Analysis Of All The Light We Cannot See By Anthony Doerr

In the passage from All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr conveys the bleak reality of growing up during the economic collapse in Essen, Germany during the 1930’s. The passage focuses on Werner and Jutta, two siblings living in a children’s home during this era. Doerr’s heavy use of imagery, especially his description of the miners, foreshadows an eventual loss of innocence for both children. Additionally, Doerr uses foil to emphasize the contrast between the perspectives of the children and miners and to highlight the deteriorating conditions in Essen.

Doerr’s descriptions of Jutta’s drawings emphasize her infatuation with the city of Paris. Her view of the city creates an idealized picture of the world outside of Essen. Her focus is on ornate architecture. From an image, originating from the cover of a romance novel owned by a nun, she conjures up “mansard roofs, hazy apartment blocks, the iron lattice of a distant tower…twisting white skyscrapers” and “ornate bridges”. All of this imagery

Instead of the tall grandiose structures seen earlier, this city is instead filled with “cottages”. Its streets are filled with “trash barrel fires” with “past laid-off miners squatting all day”. Those who are employed are “hunched, hungry, and blue nosed” beaten down by the dire situation of living in a dying town. Doerr uses a metaphor comparing the miners’ faces to “black skulls” to hint at the idea that the miners have already died in some way. .Everything Doerr describes reveals the disrepair of Essen, including his description of the wagon Werner uses to pull his sister through the streets. The wagon is entirely made out of “cast-off part” one of its wheels “regularly clunks off” and has to be bolted back into its place. The distinction between Jutta’s ideal city and the reality that she surrounded with emphasizes the declining conditions of Germany and its