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9. Edge of the World
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in All the Light We Cannot See, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
World War II, the Nazis, and the French Resistance
Interconnectedness and Separation
Fate, Duty, and Free Will
Family
Science and “Ways of Seeing”
Summary
Analysis
Von Rumpel goes to see a doctor, who tells him that his throat tumor has grown so serious that he has no more than three or four months to live. Shortly afterwards, von Rumpel receives a call from a man named Jean Brignon. Brignon had previously agreed to tell von Rumpel about Daniel Leblanc, on the condition that von Rumpel help Jean Brignon’s cousin. Brignon now tells von Rumpel that LeBlanc was arrested after trying to leave Saint-Malo. Police officers noted that LeBlanc had been making detailed drawings of the city. Jean has learned this information from a man named Claude Levitte. Von Rumpel considers this information. He wonders why LeBlanc would leave Saint-Malo: perhaps he had something valuable to take with him. Von Rumpel hangs up the phone without discussing Brignon’s cousin.
At the beginning of the story, von Rumpel seemed like little more than a comic-book villain. By now he’s a more complicated character, with his own sympathetic motives, but he still entirely plays the role of the villain in his quest for the Sea of Flames. Here, von Rumpel cruelly ignores his informant, dispensing with him as soon as he’s acquired the information he needs. He’s heartless, and seems to have almost no respect for other people.
Themes
