wonderful things every minute of every day. But like the radios in Nazi Germany, the airwaves are full of propaganda and hate.

The Nazi radios tried to drown it out, suppress all the good there was. And today there is so much noise and static and distraction, is the goodness of the world invisible through the feedback? Or is there hidden light, like the secret messages sent by Madame Manec and Etienne, which subverted the evil messages of the Nazis.

The light is always there, but we must look for it.

The Light We Can Help Others See

Or possibly the light we cannot see refers to the light that the blind Marie-Laure brought into the world despite her limitations. Her fingers and ears, nose, touch, and imagination were her only connections to the world. Although she could never see the waves of radiation that illuminate all things, still she lived in a world of bright colors and light that she created within herself.

Perhaps Anne Frank said it best.

Our own happiness, and the light we share with others comes from within ourselves.

Never able to actually see the beauty all around her, Marie-Laure instead created it for herself. So is the invisible light in fact the light that is within each of us?

I believe it is the power of choosing good, even when it is hard, as Frederick did. It is the willingness to help those in need, as Etienne and Madame Manec did. And it is sharing our own light with others, like Marie-Laure.

Perhaps what we might not see yet is that we have the immeasurable power of our own souls to light the lives of those all around us.

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If you enjoyed this article, you might like The Shoah, concerning French Jews lost to the Holocaust.

 

Photo credit: Han Cheng Yeh on Visual hunt / CC BY