Summary
Part 4: 8 August 1944
62: The Fort of La Cité
Von Rumpel climbs a ladder to a tower that looks out on the city of Saint-Malo, half a mile away, as it burns. He struggles climbing the ladder because of his swollen lymph nodes that make it hard for him to breathe. The two soldiers in the turret look out at the burning city, observing various things, such as the disappearance of the church spire. Von Rumpel looks at the fire through binoculars, trying to locate the tall house on rue Vauborel (Etienne’s home), which he sees has not burned. Von Rumpel returns to the fort below, where he sits with other soldiers and eats a tube of cheese. The colonel in charge has told them they will still beat the Americans, that reinforcements will come. Von Rumpel thinks of his swollen groin and his swollen lymph nodes, imagining a black rope has grown inside him and will choke his heart. He thinks of how he will wait until the fire dies down and then enter the house.
63: Atelier de Réparation
Bernd the engineer squirms in pain in the chair, something wrong with his leg and his chest. Werner’s hearing begins to come back in his right ear, but not in his left. The radio has been damaged and does not work. Volkheimer tries to unblock the stairway, turning his field light off and on again to try to conserve the battery, saying “Please” out loud as he works. Werner thinks the fire should have sucked out all of the air from the cellar by now, but it has not. The cellar used to be a corsair’s, then a place to store gold, then a room to do repairs, reparations, Atelier de Réparations; Werner thinks this is appropriate, as there are people who will think these three men have reparations to make.
64: Two Cans
Marie-Laure wakes up in the cellar, sweating in her uncle’s coat, with the small model house pinned below her. She does not hear anything outside; she wonders if the fire brigade is out there, or the Americans. She wants to go check, but then worries that the Germans might still hold the city. She thinks of where Etienne might be—coming back to the house, or plagued by his demons, or dead. She tries not to finish the loaf of bread, but she does because she is famished. She wishes she brought her novel. She explores the cellar, and in one corner she finds two full cans. She has memories of Madame Manec’s canning of peaches; she remembers her fingers sticky. She hopes that the cans contain peaches, or some other food, rather than oil. She tries not to think of her bladder. She thinks of Foucault's pendulum, and how she saw it at the Panthéon in Paris with her father when she was 8 or 9. She thinks of how the pendulum always swings, thus proving the movement of the world, and how it will keep swinging forever. She feels that she can hear the pendulum swinging in front of her now.
65: Number 4 rue Vauborel
Von Rumpel makes his way through Saint-Malo, limping. He sees shreds of different items, like a flower box and a dead horse. No one warns him away from mines. A schnauzer follows him briefly, and he only sees one other person—a woman holding a dustpan outside of what used to be the movie theater. On rue Vauborel, many roof tiles have fallen onto the street. He thinks of how he will enter the house, even if it burned, and pluck the diamond from the ashes. He reaches Number 4 and sees the list of occupants on the door: M. Etienne LeBlanc, age 63, and Mlle. Marie-Laure Leblanc, age 16. He thinks of the dangers he is willing to endure for the Third Reich; no one stops him from entering.
66: What They Have
Volkheimer tries to make Bernd drink from his canteen. In Werner’s duffel he has his childhood notebook, his blanket, socks, and three rations, the only food they have. They also have two half-empty canteens of water, and the sludgy water at the bottom of a bucket of brushes. Volkheimer has two grenades in his pocket, which Bernd urges him to use to explode them out—however, with the rubble, 8-millimeter shells, and close quarters, this would be suicide. Volkheimer has his rifle with 5 rounds; Werner thinks they would only need three, one bullet for each. Werner feels he can see somewhat in the dark of the cellar, that the dark is not completely dark. The white dust inside this cellar is like the inverse of the coal dust of his home town: his being trapped there like a parallel or inverse of his father being trapped in the coal mine. Volkheimer asks Werner about the radio, which Werner thinks is hopeless. He tells Werner they are running out of time, that life is worth living, and to think of his sister.
67: Trip Wire
Marie-Laure leaves the basement to relieve herself in the bedpan in Madame Manec’s room. She wonders if she should leave the house, and she wishes she could talk to her father. She finds a knife in the kitchen, and a brick, to open the cans. She tells herself that if no one has come by the time she finishes the cans, and if her uncle has not come home, she will go look for someone. She drinks from the bathtub on the third floor, then sits and positions herself to open the cans, but before she does, the trip wire behind her alerts her that someone has entered the house.
Part 5: January 1941
68: January Recess
Before the boys of the Schulpforta school leave for January recess, the commandant makes a speech to them about the emblematic fire they carry wherever they go. Frederick’s face still has bruises from his beating. He invites Werner home to Berlin with him for the break; Frederick’s mother pays the way. They take a train together to Berlin. It’s the biggest city Werner has ever seen. He thinks of all of the scientific discoveries made here, like x-rays and plastic. In Frederick’s apartment building there is an elevator, and Werner asks to ride it again and again, until a woman, Frau Schwartzenberger, enters the building and also gets on. She is a Jew, indicated by the yellow star on her collar. The boys ride the elevator with her, and finally get out on the second floor, while the “Jewess” continues to the 5th floor. A maid named Fanni answers the door and welcomes them in. Frederick’s home is full of thick carpet that absorbs sound. He goes into a room and puts on thick glasses; he says to Werner that he must have known about his poor eyesight. Werner isn’t sure he did, and Frederick reminds him of how he missed the target in marksmanship, and tells Werner how he memorized the eye charts and calibrated his binoculars to his eyes. Frederick’s face relaxes with his glasses on, and Werner thinks that this is how Frederick really is. Fanni feeds them cheese and bread. Frederick shows Werner his two-volume set of books filled with colorful bird paintings done by Audubon, an American ornithologist. The books are forbidden because they are not German, so they are hidden on a top shelf. Frederick’s mother comes home, observes his bruises, and welcomes Werner. They sit at the table and drink wine, and Frederick’s mother tells a story about a famous tennis player she met on the street. She puts makeup over Frederick’s bruises and takes the two of them to a bistro, a restaurant so fancy that Werner never would have imagined eating there. Werner feels warm from the wine. While there, women come by to greet Frederick’s mother, ask after her husband, and talk to the boys. Werner overhears Frederick’s mother telling one woman that the “Schwartzenberger crone” will be gone by the end of the year, and then they will have the top floor. Werner feels very uneasy; the restaurant suddenly feels overcrowded. Frederick asks if he is all right. After dinner they walk home and go to bed. Werner sleeps in a trundle bed that Frederick’s mother has apologized for, but it is the most comfortable bed Werner has ever slept in. Before they sleep, Werner asks Frederick if he sometimes wishes he didn’t have to go back; Frederick tells Werner that Werner's problem is that he still thinks he owns his own life. In the morning Werner wakes with a headache; he sees Frederick dressed and pointing out a small grey bird that has the ability to fly to Africa and back.
69: He Is Not Coming Back
Marie-Laure imagines she hears her father coming home, sitting next to her bed, but it is just the creaking of the house. After 20 days without him she will not get out of bed. She does not care that Etienne has been trying to get himself to leave the house the past few days; she no longer wants to go to the train station and ask the occupation authorities to find him, nor to beg Madame Manec to write a letter. She neither bathes nor eats, even though Madame Manec brings her delicious meals that she has pulled together from their rations. They receive a letter from the museum stating her father never arrived. Marie-Laure thinks of how he always said he would never leave her, and wonders why he did not come back. Everything in the house begins to scare her—the noises, the clutter, and the emptiness. Etienne tries to cheer her up by presenting science experiments. She overhears Madame Manec saying she is like a snail, curled up in her room. Marie-Laure is angry at everything and everyone.
70: Prisoner
The cadets are woken in the middle of the night and taken outside. There, volkheimer drags a thin prisoner in front of the group and ties him to a stake. It's February and very cold. Bastian tells them that the man escaped from a labor camp and tried to break into a farmhouse, and that he is an undersmenchen, worth nothing. Each boy must throw a bucket of water on the prisoner; the other boys cheer while they do it. The man slouches down and wrinkles the area between his eyes. Werner notes the growing uneasiness he has had since he was in Berlin. He has dreams of Frederick’s mother as a demon, putting Hauptmann's triangles over her head. In this moment Werner tries to picture nice images from his childhood, but only ugly images appear—of the coal crane at pit number 9, and of the boy at training camp falling from the platform. He takes his turn and is glad it is over. When it's Frederick's turn he dumps the water on the ground. Bastian makes him try two more times, but Frederick refuses.
71: Plage du Mole
On the 29th day that Marie-Laure's father is gone, Madame Manec comes to her room and tells her to come downstairs to go outside with her, and to bring her cane. Madame Manec dresses her in a winter coat and they walk through the streets. It is early in the morning so there aren't many people out. They walk through a small gate and go down some stairs, and Marie-Laure realizes they are going down to the ocean. She is impressed by the scale of the ocean, the noise it makes, and how it's bigger than any body of water she has ever been near. She hears a man down there yelling, but it is just someone yelling to their dog. Marie-Laure is scared that the occupation authorities might stop them, but Madame Manec assures her they are doing nothing wrong. She takes off Marie's shoes and has her roll up her sleeves. Marie-Laure walks for hours, touching the sand, gathering shells and rocks, and wading in the water; then, finally, they return home. Marie-Laure goes to knock on Etienne's door, covered in sand. He says he was worried because they were gone so long. Marie-Laure hands him all of the objects she collected for him.
72: Lapidary
Von Rumpel is in Paris and has been staying at the Grand Hotel the last week. He has evaluated many other gems and specimens. He thinks back to the moment when he thought he held the Sea of Flames in his hand, and it felt so powerful he almost believed the myths. But soon he realized it was a reproduction: it had no inclusions, something that all real diamonds have. He went to work finding the person who made such a high quality reproduction, and found a half-Algerian man named DuPont. Von Rumpel enters DuPont’s studio in the middle of the night and finds the evidence of the molds for the Sea of Flames. He has fake ration tickets given to DuPont so that DuPont is then arrested. Then, von Rumpel goes to visit him. DuPont is not in a jail cell: he is in an office with a secretary, handcuffed to a chair. DuPont appears to be physically fine, except for a crack in one of his glasses. Von rumple gets ready to question him.
Letter from Papa to Marie-Laure
In the letter, Daniel tells Marie-Laure that he has found an angel to deliver the letter to her. He tells her he is in Germany, and that the food they are giving him is unbelievably amazing. He tells her to be good to Madame Manec and Etienne.
73: Entropy
The prisoner is left outside frozen to the stake for a week. Boys go by to ask him directions, crows begin to sit on his shoulders, and eventually two 3rd-year boys and the custodian remove him. Frederick is chosen as the weakest 3 times in 9 days in their exercises; the commandant stands further away, counts faster, and Frederick is always caught and beaten. Werner does nothing to stop it or help him. Boys begin to put mice in Frederick’s shoes and smear excrement on his field glasses. All Werner does to help is shine Frederick’s boots and help him with his homework. In Dr. Hauptmann’s lab, Werner has tested their first transmitter. In the lab, one day, Werner asks Volkheimer about the prisoner, saying it is not decent to have left him out there even after he was dead. Volkheimer said they do not care about decency, and that they do that to a prisoner every year. In technical sciences, Dr. Hauptmann asks the students what entropy is; Werner answers correctly that it is the degree of randomness or disorder in a system. Dr. Hauptmann says the Third Reich is trying to sort out the disorder in the system.
74: The Rounds
Etienne protests, but Madame Manec begins taking Marie-Laure to the ocean every morning. Soon Marie-Laure can lead the way there herself. She collects many shells and other objects, and loves to stick her hands and feet in the tidal pools near at the north end of the beach. Only there is she able to stop thinking about her father—whether what he said in his letter is a lie, why he is in prison, whether he will write again. Marie-Laure arranges her shells in order of species and size, and her room begins to smell of the ocean. After the ocean, Marie-Laure goes with Madame Manec on her errands, getting food and then delivering it to neighbors in need. Marie-Laure learns how much energy Madame Manec has, and how she is able to concoct full meals without many ingredients. She meets different characters of the city, including Crazy Hubert Bazin, a veteran from the Great War who sleeps in an alcove behind the library. He lost his nose, eye, and ear in the war, and wears a copper mask over half his face; he tells Marie-Laure stories of the city. March is Etienne’s 60th birthday; Madame Manec makes clams and hard boiled eggs—the only two eggs she could find. Marie-Laure feels her life is more tolerable now, even though she misses papa. She examines the model of Saint-Malo, imagines all the characters she knows there, and then also imagines her father, outside of France, being offered platters of beautiful food.
75: Nadel im Heuhaufen
At midnight in the winter, Hauptmann takes Werner outside with his two dogs to test their transceiver. Volkheimer is somewhere in the area with the transmitter running, and using their two transceivers Werner has to figure out where Volkheimer is. Dr. Hauptmann drinks from his flask and appears giddy. Werner finds the transmitter signal and calculates the position of Volkheimer; he translates the position to the map, and they start out toward him, 2 kilometers away. As they make their way toward Volkheimer, Dr. Hauptmann talks of the moment as “sublimity”: the moment when one thing is on the verge of becoming another. Werner wants to stop and check the position again; they are half a kilometer away. As they come over a hill, Dr. Hauptmann sees Volkheimer first, then Werner—he is lying face up in the snow, with the transmitter at his feet. Dr. Hauptmann pulls his pistol and tells Werner that this is the moment in which he should not hesitate. He aims at Volkheimer, and for a moment Werner believes he will shoot him, but he shoots in the air, the dogs go to greet Volkheimer, and the test was a success. While Dr. Hauptmann relieves himself, Werner does an impression of him, making Volkheimer laugh—he seems more like a child and less like a giant. Werner feels high the next day from the success.
76: Proposal
Marie-Laure listens in as Madame Manec’s friends are gathered in her kitchen, discussing the issues they face with rations, and gossiping about other members of the town such as Big Claude and his wife, who are getting even fatter. Marie-Laure notes that they are giddy, whereas they should be serious and solemn. Madame Manec then deadbolts the door and reminds the women that they control a lot of the products and needs of the Germans in the city. The other women want to know what they’ll be doing; she says it will not be anything extreme. After that exchange, some women leave, and six stay.
77: You Have Other Friends
The bullying of Frederick worsens: someone puts shit on his bed. Werner throws himself more into his work at the lab; they do two more tests that go even better and quicker than the first. Even with his success, he feels he is betraying something. Spring is coming, and one day as Volkheimer and Werner walk back from a test, Werner realizes Volkheimer will be sent soon to war. When Werner crawls into bed that night, he asks Frederick if he is awake, and then tells Frederick that maybe he should go home for a break, so when he comes back the boys might have forgotten about him. Frederick’s reply is that they should maybe not be friends anymore. Werner says that is not what he meant.
78: Old Ladies’ Resistance Club
Madame Manec and her friends begin a series of small resistances: changing the orientation of a sign so it points in the wrong direction; burning an important-looking letter from Berlin; putting goldenrod in a bouquet that is going to the Chateau when the officer there is allergic; and putting dog poop on the brothel steps. The old widow Madame Blanchard participates by neatly writing “Free France Now” on all of the five-franc notes. Madame Manec is giddy with scheming, and is surprised she can feel that way at 76 years old.
79: Diagnosis
Von Rumpel goes to the doctor to have his health checked. Von Rumpel thinks of the 19th-century Davenport he examined and had installed on a railcar that morning, and how the person showing it to him described how he got it by plundering a Chateau—though instead of 'plundering', he used the word “shopping.” He thinks of other treasures he has seen lately, and imagines himself in the future walking through a Führermuseum full of these types of treasures, with the Sea of Flames in the middle. Von Rumpel is apparently one of the only Aryan diamond experts in the Third Reich, so he has a lot of responsibility. He has been examining fine art in addition to gems. The lapidary in Paris, Dupont, did not know any names, and made the Sea of Flames replicas out of a mold, stating he never saw the real thing. Von Rumpel now knows there are 3 fakes and one real, and he is looking to locate the remaining three stones. The doctor feels von Rumpel’s groin and tells him he will need a biopsy.
80: Weakest (#3)
One morning Werner wakes and finds that Frederick is not in his bunk. He hears rumors of what might have happened to him: taken in the night by older boys, made to test his eyesight by shooting or by taking an exam. Werner feels all the stories have contradictions. He goes to the infirmary to check there, though to be caught skipping lunch would bring punishment. There he sees a bed covered in blood, and the nurse tells him the boy was sent to Leipzig for surgery. Werner asks when he will be back, and she shakes her head. He sits down and thinks of Jutta, and how he’ll never be able to tell her about this.
Letter from M. LeBlanc to Marie-Laure
M. LeBlanc tells Marie-Laure the others in his cell are kind, that he is working on building a road, and that his “angel” is delivering the letter at great risk. He asks her, Etienne, and Madame Manec to keep sending him things, as it is possible a package may get through. He says he is safe.
81: Grotto
Marie-Laure and Madame Manec are with Crazy Hubert Bazin behind the library, and he asks to show them something. He leads them down some familiar streets, and then down a narrow alley. Madame Manec is anxious about where he is taking them. He unlocks a gate, and states they are underneath one of the granite walls. The floor in the narrow area slopes down toward water. Madame Manec declares it is gloomy, but Marie-Laure wants to see what is inside. Hubert shows her bunches of snails, a sea star, a dead crab, and mussels. He tells them that this area used to be a kennel for mastiff dogs that guarded the beach from soldiers, possibly as far back as 1165. The water is only ankle-deep in most parts. As a child, Hubert, Marie-Laure’s grandfather Henri, and Etienne used to play here. When they leave, Hubert gives Marie-Laure the key.
82: Intoxicated
Frederick never comes back; he had a broken jaw and brain trauma. Werner sees his mother come and collect his duffle bag, Frederick's bed is filled with another cadet. The führer announces Operation Typhoon, the intention of taking over Russia. Volkheimer goes to war and there are rumors of him cutting off Russians' fingers and smoking them. Werner feels like all the cadets at Schulpforta are drunk, with the fervor that they throw themselves into their exercises and games. Werner misses Jutta and her sense of what is right, but he also resents her. Sisters are supposed to be sweet and rosy-cheeked, people you fight for. She writes him letters that are almost completely blacked out by the censor. He is only protected because he works for Hauptmann. The transceivers have begun to be sent out to be used and tested. In the lab Werner fixes the ones that come back broken. Hauptmann sometimes goes away for weeks at a time. Bastian tells the boys not to trust their minds, filled with questions, because they need clarity. Werner writes one short letter to Jutta stating he is fine. One night alone he tries to listen to the radio, to find the music Volkheimer used to listen to, but there is nothing but static.
83: The Blade and the Whelk
Marie-Laure and Madame Manec meet a man named Rene at the Hotel Dieu. Madame Manec says her name is Madame Walter and that Marie-Laure is her accomplice. Rene and Madame Manec talk, and Rene tells Madame Manec in a low voice what information is needed: the different types of license plates entering and leaving the city. Marie-Laure cannot hear all the info that is exchanged. She wonders if they pantomimed or exchanged notes. They go home and Madame Manec gets out the canning supplies—she has two rare boxes of peaches. As they can the peaches, Marie-Laure asks what a pseudonym is, and chooses one for herself: The Whelk. Madame Manec choose The Blade for herself. They laugh.
In between Chapters 83 and 84:
Werner receives a letter from Jutta that says she is working at the laundry with other girls where they mend clothing. People bring in all types of fabric to be used because of the shortage. Jutta sends Werner his old childhood notebook. The notebook is filled with his childhood questions and inventions. He feels an intense wave of homesickness.
84: Alive Before You Die
Madame Manec talks to Etienne about his joining in with her efforts. He expresses his fears of getting arrested; he worries that even opening the window will get him in trouble, but Madame Manec leaves it open. Etienne is worried about who can be trusted, and says that the only people who can be trusted are people with your same blood running through their veins. Marie-Laure listens in, and she realizes Madame Manec has been allowing Etienne's fears all his life. Madame Manec says Etienne can help by reading numbers into his old transmitter in the attic. They will get the numbers from Madame Ruelle, who will get them from Crazy Hubert and then bake them into her bread. He protests that no one will hear the transmissions, but Madame Manec says people do still have hidden receivers. She asks him if he wants to live a little before he dies. Marie-Laure listens outside the door. She thinks of how she used to ride on the back of her father’s bicycle through Paris. Etienne says he needs to get back to his book.
85: No Out
In January 1942, Werner goes to Dr. Hauptmann and tells him he would like to go home. Dr. Hauptmann is surprised, especially because he has been giving Werner special treatment: he gets to eat chocolate and sit in the laboratory by the fire. Werner observes in Dr. Hauptmann something pitiless and inhuman. Dr. Hauptmann accuses Werner of believing he is something now, and reminds him he is an orphan with no family, that he can have him sent to the trenches to be fed to Russians. He directs him to come to the lab that night as usual, and informs him that the special treatment will stop. Werner imagines the moment of his father’s death, being crushed in the mine, and realizes he wants to be neither here nor at home.
86: The Disappearance of Hubert Bazin
When Marie-Laure and Madame Manec go to deliver soup to Hubert, he is not there. The woman at the library does not know where he is, and he does not return. She calls a meeting with her group and only half the members attend. Some ask if Hubert was working delivering messages. They suggest maybe they should hold off for a while because it is getting dangerous. Marie-Laure wonders where they take people when they disappear—a Gasthaus like where her father is, perhaps? Some say they are sent to factories in Russia, or to camps in the mountains, or they just disappear. Every time she goes outside she feels the quiet there, unnatural, not knowing what might be watching.
87: Everything Poisoned
New silk banners appear in the cafeteria with nationalistic sayings; one talks of being slender. Werner finds worms in his sausage more than once. The electricity surges and goes out, the water in the showers is cold, and the instructors are called to war and replaced by townspeople with short tempers, many of them veterans from the Great War. Cars rarely come there, and food is delivered by a skinny mule. The two men who deliver news of dead fathers continue to come and tell cadets of their fathers' deaths; one cadet appears to be proud of his father for dying for his country. The commandant tells the cadets of what the führer needs: electricity and boot leather. However, Werner realizes that what the führer needs is boys, and men, to die in the war. In March 1942 Dr. Hauptmann calls Werner in his lab to tell him he has been called to Berlin.
88: Visitors
The bell rings while Etienne Marie-Laure and Madame Manec are having dinner. Two French policemen sent from the national museum are outside. One eats an apple. They sit at the table and refuse food. They say that they are not sure which German prison her father is at. They do not know if he is guilty, but he was accused of theft and surely was not given a trial. Although their French is perfect and they seem to be Frenchmen, Marie-Laure wonders if they can be trusted, because they are not family, as Etienne mentioned. They want to know if they can see the things Daniel Leblanc left behind. Etienne allows them to search the house. They look inside the big wardrobe on the 6th floor and they glance at the model of Saint-Malo in Marie's room. They warn Etienne for having 3 French flags rolled up, and he burns them after they leave. He tells Madame Manec that she can no longer have meetings in his house, and that she is forbidden from allowing Marie-Laure to participate with her.
Between Chapters 88 and 89:
Letter from Werner to Jutta, describing the lack of paper to write on, and the electricity outages. He says that Frederick was right; he goes to say what his problem is, but the rest of the letter is censored, except for the part saying, "I hope someday you can understand."
89: The Frog Cooks
Madame Manec treats Etienne and Marie-Laure coldly, like strangers. She still goes to the beach with Marie-Laure, but seems absent. She is out for much of the day. Marie-Laure and Etienne sit in the kitchen, and Etienne reads to Marie-Laure from a book on snails. The book says that snails can survive being in a block of ice, being dry in a matchbox for years, and can generate more shell material if their shells are damaged. Etienne exclaims that there is hope for him yet. He suggests that the two of them begin dinner because he does not think Madame Manec will come home. Neither of them does anything. Madame Manec returns and cooks potatoes; the tension in the room makes Marie-Laure dizzy. Madame Manec asks them if they know what happens if they put a frog in boiling water. She tells them: it jumps out; however, if a frog is put in cool water and then boiled, it gets cooked alive.
90: Orders
Werner is called to the office and told by the commandant’s assistant that his age was recorded wrong: he is actually 18 years old, not 16 years old. Werner is aware that this is an absurd assertion, as he is still very small for his age. The man tells him that Dr. Hauptmann called their attention to this fact, and that Werner is needed in a technology division in Wehrmacht. The commandant had urged disciplinary action, but Dr. Hauptmann convinced them that Werner would be useful. The man hands him a helmet and tells him he will be given instructions in a fortnight.
91: Pneumonia
In spring, Madame Manec gets sick. The doctor prescribes rest aspirin and aromatic violet comfits. Madame Manec talks about how she is in charge of the world, that it is a big responsibility controlling every leaf that falls, every baby born. Etienne is a kind nurse, wrapping her in blankets; eventually, when she continues to shiver, he uses the rug to keep her warm.
Letter from Daniel LeBlanc to Marie-Laure: he tells her that he received her two packages, and that they would not let him keep the soap. He is now at posted at a cardboard factory. He reminds her of how there used to be two things on the table on her birthday, if she ever wishes to understand, he says, she should look inside Etienne’s house. He says his angel is leaving, so he will try to get the letter to her.
92: Treatments
Von Rumpel receives treatment for his lymphoid tumors. The injections make him weak and dizzy, and also cause him to have confusion and trouble concentrating. In his hotel, wrapped in blankets, he unwraps a parcel that came from the Vienna library, where the librarian located a number of texts that contained information on the Sea of Flames—about the prince, and about the goddess who fell in love with a god. He closes his eyes and see a tongueless priest say “the keeper of the stone will live forever,” and then he hears his father’s voice tell him to see obstacles as opportunities.
93: Heaven
Madame Manec gets better for a few weeks and promises Etienne that she will stop her activities. Marie-Laure goes with Madame Manec on a walk to a market, and is certain that Madame Manec exchanged an envelope with a woman they passed on the way. They stop at Madame Manec’s suggestion to lie down in a field of weeds, filled with the wildflower Queen Anne’s lace. Marie-Laure listens to the bees and wonders how they know their role in things. Etienne taught Marie-Laure to distinguish insects by their sounds. She asks Madame Manec what she looks like; Madame Manec tells Marie-Laure she has thousands of brown freckles. They talk about what heaven is like and whether they will see God, even though Marie-Laure is blind. Etienne does not believe in heaven, but Marie-Laure wants to know if Madame Manec does. Madame Manec coughs. As the grasses and Queen Anne’s lace sway around them, Madame Manec says she thinks heaven would be a lot like this.
94: Frederick
Werner spends the last of his money on a train ticket to Berlin, where he goes to visit Frederick. Berlin appears gloomy despite the sunshine. Before he goes in, he goes around the block twice. He rings Bell Number 2 and then realizes their name is now on Bell Number 5, where the Jewish woman Frau Schwartzenberger used to live. He goes up and Fanni opens the door. Then Werner’s mother comes out, in tennis clothes, and, after a moment of reverie, greets him. She tells him Frederick will not recognize him, but to go in, and she leaves. Werner goes in and sees Frederick sitting at a table with a placemat in front of him, having apparently just been being fed. Fanni comes in and feeds him a few more bites, then cleans his face and clears the placemat. Frederick draws heavy spirals on paper. Werner asks Fanni for the bird book and looks around for it, but she insists they never had a book like that. Werner notes that the 5th-floor apartment is nicer than the 2nd floor. Werner tells Frederick he is going to the front. Frederick says to Werner, “You’re pretty, mama.” Werner listens to the stillness of the city, and thinks of all the birds Frederick used to know. He cannot bear to look into Frederick’s stagnant gaze.
95: Relapse
Marie-Laure wakes in June 1942 and Madame Manec is not in the kitchen as she usually is. She knocks on her door, waits, and then enters. She hears Madame’s rattling breath, smells sweat and urine, and when she touches her face she feels as if she is scalded. She runs to get Etienne. He calls in the doctors and Madame’s friends, who all come over. Marie-Laure feels the first floor is too full; she paces the stairs. At 2 pm the doctor comes with a man who smells of dirt and clover who lifts Madame Manec and puts her on a horse cart, as though she were a bag of oats. Marie-Laure finds Etienne in the corner of the kitchen, whispering, “Madame is dead.”
Analysis
Von Rumpel’s cancer, which was briefly foreshadowed in Chapter 46, is diagnosed in Chapter 79, and discussed in its final stages in Chapter 62. His cancer is a metaphor for the darkness or evilness inside him. Even the imagery he uses when thinking of how his cancer—“A black vine that has grown branches through his legs and arms”—has an evil tone. Von Rumpel’s dark intentions in finding the Sea of Flames, against all odds, have surfaced.
Motifs of vision and sight are explored as Werner, Volkheiemer, and Bernd are trapped in the dark cellar, with only Volkheimer’s dying field light to illuminate their surroundings. Despite this, Werner begins to believe that he can see in the dark, a metaphor for his ability to see the good within himself despite the darkness or evilness of the Nazi party. Thus, Werner begins to link the former name of the cellar—in French, "atelier de reparation"—to his current emotional state of realizing he has been part of atrocities. The word "reparation," in addition to meaning "repairs" in French, can mean "reparations" or "atonement," which is apt for Werner's situation.
In Marie-Laure’s narrative, she finds the only two remaining cans of food in the house; once again, survival occurs through family, love, and loyalty. This loyalty is also expressed through the utility of the alert system designed by Etienne to keep them safe: now, having the system is key to the survival of Marie-Laure. Meanwhile, Volkheimer is caring for the injured Bernd, and reminding Werner that life is worth living; the love and family loyalty he has developed for them thus also influences their survival.
As Part 5 begins, Werner goes to Berlin for the first time, experiencing the excitement of the city, as well as Frederick’s rich lifestyle; the culture contrast for him is jarring, between what he has known and what he sees there. In Frederick's building, Werner meets the only Jewish person named in the book, Frau Schwartzenberger, who appears poor and timid in contrast to Frederick and his family’s luxury lifestyle. Werner finds himself feeling uneasy about the attitude toward her. As Werner becomes more aware of his uneasiness surrounding the discrimination encouraged by the nationalist attitude that is worn proudly by Frederick’s mother, Werner’s first deep doubts about his choices begin to surface. But when Werner expresses his doubts to Frederick, Frederick tells him that his problem is that he still thinks he owns his life—thus, Frederick represents someone who has already been brainwashed past the point of doubting his participation in the Nazi regime.
In Chapter 70, the theme of cruelty of the name of nationalism is horrifyingly described. This chapter marks a more definite turning of Werner’s awareness of the cruelty that the school is fostering in the boys. “We are a volley of bullets, sing the newest cadets, we are cannonballs. We are the tip of the sword” (Ch 82). Werner compares the state of the boys to intoxication, as if they were drunk or high on nationalism. As his doubts build, he thinks too of Jutta, and her opposition to his going there; at the same time, he also blames her for his not fitting in perfectly, and for his having these doubts. He that “Perhaps she’s the impurity in him, the static in his signal that the bullies can sense.”
Although Frederick said to Werner that they do not own their lives, in Chapter 70, it is Frederick who makes a choice by not throwing the water at the prisoner—one of the first examples of a humanist decision, starting the development of this theme where the characters have a choice in their own destiny and the destiny of other humans, meaning they can choose goodness. Sadly, Frederick’s fate is determined by his action: later in the book, the phrase “What the war did to dreamers” arises as a direct reference to Frederick; because he made the humanist choice, he was tortured and beaten, and never was the same thereafter.
As the war progresses, the theme of science and technology becomes more complicated. While it was initially magical for Werner, at Schulpforta he sees how it is being used by the Third Reich for their purposes; as a demonstration of this, Werner dreams of an image of a demonic version of Frederick’s mother putting Dr. Hauptmann’s triangles over her head. The scientific concept of entropy also builds on the complicated theme of science and technology, as it crosses with the cruelty of German nationalism: Dr. Hauptmann says the Third Reich is trying to sort out the disorder in the system, the implication being that the non-Aryan people are that disorder. And yet, paradoxically, this entropy seems to be increasing, as Werner observes in Chapter 87: everything is poisoned, where they have limited electricity and food supplies, and many boys are losing their fathers in action.
"The time of the ostriches" is the title of Chapter 53; an extended metaphor implying that Etienne, Marie-Laure, and Madame Manec have had their heads in the sand while the world around them continues. As Marie-Laure deals with the disappearance of her father, she embodies the symbol of the whelk: Madame Manec says she is like a snail, curled up in her room. Marie-Laure recovers from the loss of her father only because of the family that has grown up around her. Formerly, her family was only her father; now it contains Madame Manec, Etienne, and the characters in the town she has begun to meet. Through this, she is able to discover the grotto, where she finds much peace among the snails.
As a way of pulling their heads of out the sand, Marie-Laure and Madame Manec find new life together, surviving the occupation by joining the French Resistance. Adding to the theme of nationalism, French nationalism contrasts with German nationalism. Marie-Laure wants her pseudonym to be the Whelk, a creature that is symbolic for Marie-Laure’s resiliency and toughness. Although she is inside her shell—the shell being the house and her blindness—she is strong and determined.
As Madame Manec gains courage and strength in her nationalist resistance activities, she encourages Etienne to join. She asks him if he wants to live a little before he dies, which is an understatement: he has lived for many years, but has not experienced a lot of action in the past 20 years stuck inside his house. Madame Manec is trying to assist Etienne in his survival out of her loyalty to him. Later she uses the metaphor about the frog—put in boiling water it jumps out, but in a pot slowly being warmed and the frog cooks—to demonstrate to Etienne why he needs to participate in the resistance. Although Etienne later wonders whether this metaphor was meant to describe her or the Germans, the other possibility is that this metaphor describes himL he, doing nothing, in a pot slowly boiling, with slowly die, rather than fighting back against the occupation of his country.
Part 5 ends with Madame Manec’s death. Now Marie-Laure has lost two of the parental figures in her life: her father and Madame Manec. Although she does not know at this point that she is the one carrying the Sea of Flames, the curse seems to be somehow affecting her still. In Werner’s narrative, he is forced to join the Wehrmacht, and goes to tell his brain-damaged friend Frederick of his fate. Again, Doerr has effectively used the time structure of the book to create momentum between the narratives of the climax and the events leading up to it.
