The paradoxes that Anthony Doerr explores are stimulated by the war-time context of the book, but he also suggests that the characters’ actions are motivated by their core values and their “normal” peace-time selves.
After Germany invaded France during World War Two, the Germans were not an abstract enemy across the border but the army of occupation with whom they routinely had to interact. The war was conducted not just on battlefields between soldiers but throughout all of France. In the situation that Doerr presents, many of the farmers were non-combatants but worked clandestinely as members of the anti-Nazi resistance.
The character of Werner embodies many of these paradoxes. He is a talented engineer who had hoped to use his skills and training for positive ends. However, he is forced to join the German military and is then sent to France. In his heart, he does not support the Third Reich, but he understands that working actively against the regime would constitute treason. Furthermore, betraying the cause on ideological grounds might bring temporary relief within France and perhaps hasten the war’s end, but meanwhile his actions would bring danger or death to his fellow Germans—many of whom share his reservations about the war.
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