Symbolism In Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close

Imagine losing the one person you trust and love the most. This happened to Oskar, a nine-year-old boy whose dad got killed in the terroristic attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Oskar Schell is the protagonist in the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is written by Jonathan Safran Foer. Oskar is an extremely interesting boy with an incredible way of thinking. He describes himself as an inventor, jewelry designer, jewelry fabricator, amateur, entomologist, francophile, vegan origamist, pacifist, percussionist, amateur astronomer, computer consultant, amateur archeologist, collector of: rare coins, butterflies that died natural deaths, miniature cacti, Beatles memorabilia, semiprecious stones, and other things (Safran Foer, p. 99).

For most of the book, the key is a symbol of hope to Oskar. The key that he finds drives him to remember his father and how he always gave him scavenger hunts, which they called Reconnaissance Expedition. “A great game that Dad and I would sometimes play on Sundays was Reconnaissance Expedition” (Safran Foer, p. 8). Oskar goes on a, what seems to be impossible, search to find the lock that fits the key. Also could the journey serve to help Oskar understand and hopefully get over his father’s death. The more he searches the closer he feels to him. The motif ‘key’ and the recurring motifs ‘extremely and incredibly’ play an important part in the book. The key motif is however the most important one in the entire book. The first time the reader reads about the key is in chapter one, when Oskar comes home from his father’s funeral. EVIDENCE His thoughts confront him with the reality that his father is dead and nothing will ever be the same. All Oskar can do is love the people who are still with him. Due to the fact that/since the motif comes back in the entire storyline, the reader is determined to finish the book and hopes that Oskar finds closure in his journey.

His father did not even know the key existed! When Oskar finds out that the key belongs to Abby Black’s ex-husband, he is startled when he realizes that Abby has not been honest with him when he met her. “I spent eight months looking for what you could have told me in eight seconds!” (p. 290). Abby is most meaningful Black he met during his quest. Oskar tells William Black, Abby’s ex-husband to whom the key belongs, his story and he asks William if he knew his father. William then explains to him how the key got into the blue vase in Oskar’s father’s closet. He tells Oskar that the key belongs to a safe deposit. He feels sympathy towards Oskar and asks Oskar why don’t you come with me to the bank? (p. 300). When Oskar gets home he gets extremely angry and incredibly upset, because the key was not a last symbol of his dad, but just a key somebody lost. Not only does the key motif add understanding to the text, but also visual writing helps to make the text more