121 pages • 4 hours read
Anthony DoerrA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 0, Chapters 1-8
Part 1, Chapters 9-31
Part 2, Chapters 32-36
Part 3, Chapters 37-61
Part 4, Chapters 62-67
Part 5, Chapters 68-95
Part 6, Chapters 96-100
Part 7, Chapters 101-120
Part 8, Chapters 121-128
Part 9, Chapters 129-147
Part 10, Chapters 148-165
Part 11, Chapters 166-167
Part 12, Chapters 168-177
Part 13, Chapter 178
Character Analysis
Symbols & Motifs
Themes
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Book Club Questions
Quiz
Tools
“‘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.
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By Anthony Doerr