Similarities and Comparisons between 'All the Light We Cannot See' and 'Aftermath'
Simon Keller, a professor of ethics and political philosophy at the University of Victoria once said: “Patriotism is most fervently displayed in times of war and impending war.” War is inherently tragic, that is a known fact, however the way it affects those who fight in it has its pros and cons. On the upside, as Keller said, war leads to an increase in nationalism and patriotism, this benefits the nation as there is increased productivity, more volunteers for the military promote better governance and reduces levels of corruption. However, war has other physiological effects on people, especially on combatants. It's known for leaving them with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock. It causes combatants to re-experience trauma through flashbacks and nightmares, gives them a lack of emotions, and creates the tendency to avoid places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma. In the worst-case scenario, the combatants can be lead to suicide, at least 30% of World War Two veterans from all sides of the war have been diagnosed with PTSD. After the invasion of Normandy Beach in June of 1944, Saint-Malo was one of the first towns to be liberated by the American army. However, this was not without its consequences. The town was utterly destroyed by American and German artillery, pummeling the city with 8.8cm shells. This is the premise of Anthony Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See, as it follows the story of a French girl, named Marie-Laure, who fights with the French resistance and a German soldier, named Werner, who captures the city. This novel shares many aspects with the poem Aftermath. The poem takes the point of view of a German soldier after World War One, fighting in some of the most brutal battles such as the battle of Mametz, which was a precursor to the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest battle of World War One, over 1 million men died in the Somme alone. Both texts share many aspects but still maintain some differences. Whereas All The Light We Cannot See and Aftermath are different as All The Light We Cannot See both focuses on the civilian and combatants point of view of a conflict, as the fighting is still raging on, Aftermath is strictly focusing on the point of view of a combatant, after the fact, they are also similar as they both feature soldiers during a World War in Europe that are both feature the negative psychological effect of war known as PTSD and both have an emphasis on the theme of patriotism during a time of war.
During both World Wars, there was a term coined for those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it was known as “shell shock’’ believed to be a form of stress caused by the constant bombardment of artillery faced by many soldiers of the war. There was no support system, and unfortunately many of these men who had spent well over 5 years fighting, those who survived the bullets, bombs, shells, and gas, ended up losing their life at their own hands. Although not explicitly shown, we can begin to see the development of PTSD in the characters of both texts. Throughout All The Light We Cannot See, we experience Werner go from a bright young man, one who can repair any radio and build one out of nearly scrap material, and by the end of the book he ends up as nothing more than a pile of blood, flesh, and bones. Throughout the novel we can see him gradually develop PTSD as he ends up questioning what he is doing in this war, we can see this in his quote “And yet what order are they making out here? The suitcases, the queues, the wailing babies, the soldiers pouring back into the cities with eternity in their eyes—in what system is order increasing? Surely not in Kiev, or Lvov, or Warsaw. It’s all Hades.” Werner also has flashbacks of a dead redheaded girl and him ending up falling into delusion and believing that he is going back to Germany, only to walk into a minefield. These are two prominent examples of PTSD, not only that but him accepting that he might just die while stuck after the explosion of the 88mm is another symptom of PTSD. The book also treats this emotional damage in a very subtle way, not making very apparent that it has inflicted its characters throughout the novel, it is a subtle touch to the book to add that extra layer of depth, the text never explicitly brings up “shell shock” other than mentioning Marie Laure's great uncle, but simply calling him crazy in the quote “He is partially crazy, yes. He is maybe seventy-six percent crazy.”, which is a very accurate portrayal of what it used to be seen as nothing more than men just going crazy, and that again was a factor of the high suicide rates, because these men after fighting for years, those who were the most damaged got tossed to the side and called crazy. The tragedy of PTSD is also very apparent in the Aftermath, however in a different sense, while all the light we cannot see showed us Post-traumatic stress develop in a young man over the course of the war, Aftermath showed us a man suffering from this stress after his time-fighting in the Great War, this is apparent as we can see all the fighting left scars in him as he recounts them with such vivid detail such as when he said “As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?”, it seems he is having recurring nightmares of them, and his plea to be remembered is said in an almost crazy or maniacal way, signifying that he is broken, and he cannot endure these memories alone, needing others to remember. This is a common trait of sufferers of this disease, as many PTSD help groups typically try to have men in the same units, who fought the same battles, this allows the men to better talk and work through their horrific memories however it is important to understand that Aftermath would be a more truthful example of PTSD as the author if the poem fought in the great war, as a matter of fact, the character is a representation of him as all the battles he writes about, he participated in. Throughout both texts, we can see examples of post-traumatic stress disorder in our characters, for All The light We Cannot See it is developed throughout the book and we are shown how it developed in a boy, compared to seeing its effects developed into a man after his years of fighting.
It is evident that during times of national distress, emergency or during times of conflict the levels of patriotism in a given nation skyrocket. This was seen multiple times in history, such as when the Finnish military fended off the Russians in 1939, where after a year of fighting in 1918 between communists and monarchs, the country was at a divide between communist and monarchs, and yet when the Russians invaded they came together, because being a Fin overcame your political beliefs. This is also shown multiple times in All The Light We Cannot See. The first time we see it with Werner, volunteering in the Hitler youth program to fight for his country, although initially doing it to get out of working in the mines, however after he graduates he proclaims “It means duty. Obligation. Every German fulfilling his function. Put on your boots and go to work. Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer. We all have parts to play, little sister.”, showing he is excited to help his nation grow and throughout the book although seeing what's wrong with his actions, he continues to press forward and take more and more radios for the betterment of his country, to prevent allied communication with French resistance fighters. Not only that but the use of this phrase “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” is a direct quote from Hitler saying one nation, one people, one leader. This is in itself a very patriotic phrase, stating there is only one true nation, however only loyalists to the Nazi party ever quoted that phrase, showing Werners devotion not only to his nation, but to his leader as well. The second point in all the light we cannot see where we can see examples of patriotism are the French resistance in the city of Saint-Malo. People like Etienne, Madame Mennec and Marie Laure risked their lives for the French resistance, getting codes and sending them to allied forces, and sabotaging German equipment. This showed undeniable proof that the French people shown in the book are extremely patriotic, as they are willing to go through extraordinarily dangerous means just to keep their homeland free of Germans. Although Aftermath demonstrates many of the similar patriotism like aspects of All The Light We Cannot See, it does have its differences. Whilst Werner is showing patriotism to expand his nation, and Marie Laure is fighting to free her country, the protagonist here is fighting to save his country. This is evidenced as they mention the holding of Mammets, this was in 1916, right when the Germans began going from an offensive status to a defensive. During the defense of a nation, soldiers fight a lot more viciously, violently and brutally and this all goes back to patriotism. Our protagonist here is fighting to keep British forces from taking his countries land, this can also be why the poem takes such a dark turn, because instead of fighting on the offensive, in all the light, in Aftermath it's all defensive, instead of expanding one's nation, here the character is just trying to save it. So to close off, throughout the novel we can see examples of patriotism, through Werner and his devotion to the Wehrmacht, the French rebellion, and we can see it in the aftermath through the character's relentless defense of their homeland.
In conclusion, it is apparent that both texts have their similarities and differences, they both feature themes of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and patriotism caused by conflict. All the Light We Cannot See shows us the development of post-traumatic stress disorder in a character throughout 10 years, such as with Werner as we see him transform over time, showing signs of post-traumatic stress, and ending up dead due to delusions. This is a stark contrast to what we see in Aftermath where we do not see our protagonist undergo change, we see the protagonist after the war, giving us less perspective on what changed him. The second similarity they have is their use of patriotism throughout the text, whilst Aftermath shows us people vehemently fighting for the expansion or regain of their territory, through Werner fighting for the German army to expand German territory, or through the French resistance, fighting to regain France’s independence. This is a stark contrast to what is shown in Aftermath where the characters are fighting brutally to protect their homeland because of their love of it. War is a messy thing, it kills and destroys, but what it does better than anything is alter the human psyche, whether for the better or the worst.
