Chapter 62: The Arrest of the Locksmith
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Marie‑Laure’s father, the locksmith of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, is seized by two French plain‑clothes policemen as he steps off a train outside Vitré, hours from Paris. He is first questioned by French interrogators and then by Germans, who brandish his notebook of architectural measurements, his tool case, and a ring of seven skeleton keys. They accuse him of plotting to destroy the Château de Saint‑Malo—a charge he cannot understand. After a night in a cell, he is driven to a holding pen near Strasbourg, where he huddles with about thirty other prisoners—French, Belgian, Flemish, Walloon—all accused of vague crimes. The prisoners whisper that they will be sent to Germany for only a few months of labor. The locksmith yearns for cigarettes and imagines kissing Marie‑Laure on the eyes while she sleeps. No help arrives from the museum. On the fourth day, all are loaded into a cattle truck and driven east across the river into Germany. The locksmith stares at the snow‑dusted fields and thinks it may as well be the edge of a cliff.
Key Events
- Marie‑Laure’s father is arrested outside Vitré by French and later German police.
- Interrogators use his skeleton keys and architectural notebook as evidence of alleged sabotage plans against the Château de Saint‑Malo.
- He is held overnight in a cell with antique locks and hinges.
- The next morning, a second interrogation occurs with a typist recording; the Germans seem more interested in their questions than his answers.
- He is transferred to a holding pen near Strasbourg, where about thirty men are kept on straw over frozen mud.
- Prisoners whisper that their deportation to Germany will last only a few months.
- The locksmith receives no communication from the museum, no lawyer, and no chance to write letters.
- After three days, all prisoners are loaded onto a cattle truck and driven east into Germany.
Character Development
- Marie‑Laure’s father (the locksmith): Though rarely named directly in the novel, this chapter deepens his portrayal as a resourceful but powerless man. His professional skills (locksmithing, architectural knowledge) are twisted into evidence against him. His love for his daughter is shown through his imagined act of kissing her eyes while she sleeps, and every hour becomes a prayer for her. He endures the arrest with stoicism, but his helplessness grows as no rescue comes.
- The interrogators: The French police are complicit in passing him to the Germans. The German interrogators are impersonal and laconic, more interested in their own process than in truth. Both groups treat the locksmith as a suspect without due process.
- The other prisoners: Represent the countless people swept up by the occupation—French, Belgian, Flemish, Walloon. They are fearful, distrustful, and whisper rumors to keep hope alive. Their anonymity emphasizes the scale of arbitrary detentions.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Arbitrary justice: The arrest is based on nothing more than a locksmith’s tools and a notebook of measurements. The charges (plotting to destroy the Château de Saint‑Malo) seem concocted. The absence of a lawyer, tribunal, or phone call shows how normal legal protections have vanished under occupation.
- Fragile hope vs. despair: The prisoners cling to the rumor that they will be gone “only a few months” for spring planting, even as their cattle‑truck transport suggests a far bleaker fate. The locksmith’s internal prayer for Marie‑Laure is the one thread of light in his darkness.
- Boundaries and borders: The river between France and Germany is crossed without ceremony. The locksmith notes that Germany looks “no different” from the French side, yet it feels like “the edge of a cliff”—a threshold into the unknown.
- Locks and keys: The tools that defined his professional life are now evidence of supposed criminal intent. The cell’s “Louis XIV” lock and hinges mock his own mastery of locks; he is now the one locked in.
- Silence and isolation: Denied paper, linens, telephone, and letters, the locksmith is cut off from all human connection except his memories of Marie‑Laure.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter marks the irreversible separation of Marie‑Laure from her father, the person who has protected and taught her throughout her childhood. It shows the machinery of Nazi occupation operating far from the front lines: a quiet arrest, a series of anonymous interrogations, a holding pen, and a cattle truck heading east. The chapter underscores the novel’s concern with the small, unnoticed cruelties of war—the disappearance of one man that will ripple through his daughter’s life. It also sets the stage for Marie‑Laure’s solitary struggle in Saint‑Malo and for the eventual fate of the locksmith, which remains unknown to the reader at this point.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why do the police arrest the locksmith, and what evidence do they use against him?
The police arrest him because his skeleton keys and notebook of architectural measurements make him appear to be a saboteur plotting to destroy the Château de Saint‑Malo. The Germans seize these items and use them as proof of a conspiracy, though the locksmith insists the keys are for the museum where he works and the notebook is for a model he is building for his daughter.
2. How does the locksmith cope with his imprisonment, and what does he think about?
He lies faceup on the floor and imagines kissing Marie‑Laure on each eye while she sleeps. He yearns for cigarettes. He prays for her with every hour. He waits for someone from the museum to rescue him—a rescue that never comes. His coping mechanism is to focus on his love for his daughter and to hold onto the faint hope that the deportation will be short.
3. What does the description of the crossing into Germany suggest about the prisoners’ fate?
The locksmith sees that Germany looks no different from the French side of the river, yet the novel’s final image—“It may as well be the edge of a cliff”—implies a catastrophic drop into an abyss. The cattle truck, the rumors of short‑term labor, and the absence of legal process all foreshadow that these men are being taken to forced labor camps or worse, with little chance of return.