All The Light We Cannot See Paris Summary

In the exceptional novel All the Light We Cannot See, author Anthony Doerr, tells the story of two young adults whom had to experience life during World War II.

Although Marie was brave, she still faced fear daily. Living in Paris during World War II changes who a person is. It changes how they act, and how they portray themselves as well as the world. Marie was stuck in a cellar when General Von Rumpel was in the house she was in.

Jeannette is the second child of four children. She tells her life story through the book. She starts out from her earliest memory, when she was three years old, and into her adulthood. Her actions foreshadows that she will be successful when she grows up away from her parents. Since Jeannette’s parents were often careless of their children, Jeannette had to take care of younger siblings and work to get money for food, but she still loved her parents. Eventually, she decided to leave her parents and go to New York. There she became a successful author and journalist.

Jeanne is the youngest in the family and is a naïve girl during the period of when her father is taken into custody. The rest of the family is forced to move again and again and eventually to the Manzanar Relocation Camp. While in camp, Jeanne struggles to find her real identity and struggles with the rough conditions her family faces. She finds a way to cope. Jeanne struggles to fit in as a Japanese girl and is uncertain whether she can overcome the many obstacles they face.

After the elderly woman and man communicate quickly, assuming that the two girls were concentration camp escapees, the woman says that they must be hidden and “She waddled down to the dirt road, peered both ways. ‘ Quick, children, come now,’ she said, holding out her hands. ‘You are safe here. You are safe with us.’” Suddenly the scene dissolves and returns to 2002 France, where Julia is dealing with the effects of her husband Bertrand’s, surprisingly negative reaction to Julia’s pregnancy.

The death of her father was a couple of years ago, and it left a big impact on her. She had to get treatment, because the death of her father was too much for her, and she tried to kill herself. After her father’s death her life was changed. When her father was alive, he liked giving his children privacy from the public and they were homeschooled, and even when they would leave their home they had to wear something over their face so no one would know what they looked like. After his death, Paris had to start going to public school.

Madame Antoine- woman who Edna and Robert visited when Edna feels faint at the Sunday service on the island of Chênière Caminada] Mariequita- young, pretty Hispanic girl. She is very flirtatious and has a crush on Robert. Etienne and Raoul- Edna and Léonce’s two sons, four and five years old, respectively. 4.

Marie Laure undergoes many hardships throughout her life. At a young age, she loses her mother, her eyesight, her home in Paris, and eventually, her father as well. Despite all this suffering, Marie-Laure is supported by her great-uncle, Etienne, in which he influences her way of life. Before fleeing from Paris, Marie-Laure had a simple lifestyle, but when she flees to Saint-Malo, she is restricted from going outside due to the dangers of war. However, her relationship with Etienne strengthens over time, and he is able to occupy her : "here we are.

We recently watched the film Paris is Burning, a documentary about black drag queens in Harlem and their culture surrounding balls. Directly related we also read two feminist critiques, Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion by Judith Butler and Is Paris Burning by bell hooks. Two areas of critique I focus on and question are the critiques regarding the filmmaker, audience and drag queens and how they participate to reinforce a heterosexual racist patriarchy. Furthermore I ask if this line of investigation is the most beneficial way to view and understand the film and its various participants.

This quote shows that she is not home; her own family didn’t recognize her. They were confused who she was even her own mother. Then Claudette told her first lie as a human when she said “I’m home” bcause it didn’t feel like home. Claudette changed, but her family did not. Claudette learned how to be a human,

Beginning in the mid-1980’s, a number of efforts were initiated to bring awareness and enlightenment to the actual tragedy of AIDS. Two films that evolved out of these awareness campaigns were the documentaries “Paris Is Burning” and “How to Survive a Plague” . Both films, although in significantly diverse ways, provide a window into the alternative lifestyles of LGBT people of the times and the problems and issues they faced. A comparison of these two documentaries demonstrates the initial fears of the public and affected people and the beginnings of acceptance or at least tolerance of these alternative lifestyles.

Early on when she is newly blind due to the cataracts that formed in her eyes life is very difficult for her. “What is blindness? Where there should be a wall, her hands find nothing. Where there should be nothing, a table leg gouges her shin . . . [Marie’s] only sanctuary is in bed, the hem of the quilt at her chin . . .” (Doerr 27). In his kindness, Monsieur LeBlanc meticulously carves a model city for her to learn how to find her way around safely. Due to this kind act Marie is now able, with her father accompanying her for safety, walk around her neighborhood. Later on when they are forced to flee to Saint-Malo where some of their relatives live, Marie and her father walk the entirety of the journey and again, Marie has to depend on her father’s guidance to help her make the journey safely. “‘Marie, I see a hotel.’ ‘You said the hotels were full.’ ‘. . . Come. It’s not far.’ Again [Monsieur LeBlanc] carries his daughter. One more half mile” (Doerr 110). Even though she can sense something is not going as planned with their trip, she allows her father to carry her and believes that he will bring her to Saint-Malo safely. Marie’s faith in her father, although she is blind, allows them to arrive safely in Saint-Malo where they can stay safely through the duration of the

Many parts of the film were confusing unless you took the time to pause and think about the concepts of certain scenes, as many were needed to re-watch it to fully understand. The movie being French had nothing to do with my confusion—in fact, I think that the movie being French is what allowed me to give it a half more than my original rate. Although I found the message of the film to be a bit foggy, I have to admit that it has a very magnificent message when you follow up with it. Losing yourself is a very difficult situation to deal with, especially if at the moment you allow your heart to believe that the people you’re standing by now are the people that can satisfy your social happiness. Marieme learning from her faults is an excellent example of how we should keep our fighting spirits up and never give up on anything or anyone we love. The harsh truth is; sometimes that person we forget to cut some slack, and or to love through all their faults is ourselves. Once we learn to overcome that, the wonders of the world will be inevitable to occur

After reading the book Paris, Paris, Journey into the City of Light, by David Downie, the vision that I have created in my mind was very different from Downie’s perspective. It made me realized that the city of Paris has come a long way since the Revolutionary War to be the city it is today. Many of us thinks that Paris is this beautiful city that is full of lights, luxurious brands, and tourist attractions. However, we don’t fully acknowledge the history and knowing why it is the way it is today. And by reading this book, it gives travelers a little background information and a little more appreciation to each of the sites that are mentioned.

Moreover, All the Light We Cannot See began betwixt the notorious Nazi Party’s reign in Europe. Going back and forth between time periods, settings, and characters, the book, in the end, composes a mellifluous symphony of parallels that all eventually connect. Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a legally blind girl who continually viewed the glass as half-full, was accompanied by her father, Daniel LeBlanc, throughout the preceding portion of her pilgrimage to refuge during WWII. By fleeing unavoidable harm and siege in Paris, Marie-Laure and her father walked, by foot, to the island city of Saint Malo, France. The pair brought along a sacred, irreplaceable stone: the Sea of Flames from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, where Marie-Laure’s father previously worked. Finally reaching