Rue 4 de Vaurobel, a six story townhome, where an innocent sixteen year old girl’s free will is robbed right from her. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, juxtaposes two very complex and different stories; a blind adolescent girl who is trying to find her way in a new environment and an obedient teenage boy who turns soldier after learning how to configure radios. Marie-Laure and Werner’s story are from two utterly contrasting ends of the spectrum but connect during the same time period. The definition of free will is stated as the power of acting without the restraint of necessity or fate. Marie-Laure LeBlanc has limited free will which has been developed thus far in the novel, described through two major characteristics: she lacks
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At the young age of twelve Marie-Laurie and her father fled the city she has grown to know every step, stair and crack of to a foreign city of Saint-Malo to her great-uncle’s six floor town home. Already, the readers can see Marie-Laure’s resistance and confusion to leave the place she has always known; the first example of Marie-Laure's limited free will. Marie-Laure's papa has always built models of the city for Marie-Laureto study and learn. When she was newly sightless, he made her walk the same route every day until she learned it. After they moved to Saint-Malo, her father began to make another model of the new neighborhood. A neighbor took his notetaking and observing as a terrorist planning to act and reported him to the police, which took him away. After her father “has been missing without word for twenty-nine days” (Doerr 230), Madame Manec insists on taking Marie-Laure out into the city, going against her great uncle’s orders. She does not want to go at first, scared of being arrested like her father: “Marie-Laure hesitates, listening. Her heart beats two four six eight” (Doerr 230). Marie-Laure's free will was taken away here because she was scared of leaving the safety which had become Number 4 rue de Vauborel. Marie-Laure does not have the free will to leave on her own due to her …show more content…
After Uncle Etienne disappears in the middle of the night, Marie-Laureis left in a war zone ultimately alone. Although Marie-Laure only wants to find her father, she is not given this choice after her free will is repeatedly stolen. She is robbed from her when she has to prevent herself from eating when she hears someone entering the house, “but before she can bring the brick down, the trip wire behind her jerks, the bell rings, and someone enters the house” (Doerr 213). Fear struck the adolescent girl. Marie-Laure has to hide when she hears the gate close before the door. “In her head, her father reasons: The gate closed before the door, not after. Which means, whoever it is, he closed the gate first, then shut the door. He’s inside” (Doerr 303). Marie-Laure uses her father’s prior teachings to protect herself during the war when, who she thinks is German soldiers, enter the house. (The readers can infer the German soldiers who enter the house is Werner and his accomplices). At the end of part six, Marie-Laure is clutching on to her last bit of safety, hugging her knees to her chest and soundlessly, sightlessly prays the German soldiers fail to find the trapdoor of the wardrobe hidden in her grandfather’s old
At the young age of twelve Marie-Laurie and her father fled the city she has grown to know every step, stair and crack of to a foreign city of Saint-Malo to her great-uncle’s six floor town home. Already, the readers can see Marie-Laure’s resistance and confusion to leave the place she has always known; the first example of Marie-Laure's limited free will. Marie-Laure's papa has always built models of the city for Marie-Laureto study and learn. When she was newly sightless, he made her walk the same route every day until she learned it. After they moved to Saint-Malo, her father began to make another model of the new neighborhood. A neighbor took his notetaking and observing as a terrorist planning to act and reported him to the police, which took him away. After her father “has been missing without word for twenty-nine days” (Doerr 230), Madame Manec insists on taking Marie-Laure out into the city, going against her great uncle’s orders. She does not want to go at first, scared of being arrested like her father: “Marie-Laure hesitates, listening. Her heart beats two four six eight” (Doerr 230). Marie-Laure's free will was taken away here because she was scared of leaving the safety which had become Number 4 rue de Vauborel. Marie-Laure does not have the free will to leave on her own due to her …show more content…
After Uncle Etienne disappears in the middle of the night, Marie-Laureis left in a war zone ultimately alone. Although Marie-Laure only wants to find her father, she is not given this choice after her free will is repeatedly stolen. She is robbed from her when she has to prevent herself from eating when she hears someone entering the house, “but before she can bring the brick down, the trip wire behind her jerks, the bell rings, and someone enters the house” (Doerr 213). Fear struck the adolescent girl. Marie-Laure has to hide when she hears the gate close before the door. “In her head, her father reasons: The gate closed before the door, not after. Which means, whoever it is, he closed the gate first, then shut the door. He’s inside” (Doerr 303). Marie-Laure uses her father’s prior teachings to protect herself during the war when, who she thinks is German soldiers, enter the house. (The readers can infer the German soldiers who enter the house is Werner and his accomplices). At the end of part six, Marie-Laure is clutching on to her last bit of safety, hugging her knees to her chest and soundlessly, sightlessly prays the German soldiers fail to find the trapdoor of the wardrobe hidden in her grandfather’s old