With regards to the fact that this novel takes place throughout an immense war makes what the characters say and do, from the start, seem sensible in time. For instance, the passage labeled “January Recess” procures a few lines regarding the said statement. (Doerr 217-224) While Werner and Frederick converse in this scene, at some point it is said, “ ‘ It doesn’t matter what I want’ ‘Of course it matters. I want to be an engineer. And you want to study birds. Be like that American painter in the swamps. Why else do any of this if not to become who we want to be’...‘your problem, Werner,’ says Frederick, ‘is that you still believe you own your life’” (Doerr 223). At this point, Werner is finally realising the truth about his new life in the
