Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

September Eleventh Two-Thousand and One has gone down in history as one of the worst terrorist attacks in human history as it killed many loved ones of many people. Not only did two planes strike The World Trade Centers, they also hit the heart and spirit of all Americans. In Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Oskar Schell is looking for answers around his father’s death which occurred on Nine-Eleven. Oskar loved and respected his father very much, so when he died, Oskar was devastated. One day, Oskar finds a blue vase with a mysterious key in it, one thing Oskar and his father did was go on scavenger hunts, so when Oskar found the key he thought it was one last scavenger hunt his father had planned for them. Oskar

Oskar Schell is a Nine year old boy who lives in New York City, in a small apartment with his mother, neighboring his grandmother and a mysterious man. He is very curious about everything in the entire world and asks a lot of questions about the past, present, and future. Another one of Oskar’s strengths is persistence and the fact that he will get his answer no matter what. Oskar was talking to a manager of a store that his father had visited, and they had a very interesting conversation. Oskar asks the manager, ‘“How long have those pads been by the display?” the manager replies, “I don’t know.” Oskar then said “He died more than a year ago. That would be a long time, right?” the manager responds with “They couldn’t have been out there for that long.” “You’re sure?” “Pretty sure.” but Oskar wanted more detail “Are you more or less than seventy-five-percent sure?” “More.” “Ninety-nine percent?” “Less.” “Ninety percent?” the manager then said “About that.” I concentrated for a few seconds “Thats a lot of percent.”’ (Foer 51). Oskar very clearly will not just take a simple answer because he feels very passionate about finding what

He also learned that even though he lost his father he still has a lot of love coming his way between his mother and grandparents. Oskar’s grandmother lost her sister when she was young and this is the lesson she is writing to Oskar in a letter, “There was never a right time to say it. It was always unnecessary. The books in my father’s shed were sighing. The sheets were rising and falling around me with Anna’s breathing. I thought about waking her. But it was unnecessary. There would be other nights. And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is my point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. I love you, grandma” (Foer 314). The reader never gets to see Oskar’s reaction to this letter but it is very obvious that his Grandmother cares and loves him deeply. Oskar would not take this for granted after his father’s death, because he learned that people can not just wait around to do things. Oskar had finally found out what the key in the blue vase was for and it was not what he expected it to be, it was for a safety deposit box. The problem was that it was not Oskar’s father’s box, it was the father’s of the man whom he bought the vase from. Oskar would have been crushed to hear this empty news but the man giving Oskar the news said, ‘“I’m so