Something (At Least One Thing) Is Illuminated
The title of this book is almost a promise: Look, we know this book is a challenge, but just keep reading: everything will be illuminated.
Alex goes through this exact thought process while he's reading the uber-confusing parts of the novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer (the character). He writes, "You will be happy to know that I proceeded, suspending my temptation to cast off your writing into the garbage, and it all became illuminated" (17.3).
Okay, Jonathan, we get it: we won't throw this book away.
Depending on how much you committed to the book, you might find that nothing was illuminated. Or maybe just one or two things were illuminated. But since the book ends in the middle of a sentence, we have to think that not everything was illuminated.
Things That Were Illuminated
Just for fun (and because we're pretty sure it's meaningful), let's take a look at two other instances of the word "illuminated." One occurs when a wink of lightning illuminates the Kolker peeping in at Brod at the window (13.82); the other occurs when the Germans burn down the synagogue with the Jews inside, and the fire "illuminated those who were not in the synagogue those who were not going to die" (29.86).
In this case, the people being illuminated are those who pointed to the Jews when interrogated by the Nazis. These people would feel guilt for what they had done for the rest of their lives. The weird thing about both of these scenes is that the light is illuminating things that the people on the outside really shouldn't be seeing: a naked girl, and people being burned alive. In both cases, illuminated is unethical.
If you ask us, this is pretty weird—and pretty interesting. Is Foer suggesting that there's something unethical about his journey to illuminate his own ancestor's story? Or about our desire to read stories about the Holocaust and other instances of horror?
The Illumination
One more scene bears mentioning here, mainly because we're not sure where else to talk about it. Although the word "illuminate" doesn't show up, there's a scene when Trachimbrod pretty much turns into an orgy and everyone glows. We're told, "From space, astronauts can see people making love as a tiny speck of light. Not light, exactly, but a glow that could be mistaken for light—a coital radiance that takes generations to pour like honey through the darkness to the astronaut's eyes" (13.66).
Besides being another instance of a time when things that should be private are lit up, this scenes makes us think that maybe Foer is saying that love illuminates the world. (Or orgies. Either way.)