Section Two brings the reader back into the height of the war. Marie-Laure, stuck in the middle of a bombing, is all alone in a house. Werner is in a hotel basement that is crumbling away. The explosion has caused him to temporarily lose hearing. Marie-Laure is able to make it to the cellar of the house she’s in, a safer place for her to wait out the bombing. Werner is supposedly completely trapped. Only Volkheimer is able to make efforts in regards to their safety.
Chapter 32 Saint-Malo
Chapter 33 Number 4 rue Vauborel
Chapter 34 Hotel of Bees
Chapter 35 Down Six Flights
Chapter 36 Trapped
- The Americans have finished bombing the city
- Everything has been destroyed, even the Hotel of Bees
Chapter 33 Number 4 rue Vauborel
- Marie-Laure is curled under her bed with a stone in her hands
- She begins to call for her “Papa”
- The house crumbles around her and the ground is violently shaking
- She smells smoke, but knows that the house she is in has not yet caught fire
- She stays under the bed and works on calming herself
Chapter 34 Hotel of Bees
- Werner is in the most secure part of the Hotel of Bees
- The bombing has caused the lights to go out and him to fall on the ground
- The room is getting very hot and they could die due to the fires that are starting
- He then asks if they are dead
Chapter 35 Down Six Flights
- Marie-Laure puts the stone back into the model house and puts the house in her pocket
- She looks for her shoes but can’t find them, so she leaves the house without any shoes on
- She takes Etienne’s coat and a loaf of bread
- Marie-Laure leaves the house and gets to a cellar
- She gets into the cellar
- She makes sure that the model house is still in her pocket and she is relieved that it is still there
Chapter 36 Trapped
- Werner is lying on the floor of the Hotel of Bees
- Slowly, light emerges and Werner does not know where it is coming from
- Werner sees Bernd screaming
- Volkheimer closes Bernd’s mouth
- Werner realizes that Volkheimer is using a military-issued light
- The door is blocked by debris
- Werner tells Volkheimer that they need to get out
- Volkheimer tells Werner that there is no way out