Meet the cast

In the first quarter of his book, Anthony Doerr depicts a bleak, hard world, hopping between the points of view of Werner Pfennig and Marie-Laure LeBlanc. After being introduced to the two protagonists on the 7th of August, 1944 in Saint-Malo, we follow them back in time, learning about their separate childhoods. Through the in-depth descriptions of the two characters pasts, Doerr carefully characterizes them and sets the scene for what is to come.

Marie-Laure LeBlanc:

Marie-Laure is the first character we are introduced to, and we sympathize with her almost immediately. She is a blind, 12-13 year-old Parisian girl. Throughout the first section of the book we get snippets of her life, sometime going into detail, sometimes skipping over large spans of time. Marie-Laure goes blind of her own accord, and, at first, has great difficulty with it. Her father, Daniel LeBlanc, is always close at hand, and does his best to accommodate for her disability. Daniel creates a wooden model of the neighborhood, and uses it to teach her how to navigate the streets of Paris. This game played between Father and Daughter, and the success the Marie-Laure has, is the first real indication of how she is as a character: clever and fearless. Although she is at first intimidated by how big the world seems without her vision, she overcomes her discomfort and is finally able to navigate home without the help of her father.

Marie-Laure faces two main conflicts in this section of the book. The first, which presents itself almost immediately, is her blindness. Ironically, very soon after she overcomes this conflict through her navigation ability and Braille reading, she is presented with a second one: the war. Nazi advances on Paris cause Marie-Laure to leave her home, and travel to her great-uncle Etienne’s house in Saint-Malo. There appears to be, however, a trail of bad luck following Marie-Laure. Daniel was entrusted with one of four versions of a priceless stone before his departure, with only one of them the real gem. The stone is called Sea of Flames, and is rumored to protect the owner from death, but at the cost of all those around him.

Werner Pfennig:

Werner is on the other side of the conflict. He is raised in a orphanage in a dismal German mine town called Zollverein. He and his sister Jutta spend their childhoods under that watchful eye of their caretaker, Frau Elena, from a French-speaking town in an area given from Germany to France in the treaty of Versaille. We join Werner a year after the fall of the Weimar Republic: hyperinflation caused the Deutsche Mark's value to drop to almost nothing, and food is scarce. This is the first year of what historians call the “Nazi era”. Werners last name, Pfennig, is, ironically, the word for a Deutsche Mark cent (100 Pfennig = 1 Mark). Similar to Marie-Laure, we are quite sympathetic for Werner, despite his residency in NSDAP-led Germany. Werner’s story is that of a true underdog: he had access to practically no resources, and is chalked up as nothing more the a mine-worker in waiting. This all changes for Werner when he finds a broken radio, and discovers he has a knack for working with them. Using spare parts he repairs his radio, and develops a thirst for knowledge. Werner uses his wit to devise numerous other inventions such as a “pulley system… alarm… [and] a machine to slice carrots.” He also teaches himself physics and mathematics in his “water-stained and forgotten” copy of Principles of Mechanics. Werner’s dedication to learning, and ability with devices show not only how clever he is, but also his resilience. Despite his poor upbringing, and assumptions from his peers that he was talentless, he manages to learn and thrive.

As things start to deteriorate for Marie Laure, Werner’s fortunes begin to improve. Suddenly there is food in the Reich, and the people seem a little les poor. Werner’s reputation as being good with radios leads more and more of his neighbors requesting his assistance, until finally A Nazi official named Rudolf Siedler recognizes his talent and recommends him for a school of the Reich’s best boys. Upon his acceptance to the school, werner makes the difficult decision to leave his sister Jutta behind, and in so doing loses a little bit of his innocence as he supports his decision to go with Nazi rhetoric.

In this section we see an interesting foil between Werner and Marie-Laure. While the tangible juxtaposition between Werner’s fortunes improving Marie-Laure’s worsening as the power of the Reich waxes is evident, the characters themselves contrast each other in many ways as well. Marie is blind, and inhibited in motion. This differs from Werner, who is very good with his hands, and relies on his physical abilities and speed frequently. Furthermore, Marie comes from a relatively wealthy, happy home, as her father is still alive and makes enough money for them to live comfortably. Werner, on the other hand, lost both of his parents and has almost nothing. These differences in their backgrounds result another difference of the two: their versions of reality. Marie-Laure’s blindness, cause her imagination to run wild, and she is often in her own world. For example, in 1944 while being bombed in Saint-Malo, Marie-Laure curls under her bed and says to herself “Ce n’est pas la réalité” - this isn’t reality. This contrasts with Werners very practical, realistic view of the world. This logic is shown when Werner works with radios, “envision[ing] the bouncing pathways of elections, . . .  RF signal coming in here, passing through a grid of amplifiers…” and eventually finding the solution. The two characters do, however, share a keen intelligence and desire to learn.