All the Light We Cannot See

“‘Open your eyes,’ concludes the man, ‘and see what you can with them before they close forever.’”

Werner and Jutta listen to a strange and wonderful children’s scientific broadcast in French, over Werner’s homemade wireless radio. This phrase is repeated many times throughout the novel, and it becomes Werner’s motto. It also reveals one of the novel’s themes: no one knows how long he may live, but he should do everything he can, and learn everything he can, while he is able.

“What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.”

This quotation from the mysterious science broadcast illuminates the title of the novel and the theme of Light as a Source of Hope. Since all light is invisible, it takes an effort of the imagination to see it.

“‘You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest. Of course we do. Name me a person or a nation who does not. The trick is figuring out where your interests are.’”

Herr Siedler, manager of the mines and owner of a beautiful Philco radio, tells Werner the real state of the world. Werner accepts this version of the world for a large portion of the novel. When he returns home from Herr Siedler’s mansion, he destroys his own shortwave radio—seeing it as a mark of his poverty and thus his vulnerability—and begins to accept his role in the Reich.