How Past Has Affected Lives of the Main Characters in ‘all the Light We Cannot See’ by Anthony Doerr

Werner’s past has affected his development quite positively, from how he is portrayed in the story “All the Light We Cannot See”. Werner and his younger sister, Jutta, grew up in an orphanage in 1930’s not-so-well-off Germany. The orphanage was run by a woman who goes by Frau (Ms. But in German) Elena, a kind, gentle soul who treats her children well and will do as much as she can to support them the best she can. Werner, under her care, develops a love for science and mechanics with her most likely fanning the fire in his heart. This leads him to be a wholesome boy with curiosity. His curiosity makes him explore a shed near the home, leading to him finding a very broken radio in repairable condition. His first taste of music from the radio is sweet violins and pianos. Werner the finds the radio station with the French man who tells stories and things about science, wonders about life. What Werner’s past says about today’s current society is that no matter where or how you grew up, you can still thrive and learn and achieve great things in life. It also says that people will judge based on how people look, they saw Werner’s white hair and very blue eyes. He’s not the only main character though.

Now onto Marie-Laure, the blind girl. Marie- Laure wasn’t born blind, but went blind because of a thing called cataracts. Cataract is blinding of the eye lens, at the time, it didn’t have a treatment that was successful, and so she was completely blind by the age of six. This didn’t stop Marie at all, her father encouraged her to learn and read in braille as well as learn the whole city by having a properly scaled 3-D version of the city. Her father buys her multiple books in braille so she can continue reading, she read of adventures that take her faraway in her land of imagination. What Marie-Laure’s past tells about society is that no matter what’s holding you back, you can continue enriching your brain and become smarter, wiser, more curious.

From what I’ve concluded from these two characters, a character’s past will affect their development, like it did in Marie-Laure. Marie had grown up to be completely dependent on her father, to not take a bath without his help, even when she was in her late teens, she still needed her father to help her button her clothes, for him to put her shoes on her for her, and she never helps out when she possibly, she depends solely on her father, she can’t even leave the house on her own until he makes the physical map with literally everything on it. She needs a rope connected to the kitchen table all the way to the bathroom to navigate the bathroom, she can’t function on her own without her father