All the Light We Cannot See

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

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Part 13, Chapter 178Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 13: “2014”

Chapter 178 Summary

Marie-Laure’s grandson, Michel, who is nearly 12 years old, escorts her to the gazebo at the top of a nearby park. Now 86 years old, Marie-Laure marvels at the ways in which the world has changed, and the ways in which electronic communication has changed the world and shaped people’s lives. She imagines the souls of all those she has lost flying around just like those invisible electronic messages; still present if one could only hear them. She realizes that the world loses people for whom the

Part 13, Chapter 178 Analysis

The novel ends with the memories of Marie-Laure LeBlanc, now an old lady. Sitting with her grandson, Michel, who takes her to the park every week, she thinks about the connections that exist between people that are made possible by technology. She thinks of her lost family and friends, including Werner Pfennig, a boy she knew for only one day. However, Werner has had a significant impact on her life, not only by saving her life, but also by honoring her wish for the Sea of Flames: he returned it to the sea as she asked, but allowed her the choice, by keeping the key, of returning to retrieve it someday.