What is the theme in Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer?

Memories are the main theme of the book. Throughout the novel, the hero, Jonathan Safran Foer, attempts to express how deeply ingrained in their religion memories are to Jews. Jonathan tells the story of Brod to show how it directly relates to that of his grandfather. Very little changes in the lives of these people until the war comes. Before the war, the people of Trachimbrod live their lives in quiet contentment, holding tight to their religious beliefs and their way of life. The people of Trachimbrod seem to believe that if they remember the past well enough, they will somehow know the future. Out of this desire to remember everything is born the Book of Antecedents and the Book of Recurrent Dreams. These books are passed down generation after generation and studied in an attempt to live their lives with the same philosophies as their forefathers.