Summary
Part 2: 8 August 1944
32: Saint-Malo
The bombs start a fire in Saint-Malo that consumes the city. Doors and roofs are blown off houses and all the books in the library catch fire, as do mattresses and furniture. The beams of houses, some 400 years old, are aflame. The fire is so strong that objects are sucked into the fire. Malouins pray. Some flames are 300 feet high. The hotel of bees becomes almost weightless with fire for a moment and then rains down in little pieces.
33: Number 4 rue Vauborel
Marie-Laure is under her bed clutching the stone and the miniature house when the bombs hit. She feels as if there was a big tree in the center of the town that has been uprooted and is bringing the town with it. She cries out for her father. Then everything gets quiet; she wonders if her uncle, or anyone in the town, has survived. Then she smells the smoke and realizes her bedroom window has broken and there are flames outside. She focuses on breathing and calming herself, and says in French, "this is not reality."
34: Hotel of Bees
In the basement of the Hotel of Bees, Werner remembers the last things he saw before the light went out: Bernd closing the door and Volkheimer turning on his field light. The field light is thrown across the floor as they are all thrown. Werner's mind goes to a time when he was five and watched a miner dig a grave for two dead bony mules; Werner was wondering if the mules had anything left on them that he could eat. Then he is back in the cellar, his hearing buzzing, weights on top of him; he can't hear himself speak, and when he tries to get up the ceiling is low. He picks hot pieces of rock off of himself. The room heats up, and he feels like they are in a box thrown inside a volcano. Everything is black but for little wisps of red and blue light. He asks, "Are we dead?"
35: Down Six Flights
Marie-Laure realizes she has to go into the cellar. She replaces the stone in the miniature house and puts the little house in her pocket. She finds her cane but cannot find her shoes, so she goes in stockings. She counts her steps between locations as she descends the 6 floors, stopping to use the bathroom, stopping to drink water out of the full bathtub, and making sure that she isn't walking into any areas with fires. She puts on her uncle's wool coat, grabs half a loaf of bread and opens the cellar door on the floor of the kitchen. She notes the strong smell of stranded shellfish in the cellar, which is contrasted with the smell of fire from outside. She enters the cellar and closes the door.
36: Trapped
Werner sees Volkheimer scanning his field light over the wreckage. He sees twisted shelves and a pile of rubble that he realizes used to be the stairs. He watches Volkheimer go over to a pile of rubble and dismantle it, finding Bernd underneath, covered in dust, eyes voids, mouth open, but Werner cannot hear screaming or anything over the sound in his ears. Volkheimer sets Bernd in a yellow armchair that's still standing, then comes over to Werner. He touches Werner's cheeks and his fingers come away red. Werner says that they have to get out, and he watches Volkheimer’s lips say that there is no other way out.
Part 3: June 1940
37: Château
Marie-Laure and her father arrive in Evreux, which is a bleak sight: a man lying face down near market stalls; the latest newspaper 36 hours old. Arriving at Monsieur Giannott’s house they find it burning and being looted by young boys. The house was a grand château. One boy tells them that Monsieur Giannott fled to London. Marie-Laure's feet hurt and she can't walk anymore, so her father carries her on his back. He takes her to an abandoned barn and picks the lock to get in. He pretends to Marie-Laure that the barn is a hotel, that it smells of horses because a guest just brought horses in the lobby. Monsieur Leblanc gathers vegetables from a garden and feeds Marie-Laure. She asks if they are going to great uncle Etienne's house, the uncle who her father says is 76% crazy. Her father says Etienne is crazy because he saw Marie's grandfather die in the war, and got "gas in the brain" so he sees things that aren't there. Outside, it starts to rain.
38: Entrance Exam
Werner goes to the Entrance Exam for the National Political Institutes of Education with 100 other boys, held in a dance hall in Essen decorated with War ministry flags. They are told they are applying to enter the most elite schools in the world. They are all given white uniforms. He takes a test that has more to do with his genes and his family history than with his knowledge. They are also subjected to physical tests, where examiners watch them like livestock. After each day, the other boys are picked up by family members; he stays at a hostel. He thinks of Frau Elena, who said she was proud of him in a dazed way as she sent him off, and of Jutta, who hasn’t spoken to him since he smashed their radio. The next day he has raciological exams of his size and hair color and eye color, which are matched on a scale of other’s colors. His hair is the lightest, the color of snow. His vision is tested as well, and then there are verbal exams on their knowledge of history and politics. He continues to think of Jutta and how she acts as if he betrayed her. Day 3 is more physical tests, including jumping and running. On the last day, the very last test requires the boys to climb to a platform and then jump down into a flag held by the other boys. The first boy who goes hesitates at the top, then seems to faint and fall sideways down, almost missing the flag, and breaking his arm. When Werner goes he knows he must be strong. He thinks of how they will only take the purest; he also thinks of how he will be put to work in the mines if he does not make it. He climbs up and, without hesitating, jumps down and lands in the center of the flag; he gets up uninjured, yelling “Heil Hitler” and making eye contact with the examiner.
39: Brittany
Marie-Laure and her father get a ride in the truck bed of a furniture truck, with others who are fleeing. No one has seen a German yet. Marie-Laure hopes that all of this has been an elaborate test by her father and that they are really headed back to Paris, and all will return to normal. When they are close to Saint-Malo the truck runs out of gas. Marie-Laure walks part of the way and her father carries her the rest of the way. When they enter Saint-Malo her father narrates what he sees in the city of walls. She suspects that although he makes it sound new and magical, it is actually frightening. They arrive on the street of her uncle, which is completely dark and without people. It is the middle of the night. They ring the bell of the house three times and then rest. Monsieur LeBlanc pulls out his last cigarette to smoke. They hear footsteps inside.
40: Madame Manec
A woman named Madame Manec lets Marie-Laure and Monsieur LeBlanc into the house. She is astonished by their presence there, but quickly gets to work making them food. Marie-Laure observes the sounds of the kitchen, and Madame Manec's heavy shoes walking the floor. Marie-Laure finds Madame Manec's laughter and low voice kind. Marie-Laure is overpowered by the delicious smell of an omelette cooking. After, she eats canned peaches, two jars full. The adults talk of Etienne, the great uncle, and how he is doing. Monsieur Leblanc is grateful that Madame Manec offers him a cigarette. Marie-Laure can hear the sounds of the ocean outside, and thinks of how she is on the edge of Brittany, the edge of France. She drifts off to sleep.
41: You Have Been Called
Werner returns home and all of the children ask him what his experience was like, what he learned, and whether he got to fire rifles. With the money leftover from Herr Seidler he buys a new radio, one that can only receive Deutschland broadcasts (broadcasts from the state). Jutta has not spoken to Werner since he broke their radio, and she does not speak much to him when he gets back. Five days after his returns, Werner receives an official envelope stating that he has been called: he will go to Schulpforta. He shows the letter to Frau Elena and she states that the people here will be happy—but Jutta will not be happy. Townspeople come to congratulate Werner and read his letter. Jutta comes back to the house after an excursion with other girls and Frau Elena shares the news. Jutta immediately runs upstairs. A young boy named Siegfried shows Werner a picture of men flying airplanes, their scarves blown back by the wind; he says to Werner, "you'll show them won't you." Werner agrees, "absolutely I will."
42: Occuper
Marie-Laure wakes up to the sound of church bells and realizes she has slept most of the day. She looks for her cane and cannot find it. She calls "hello" out the door of her room. She explores the room; it has a tall window and a dresser. She can hear a roar that sounds like a crowd, but she wonders if it's the ocean. She notes she can feel the weather between her fingers. Madame Manec comes upstairs and leads Marie-Laure to the bed, and offers her a bath. Monsieur Leblanc went to see if he can send a telegram, but Madame Manec doubts he will be able to. She tells Marie-Laure she has worked at the house since Etienne was a child. Marie-Laure asks about her great-uncle Etienne, how he can afford the house (he inherited it), and where he is. He is on the 5th floor and never leaves the house. Madame Manec says the war changed Etienne and he does not feel safe outside the house. Marie-Laure stands on the bed, touches the window, and asks if the ocean is outside. Madame Manec agrees to open the shutters even though they are supposed to remain closed. Marie-Laure wants to know if there are snails in the sea; Madame Manec says there are. Marie-Laure is delighted because she has found snails on land but never in the sea. At dinner that night they listen to the radio, which lists off people who are trying to find or send messages to their loved ones. Her father says that no telegraphs are going out, and that the latest newspaper is 6 days old. Madame Manec switches off the radio but Marie-Laure thinks she still hears the radio coming from somewhere else. After dinner Marie-Laure and her father settle into the same bed. Her father tells her that the Germans are occupying France. She asks him questions about what this means: will they have to speak German? Are the Germans using their beds in Paris? She says that she hopes they can go back to their apartment in Paris and everything will be where it was. Her father does not reassure her.
43: Don’t Tell Lies
Werner cannot concentrate on his chores. He has lots of thoughts about what is happening next, and is also feeling some doubt, which he does not like because he feels this is his moment of escape. He prepares an argument to convince Jutta, but Jutta avoids talking to him. Finally on his last day he wakes at dawn and goes to Jutta's bed, where she is twisted inside her blanket in sleep. Above her are the drawings she has done. He wakes her and asks her to walk with him. She agrees. They walk to an area on a canal where they used to watch ice skaters race in the winter. He used to love the exhilaration of watching them speed by, but afterwards he would feel lonely and trapped in his life. He can hear the coal mine pounding away and can see the soot. He says to Jutta that the ice skaters did not come last year. She replies that they will not come this year either. She tells Werner that she used to listen to the radio from Paris on their little radio, and that in Paris they said the opposite of what Deutschland is saying: they are saying that Germany is committing atrocities. Jutta states that Werner will become like the other mean boys at the Children's House who joined the Hitler Youth. Werner says he will not be that way. Jutta is not convinced. “Is it right,” she asks, “to do something only because everyone else is doing it?” Werner feels doubt again. He tells Jutta he will be able to take her on a plane and fly her to parts of Germany she hasn't been to. She says, "don't tell lies." Ten hours later he is on the train.
44: Etienne
On the 3rd day that Marie-Laure is at Etienne' house, she finds snail shells, known as "whelks" (from her lessons with Dr. Geffard), outside her room. The shells lead in a path toward the door of her great-uncle Etienne. He invites her in and takes her hand. He apologizes for not being able to meet her sooner. She expects his room to smell musty, but it smells like soap and books. He has the entire floor to himself, with two windows facing the street and two facing the back. She can hear radio coming from all sides of the room, and he has her touch all of his 11 radios. He also demonstrates paperweights, a matchbox full of beetles, and fuses for his radio. He has many books. Although he does not own anything by Jules Verne, he does have Darwin. He begins to read aloud from a book, translating from English to French as he goes. Madame Manec brings sandwiches. Marie-Laure feels her uncle is kind and very sane. Marie-Laure feels warm, drowsing on the Davenport, listening to her uncle read.
At the telegraph office Monsieur Leblanc watches two German motorcycles, a black Mercedes, and two trucks approach the Chateau Saint-Malo, where the mayor awaits them. Twelve Germans emerge from the vehicles, looking tidy, with shiny boots, and one man in a field captain uniform approaches and enters the chateau. He speaks with the mayor through his aide de camp. They go to a second-floor window, unfurl a red flag, and secure it there.
45: Jungmänner
Werner arrives at his new school, which is a series of large stone buildings that remind him of castles. The air is pure and dust-free. He is given his various uniforms and told the strict rules. There are 400 recruits, ages 9-19. They will all carry a knife, and all learn to use a Mauser rifle. The boy in the bunk above Werner is named Frederick; he is from Berlin and knows a lot about birds, often watching and identifying birds out their dorm window. Werner is fascinated by all the equipment in the science labs. They have classes in phrenology (the study of skull size in relation to character), in which they discuss the purity of the German race. They also learn literature, history, science, and many other topics, in addition to the extreme physical training they do. Some of the other cadets come from rich families, or are sons of ministers, and talk in a slang that Werner has never heard before. He wants to belong; he has never before been a part of something so single-minded. They are like mounds of clay being molded into the same shape. There is a picture of the führer in every classroom. Werner focuses on memorizing routes to classrooms and lyrics to the nationalist songs.
46: Vienna
Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel is a Nazi in France, who is a specialist in gems. He is 40 and married, with two daughters, and he has been away from his family on duty for 2 months. Before the war he worked as a gemologist, evaluating gems and faceting diamonds. Now, he has been charged with the task of documenting the goods of value that the Nazis have found in France, such as a set of dishes with a diamond set on the border of each one. He takes these items, boxes them, labels them, and places them in a train car with 24-hour guards. The rumor is that the führer is collecting precious objects from all over Europe. Today von Rumpel is in a geological library in Vienna reading about the history of gems of cultural value that have existed in Europe. As he sits there reading, when he crosses his legs he notices a slight swelling that troubles his groin. He specifically is looking for the Sea of Flames.
47: Boches
Monsieur Leblanc says the Germans have shiny boots and weapons that look as if they have never been used. The mayor tells them the country is in mourning; they are not allowed to dance and they cannot go out on the streets at night. The women who come in and out of Madame Manec's kitchen tell of the Germans, or Boches, who buy postcards, candies, champagne, cheese, and butter. Marie-Laure feels like her life in Paris was interrupted in a parallel to her book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. She asks her father if she can go out, and he tells her no. She asks why they have to sleep in that small room, and not in the bigger room across the hall; they aren't sleeping there because that room belonged to her grandfather. Marie-Laure spends time learning the layout of the house. The first floor is Madame Manec's, and the kitchen is there. The second floor has an old sewing room and maid's room. The third is full of junk, things Marie-Laure can't always identify. The fourth floor has more clutter, along with antique doll houses built by her grandfather. The fifth floor is all Etienne's. The 6th floor has the small room where Marie-Laure and her father sleep, the toilet, and her grandfather's room. Madame Manec's friends who visit tell stories of people eating pets and pigeons in Paris, where things are very quiet at night and people have their car headlights painted blue.
48: Hauptmann
Dr. Hauptmann, instructor of technical science, gives all the cadets a box of parts, copper wire, a battery, screws, a sheet of metal, and other items, all parts newer and nicer than Werner has ever seen. He draws a simple circuit on the board and asks them to make it. Werner concentrates and is able to construct one quickly. Then, the professor notices Werner, tests the circuit, which works, and asks the class to make a motor. Werner constructs one in 15 seconds. The Teacher, a small man with almost translucent eyelids, watches Werner closely and asks him what else he can make. Weber lists a few items—a doorbell, an ohmmeter—and is told to make them all.
49: Flying Couch
Notices go up in the town that everyone must surrender their firearms or be shot. Farmers, hunters, and olds sailors come and surrender theirs in a truck that drives away. Monsieur Leblanc smokes constantly, and builds a model of Saint-Malo for Marie-Laure. She feels anxious about this because she does not want to stay in Saint-Malo. Marie-Laure visits her uncle in his room, where they play "flying couch." They sit on the Davenport and decide where they will travel to—Borneo, New York City, the moon—with her uncle narrating their adventure and adding details of smells and tastes of things like "moon flesh" (cheese). At the end of the adventure they pat the couch cushions and arrive home.
50: The Sum of Angles
Werner is called to Dr. Hauptmann laboratory. There he is greeted by long-legged greyhound dogs. He enters a room full of books, and is directed to add a log to the fire. He sees another cadet in the corner, 17-year-old Frank Volkheimer, who is known for his strength and his toughness. Dr. Hauptmann shows Werner a formula, and asks him to use it, giving him numbers to plug in. Werner concentrates on the formula and produces a correct result. Dr. Hauptmann says Werner will work in the laboratory every night, and Volkheimer will watch out for him. Finally, he tells Werner to breathe, saying that he can't hold his breath the entire time he's in his laboratory. He gives Werner a box of biscuits. Back in his bunk, Werner shares a biscuit with Frederick. Frederick reports he saw an eagle owl outside. Other boys urge them not to talk because the bunk master is coming. Werner imagines himself receiving a prize in a white labcoat. Werner listens to the terrified breathing of his dorm mates.
51: The Professor
One day while Marie-Laure and her uncle are reading Darwin, he stops and says that someone is there. She does not hear anyone at all. Etienne goes down to the kitchen, and Marie-Laure follows him. In the kitchen he opens a door in the floor that leads to a cellar, and tells her to hurry and step down. Marie-Laure is concerned there may be danger. Madame Manec comes and tells her nothing is wrong, and he tells Etienne not to scare Marie-Laure. Marie-Laure sits with Etienne in the cellar. His breathing is shallow and frightened. She asks why he does not go outside. He says it is because big spaces scare him. She reminds him that things he likes come from outside, such as the food from their lunch. He reads more of their Darwin book, and then suddenly she asks him what is behind in the locked door in her grandfather's room. He takes her upstairs and unlocks the door. Inside, a passage leads to the garret, which has a tangle of equipment and cables. This is Etienne's radio broadcasting studio. He broadcasts recordings that he and his brother made together; Etienne wrote the scripts about science, and his brother read them, because his voice was always admired. They originally were trying to sell the recordings to a studio in Paris, but later the studio lost interest. Etienne would broadcast the ten recordings, along with a Debussy piano song of his brother's, every night. Marie-Laure asks if any of the songs ever reached children, and Etienne does not know. However, Etienne admits he was not trying to reach children: he was trying to play them to his deceased brother. Marie-Laure asked if his brother ever responded, and he says no.
In between Chapters 51 and 52:
In a series of letters to his sister, Werner tells her of his work in the laboratory of Dr. Hauptmann, who is said to be connected with someone powerful, but part of the letter is redacted. Dr. Hauptmann tells Werner that the führer is collecting scientists to control the weather, and to send a rocket to Japan. Werner talks of how he is respected because Frank Volkheimer, or 'the giant', is with him. He tells a story of a national hero, Reiner Schicker, who was caught, tortured, and killed by the enemy; before he died, he said he regretted that he only could give one life for his country. Frederick has a comment about the story that Werner reports, but it is redacted. In another letter Werner tells of a hunting expedition in the woods, where Frederick returned with a shirt full of berries and ripped sleeves. He sends his wishes for Jutta and Frau Elena's coughs to improve.
52: Perfumer
Claude Levitte, known as Big Claude, owns a parfumerie on the rue Vauborel, the same street where Etienne lives. Although Claude doesn't usually earn much in his perfumería, lately he has been making money by paying farmers to butcher their stock, and he takes the meat to Paris via train to sell it at a high price. Doing this he has to pay off authorities and be strategic. On this day he is in his shop watching the German soldiers outside pass. He admires their efficiency, even though he knows he should resent them. He sees "the Parisian" (monsieur Leblanc) come out of Etienne's house and walk down the street to the corner, behind the Germans, looking up at buildings and taking notes. Claude feels that the occupation authorities will want to know about this, and takes note himself.
53: Time of the Ostriches
Marie-Laure counts the days since she has been allowed to go outside—121. She thinks of the radio signal crossing over oceans and reaching people all over the world. She hears stories in Madame Manec's kitchen of Parisian cousins writing to ask for hams and hens; meanwhile the parfumerie is smuggling meat to Paris, and the dentist is selling wine via mail. Monsieur Leblanc continues to build the model. She asks him if she can go outside, even just on his arm, but he says no. She thinks of the boys in Paris who told her the Nazis would take the blind girls first. The mayor announces a new tax, and people say he has abandoned them. It's the time of the ostriches, but Marie-Laure wants to know which ones—the German or the French—are the ones with their heads in the sand. Madame Manec falls asleep now at the kitchen table, climbs the stairs slowly, and during the day takes food out to the less fortunate.
54: Weakest
Bastian is the officer in charge of field exercises; he wears hobnailed boots and seems capable of great violence in Werner's eyes. He tells the cadets that they must drive the weak parts out of the corps, just like they are driving out the weakness from their bodies. Bastian picks one kid, Bäcker, and asks him to choose the weakest one in the corps. Werner holds his breath, worried that he'll be chosen because he is the smallest. Instead he chooses a slow runner named Ernst. The officer tells Ernst that he must race to the place where the officer is standing with a 10-second head-start. Then, the rest of the 60 boys have to try to catch up to Ernst before he reaches the officer. Werner stays in the middle of the pack as the boys gain on Ernst, knowing what will happen if they catch him. They gain on him and some boys begin to grab for him, but at the last moment Ernst reaches the officer.
55: Mandatory Surrender
A notice is issued in Saint-Malo that all people must surrender their radios or risk imprisonment. Etienne stays locked in the room Henri (his brother) while Madame Manec and Monsieur Leblanc pack up the radios. Some of the radios are very large or very old—Etienne had one of them specially shipped to him from the USA in 1921. Marie-Laure asks what the Germans will do with the radios. Her father says, they will send them to Germany; Madame Manec says they will pitch them in the sea. Even after they’ve taken the last radio and Monsieur Leblanc has carted them all, in 3 trips, to surrender them, Etienne does not come out. Marie-Laure wonders if the radio transmitter counts as a radio, and also realizes that her father and Madame Manec must not know about it.
56: Museum
Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel is in Paris, where he goes to the National Museum and asks, in French, to be shown the gems. He is introduced to the assistant director, and to a mineralogist named Professor Hublin. Von Rumpel is impressed by the collection, and by the amount of treasures they left behind. When they have finished showing him the collection, he asks to see the collections that are not on public display. The assistant director and Professor Hublin exchange a look and state that they have shown him all they are allowed to show him. They go to the assistant director’s office, and von Rumpel tells them he is specifically interested in a specimen that he believes has been recently brought out of the vaults. He states that he is very patient, and will wait to be shown the items they are not allowed to show him. He does not allow them to answer the door or the phone. Hours pass. Von Rumpel takes out his lunch of bread and cheese, and eats it without offering them any. Professor Hublin stands the entire time, although von Rumpel encourages him to sit. The assistant director takes out a manuscript and reads it, taking notes. As evening approaches, von Rumpel observes that the two men must be thinking of their children, who are getting out of school at this hour and will need to walk home alone. Von Rumpel knows the schools where the children go, and their ages. Von Rumpel tells them he knows the diamond is not in the museum, but that he wants to see where it was kept. He also says to Professor Hublin that perhaps he believes the myth around the stone. Hublin anxiously asks if their children are safe; von Rumpel replies that the children are safe if their parents wish them to be. Finally the assistant director declares that he's had enough, and calls in Sylvie, a woman who comes and brings them keys. Von Rumpel is surprised that his method worked so quickly—he feels he could have waited for days. The assistant director and Professor Hublin take von Rumpel to the back of the main floor, where behind a door they go down a corkscrewing stone staircases, through hallways and past a warder who drops his newspaper and stares. They reach an unassuming supply room with a simple safe, inside of which there is a second heavy box, with no apparent hinges or nails—it is just a block of polished wood. A key is inserted and two more key holes open on the opposite side. They unlock perhaps 5 shafts, until the box falls open and reveals a small felt bag. Von Rumpel directs them to open it, and the assistant director does, taking out a blue stone as big as a pigeon's egg.
57: The Wardrobe
There is a blackout order: no one can have lights on during certain hours. However, the hotel where the Germans stay has lamps on at all hours of the night. Marie-Laure hears her uncle finally leave his brother’s room in the night, and she goes to him to inform him of what has happened to his radios. She hears him go into his room and feel his empty shelves, reciting nursery rhymes to himself. She goes to him and leads him to the Davenport, she can feel his fear. She tells him she that she did not tell her father and Madame Manec about the transmitter in the attic. He suggests they turn it in, but the deadline was yesterday. Without using any light, they go into her grandfather’s room. Etienne uses an automobile jack to lift each side of the heavy wardrobe and place rags underneath the feet. Then, they move the wardrobe in front of the door that goes to the attic.
58: Blackbirds
Werner continues working at Dr. Hauptmann’s lab, calculating triangles as a way of improving the power of a directional radio transmitter he is building. Sometimes Dr. Hauptmann is talkative, and other days he is eerily quiet. Werner admires Dr. Hauptmann’s power: he has connections in high places. Jutta and Werner continue to exchange letters; he is not sure if she has forgiven him, and sometimes her letters have so many parts censored that they do not make sense. Volkheimer continues to watch over Werner. The other boys see him as The Giant, a brute, but Werner sees another side of him: when Dr. Hauptmann is not in the lab, Volkheimer will bring in a radio and play classical music. Werner wonders why Hauptmann needs him to calculate so many triangles. Hauptmann tells him to think of it as pure science. Werner tries to discuss his theories with Frederick, but Frederick is distracted and constantly chatting about birds. Ernst, the boy who was chosen as the weakest, leaves the school, as do two others, making the group of 60 into 57. Winter is coming and birds begin to migrate. Some of the older cadets sometimes practice firing their guns into the trees to watch the birds scatter, which Frederick hates. Werner does everything alongside Frederick, and seems to be watching out for him.
At the end of the chapter a telegram is displayed, December 10 1940, a duplicate of a telephoned telegram, with a message to M. Daniel LeBlanc: “Return to Paris end of month = travel securely=.”
59: Bath
Daniel LeBlanc has finished the model of Saint-Malo. It is not perfect, made of different woods and lacking detail, but it will do to help Marie-Laure know the city if needed. He is concerned about the telegram he received directing him to come back to Paris, and he isn’t sure if the message means he should bring the stone and Marie-Laure. He buys his train ticket and notices the man from the parfumerie watching him. Madame Manec says he is not to be trusted. Daniel has convinced himself that it is possible he holds the real stone: he has tested it in various ways, trying to scratch it with quartz, burying it in a flower bed, boiling it; he is concerned it has caused Marie-Laure and France bad luck, but feels idiotic for thinking so. On his last night before leaving he helps Marie-Laure with her bath, and washes her hair for her. He thinks of how he always felt he might be missing something as a parent, something that mothers on the streets in Paris seemed to know. He also feels very proud that he has been able to raise her alone, and that she has such curiosity and such resilience. She asks him if he is leaving. He tells her he will not be gone more than ten days. He brushes her hair after her bath, and she reviews the model of Saint-Malo. She asks if they have ever spent a night apart, and he says they have not.
60: Weakest (#2)
Winter begins at Werner’s school, the “castle” building of the school growing darker, and the cleanest snow that Werner has ever seen falling, free of coal dust. Two corporals come every few weeks to tell a cadet his father has been killed in action. Sometimes Bastian comes in and asks them if they are Homesick, and reminds them that all will go home to the führer in the end. Despite the cold and the snow, they continue their exercises with Bastian. On this day, he asks a boy named Helmut Rodel to choose the weakest; he chooses Frederick. Bastian asks Frederick if he is the weakest, Frederick replies he does not know. As Bastian gives Frederick his 10-second head-start, Frederick is distracted and and does not run right away. The other boys—some of them fast as greyhounds, harvested for their speed—catch up to Frederick before Frederick reaches the commandant. Bastian gives Helmut a long black rubber hose, and has him beat Frederick with it. While Werner watches his friend being beaten, he tries to focus on comforting memories from home, memories including Frau Elena and Jutta. Werner does not feel Frederick is weak: he is able to do many things that Werner is not. When the beating ends, Frederick is facedown in the snow. Werner rolls him over and sees that his face is bloody, one eye is swollen shut, and the other eye looks into the sky, following a hawk. Bastian tells Frederick to get up, and asks him if he is the weakest, to which he replies, “No, sir.” The group of boys continues running, singing a song, their rifles bouncing against their backs. Werner is almost 15 years old.
61: The Arrest of the Locksmith
Daniel LeBlanc is arrested when he is a few hours from Paris. He is questioned, first by French investigators and later by German ones, about his keys and locksmith tools, and about why he was noting the size of the buildings in Saint-Malo. They seem to be accusing him of plotting to destroy Chateau de Saint-Malo. In his jail cell they do not give him cigarettes, linens, or access to a telephone. He believes the museum will come rescue him and explain. He is imprisoned with some other French, Belgians, Flemings, and Walloons. They only talk vaguely of what they are accused of. After four days they are brought to Germany, over the river, which Daniel notes does not seem much different.
Analysis
Part 2 brings the reader into the immediate aftermath of the bombings, focusing on the point of view of Werner and Marie-Laure as they get their bearings. In Marie-Laure’s narrative of the bombing, a simile is employed to compare the event to an uprooting of a huge tree. Marie-Laure is miraculously safe in the top floor of her house, while other houses around her burn; not coincidentally, she also holds the Sea of Flames in her hands. True to the allegory of the Sea of Flames, it seems to Marie-Laure that alone in her house, she could be the only one surviving. Marie-Laure calls out to her father, “Papa,” repeatedly, invoking the theme of familial devotion that has been a strengthening force for her. At the same time, she tries to use the power of her imagination to escape by telling herself that “This is not reality.”
Meanwhile, where Werner is trapped in the basement with Volkheimer, the narration uses imagery through a metaphor, “We are locked inside a box, and the box has been pitched into the mouth of a volcano.” Werner gets pulled into a memory of a bleak scene where he watched a miner dig a grave for two dead mules. As he comes to, he realizes he is in a parallel nightmare: he, Bernd, and Volkheimer are trapped inside the cellar. True to the familial love and loyalty developed between the members of Werner’s team, Volkheimer is doing what he can to ensure the safety of both Bernd and Werner. Just as the suspense of the fire and being trapped, Doerr switches from August 1944 back to June 1940, thus building the momentum of the story.
Part 3 emphasizes theme of nationalism in Germany, especially in regard to racial purity. Werner is enticed by the ideology presented to him; this is because he wants to succeed, to belong to something, and to escape from his own fate in the coal mines. The ideology is sold to him as cruel and intolerant of impurity, and although Werner watches other boys suffer, his only thought is that he must not fail. At the same time, his family loyalty pulls at him: Frau Elena’s lack of enthusiasm for his achievements, and Jutta's feeling that he has betrayed her. Werner is striving to be pure by the Nazi standards, enduring cruelty in the name of the nation. In contrast, Jutta’s characterization appears as the truly pure one of the two, as when she asks Werner, “Is it right to do something only because everyone else is doing it?”
Once at Schulpforta, the narration employs metaphor and similes for how the boys are being inundated with propaganda. For example, one simile compares the boys to mounds of clay being molded into the same shape; another simile compares them to greyhounds, trained to run quickly. Even the purity of the setting of Schulpforta emphasizes the sub-theme of purity, with Werner continuously noting how dust free and pure the air is, and how clean the snow is. To strengthen their nationalism and oneness, nationalist songs sung during exercises use metaphor to frame the boys as the weapons defending their country. As the cruelty intensifies, Werner sees his friend Frederick subjected to the “Who’s the weakest?” test that the commandant Bastian has set up. Werner feels he can do nothing to help Frederick, so he retreats into memories of Jutta and Frau Elena—using his key source of strength, that of the familial love he has, and leaving Frederick to fend for himself. Despite these obvious cruelties, Werner shies away from doing anything to compromise his own status as the scientific prodigy of the cruel Dr. Hauptmann. Werner works closely with Volkheimer, and they start to develop a close relationship of an almost brother-like nature; Volkheimer protects him, and Werner looks up to Volkheimer in many ways, which is apparent as he writes Jutta letters full of nationalist stories, as if he were trying to believe them himself.
Marie-Laure and her father arrive in Saint-Malo, and her father once again uses imagination as escape, to try to describe the city in a magical way to Marie-Laure, and he also carries her. His love for her and her survival and comfort are his top priorities, even as he carries what could be a very valuable jewel. Madame Manec is characterized as kind and warm, continuing the theme of familial loyalty: she does not question Daniel and Marie-Laure’s presence there, and immediately takes them in.
Etienne, who is at first only characterized as being traumatized by the first World War, is introduced to Marie-Laure, and her view of him is more more nuanced than the person her father and Madame Manec described to her. Ironically, she can see more in Etienne than the adults around her can see: she sees his adventurous, intelligent, sane side, something that he shares genuinely. Etienne’s room is like a shrine to Science and Technology, as he has 11 radios and countless collections of items, such as beetles and books. The magic of science appears to live in the room of Etienne, as well as in his broadcasting tower in the attic of his 6th floor home. This room sets the scene for more imaginative travel for Marie-Laure, this time at the mercy of the Davenport, the couch in Etienne’s study, and Etienne’s wild narratives.
Overlap of Werner and Marie-Laure's narratives becomes clearer as Marie-Laure learns of the recordings Etienne used to broadcast in the night, hearing a short sentence from one about coal burning—a repetition of the same broadcast the reader saw Werner and Jutta tune into. There is dramatic irony in this moment, as the reader knows the source of the broadcast but Werner and Jutta still do not know the source of their one-time favorite broadcast.
Von Rumpel, the primary antagonist, is very exacting and patient in his methods of seeking the Sea of Flames; in the scene where he sits with the assistant director and professor, waiting for them to show him what they have, he hears in his head the advice of his father about being patient. Thus, the antagonist is also motivated and strengthened by the themes of familial love and memory. These chapters also introduce a foil to Daniel LeBlanc: Claude Levitte, a fat, unsavory, and selfish perfumer who is a collaborator with the Germans, one of the causes of Daniel LeBlanc’s imprisonment. Claude stands in physical contrast to Daniel, who is tall and thin with a loving and kind character.
Daniel LeBlanc is worried about whether the curse of the diamond stands, and conducted various tests on it: pulling in the theme of science as a way of discovering magic. Part 3 ends in suspense, as Daniel LeBlanc is imprisoned, thus continuing the momentum of the story, and bringing into question the “truth” behind the curse of the stone—a stone that, in a show of dramatic irony, the reader knows is in the possession of Marie-Laure.
