School Writing

All Light We Cannot See Excerpt Essay

The world can be perceived in many different aspects. Some perspectives say that the world is great. Others say it's horrible, and then there's those in-between. There are also people who just look at it all in general, and just choose to look at the good things. The girl, Marie-Laure is a blind girl but seems to look at things in a different light. She knows about the bad events, of course, she does; she's blind. However, that doesn't stop her from living her life happily. This central idea portrayed in the story is shown by perspective. Very much perspective.

Marie-Laure, as mentioned above, is a blind girl. Yet, somehow, she can still see. Children have asked her many questions, such as; "Does it hurt? Do you shut your eyes when you sleep? How do you know what time it is?" Her response is probably both unique, but also very true at the same time. Marie's response is that no, it doesn't hurt. The other answers aren't mentioned, but they could include, she can have a good sense of time while being blinded. When she can't feel the heat on her skin from the sun, or that she just asks someone. Then that yes, she probably does close her eyes in her sleep because if she didn't her eyes would hurt and would be very dry from not blinking or closing them. Other things mentioned, is how she can find her way around. She uses the sound of texture on the flooring, and she'll remember how far it is to this stairwell or this turn. "There is no darkness, not the kind they imagine. Everything is composed of webs and lattices and upheavals of sound and texture."

One indicator that changes the perspective a bit, is that she dreams in color. This is a big indicator that she wasn't blind when she was younger. When people are born blind, they dream in black and white, while others who weren't born blind, are able to also dream in color. "Bees are silver, pigeons are ginger and auburn and occasionally golden." This changes the persective because she's seen the bad. She knows that because she's blind. Her family is also either poor or in middle-class financially. This is proven when she tells her father: "Papa, it's too expensive." She understands a lot of what it's like to be frustrated. She must have been very frustrated with learning how to move around at a young age blind, probably just a few years after she learned to walk.

Marie-Laure; a girl who could previously see, and now cannot. From what the text depicted, it seemed that she looked at the most at things with a good outcome, thinking of the things she could be grateful for instead of moping on the things that bring her down such as blindness, loss of her mother, and possibly poverty. She focuses on things such as being thankful that she's not dead, she still has her father, and such. The perspective of one person can influence a thousand others, so do you have a good perspective?