Themes Of Violence In 'All The Light We Cannot See'

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In today’s society violence is becoming more and more tolerated in everyday life. In All the Light We Cannot See and The Goldfinch violence is also a prominent theme that impacts the characters coming of age stories. In both of the stories, there are many types of violence including physical and emotional. In many situations, the physical violence in the books leads to emotional violence and trauma for the characters. Because All the Light We Cannot See is set in World War 2 and The Goldfinch is set in a more contemporary present day setting, they have the same violence but it is portrayed in different types of situations.
Physical violence is defined as “the deliberate use of physical force with the potential for causing harm (Intimate Partner …show more content…

Although Theodore Decker was in a couple fights in school growing up, Theo was not a violent person until his mother died and he had to move to Las Vegas. While in Vegas Theo witnessed his best friend Boris get beat up by his father. Because Boris grew up with his dad physically abusing him he then thought it was alright to hit his girlfriend Kotku, then asked he justify it as saying she deserved it. Eventually, as the story progresses Theo is hit by his father for the first time which will eventually allow Theo match Boris’s violent actions. “Without warning, my dad snapped out and whacked me across the face, so hard and fast that for a second I didn’t know what had happened. Then almost before I could blink he hit me again with his fist…” (Tartt …show more content…

This leads to Theo having a sort of PTSD after the bombing and also general anxiety about being in public spaces or that someone is following him. “…way more people than I was comfortable with given my general anxiety and hatred of crowded places,” (Tartt 608). Not only does Theo’s experience with emotional violence lead to his PTSD and anxiety but it also influenced him to continue or reestablish his drug and alcohol problems when he gets back to New

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