It is rare to discover a book that has the ability to touch on your personal life and make you reflect back on the choices you have made. It is even rarer when the book carries with it a strong enough impact to change the way you view the world, your personal decisions, and your way of life. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is the only book that has enlightened me in such a way. If any other author tried to write the same story, the end product would not be as intense. Foer’s use of language, repetition, humor, and despair tie together to make an incredibly powerful novel.
One way that the author is able to intensify his writing is through the use of repetition. This is a unique use of language that is very effective. The most powerful example of this technique is in the passage written by Oskar’s Grandmother:
Planes going into buildings. Bodies Falling. Planes going into buildings. People
covered in grey dust. Bodies falling. Buildings falling. Planes going into
buildings. Planes going into buildings. Buildings falling. People waving shirts
out of high windows. Bodies falling. Planes going into buildings. (230)
Having to read those few words over and over again had a bigger impact on me than any descriptive language could have. To me, it represents the constant replay in my head of the events of 9/11. The image just keeps coming, and it doesn’t stop, and it won’t stop.
The events of 9/11 are used as background information in this novel, however the main focus is around losing a loved one. In this respect, it is all too easy for me to be able to relate to Oskar. This past August, a good friend of mine passed away from a car accident. It was devastating, and is still extremely hard to cope with. I play back the day all the time in my mind. This tragic event makes me understand why Oskar is on a constant scavenger hunt to find the lock to the key. I don’t think it is simply because he wants to stay close with his father, I think it is also that he wants to recover his father’s legacy, and replay the life that his father led.
In Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech; he used a bunch of repetition such as a hundred years later; I have a dream; we must; and let freedom ring. When doing this it makes the reader understand that the author is trying to get his point across. He used
With an evident attempt at objectivity, the syntax of Passage 1 relies almost entirely on sentences of medium length, uses a few long sentences for balance, and concludes with a strong telegraphic sentence. The varying sentence length helps keep the readers engaged, while also ensuring that the writing remains succinct and informative. Like the varying sentence length, the sentence structures vary as complex sentences are offset by a few scattered simple sentences. The complex sentences provide the necessary description, and the simple sentences keep the writing easy to follow. Conversely, Passage 2 contains mostly long, flowing sentences, broken up by a single eight word sentence in the middle. This short sentence, juxtaposed against the length of the preceding and following sentences, provides a needed break in the text, but also bridges the ideas of the two sentences it falls between. The author employs the long sentences to develop his ideas and descriptions to the fullest extent, filling the sentences with literary elements and images. Coupled...
Thatcher makes use of repetition at many different points throughout her writing. At one point starts a string of three different paragraphs with "others". In the 12th paragraph she starts every sentence with "Yet, he". The repetition helps her strengthen her eulogy about Ronald Regan.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is a non-fiction novel written by an American author. The book mostly follows the three main characters, Oskar, his grandmother, and his grandfather, Thomas Schell, Sr. Oskar is a nine-year-old boy from New York whose father died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. He is exceptionally intelligent and curious and goes on a quest through New York City’s five boroughs to find the lock which belongs to a key his father had in his closet. Between chapters, a separate story is told of his grandparents marriage and life in Dresden, Germany. His grandfather, Thomas Schell Sr. is mute and collects stacks of daybooks in which he writes what he needs to say. His first love, Anna, died in a bombing while pregnant with his child. Shortly after starting his new life in the United States, he runs into Anna’s sister, they get married, and he leaves her after he found out his wife was pregnant. His wife, Oskar’s grandmother, lives across the street from Oskar and his mother and helped raise him.
“In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” Pg. 71 This is very true. It follows the saying “You can’t handle the truth” because if one hears it, they think it’s a lie, or the truth being stretched. The use of imagery allows the author to express the emotion he had when he was at war.
The ending of the novel was inspiring. The author suggests the reader to look into great novels, and even supplies a list of novels a personally suggests. He ended with a very ...
Elisabeth Kubler and David Kessler have a hypothesis in which they have discovered the five stages of grief. Many people experiences grief in many different ways, but they usually follow the 5 stages of grief. In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly close they discuss the recent events of 9/11. Jonathan Safran Foer talks about grief through a nine year old's point of view about grief and the loss of his father. This novel was very real and personal it shows that type of human emotions you go through when you lose a family member, in this novel many people are able to go through the five stages of grief and it also shows how these characters are able to get through each death individually. Grief is one of the most powerful emotional forces
“To Blisland” uses repetition, in many forms, to show the story’s overall theme of the story being a repetition of itself as the characters go through actions without much meaning or connection only to go through them again the following week. The narrator omits much information about the details of the story, such as his relation to Carol and the reason she is at this institution, to add to this idea of repetition by creating a new version of reality that fits their needs. The author’s style of repeating certain key words such light and dark, the repetition the dialogue and repetition of conflict come together to create a story that is without real conflict and fits their version of reality.
In contrast, syntax provides a new perspective to the narrator s behavior as sentence structure draws attention to her erratic behavior. By her last entry, the narrator s sentences have become short and simple. Paragraphs 227 through 238 contain few adjectives resulting in limited descriptions yet her short sentences emphasize her actions providing plenty of imagery. The syntax quickly pulls the reader through the end as the narrator reaches an end to her madness.
Also, those repeated words are often supported by music to emphasize the unity as a whole piece. For example, the word "Ewigkeit (eternity)" is originally in the seventh movement, and it is also sung in the sixth movement. The one in the seventh movement is at the very end of the piece with a fermate on the top of half note (p. 543, m. 16). So the note can be extended as much as it needs to express the word, "eternity." The one in the sixth movement is also a long note (p. 540-541, m. 37-38, 49-51). The word is associated with a whole note, half note and 1/8 note tied into 61/2 beats to express its meaning. Those two sections of the piece with the word, "Ewigkeit," and similar music expression would make a strong connection between the two movement.
Finally she states, “Nietzsche’s exploitation of popular formats, illuminates the way they manipulate our awareness” (Higgins 400). Here she confirms how Nietzsche’s writing almost gives us a sense of strength in terms of building our awareness while reading his works.
He mainly utilizes these techniques in order to emphasize on his call to action in his article. For example, when he is trying to make a point he often ends his sentences with a smart remark such as, “But not for anybody else” and also states, “if tight budgets are the problem” (O’Brien). O’Brien later moves on to talk about his call of action and uses repetition to his advantage when he says, “ We can do better. We could start by paying out welfare, food stamps, and Social Security twice a month, instead of just at the beginning. We could even pay out food stamps as cash”(O’Brien). As you can see he begins each sentence with the word “We” which really has an implanting effect on the reader. He then talks about the possible solutions to the issue as well as why people are continuing to get stuck in this never-ending cycle. To further highlight this he says phrases that have a similar sound to them such as, “Cold, hard cash” and “Bad jobs, bad health, and broken homes” (O’ Brien). As you can see all these examples of using passionate word choice come together and serve as one purpose for O’Brien. The idea of repetition as well as ending sentences with a quirky remark are used by him in order to be able to stress on points that he wants to. By allowing himself to do that it has a taxing effect on the reader making it easier for them to understand his message but also makes the connection between the author and audience even stronger. Because of this the reader has greater emotions towards what O’Brien is saying making them have more feelings of
Jack Vance uses a writing style that is similar to that of a storyteller from the medieval times in his short story “Liane the Wayfarer”. It seems as if the narrator is retelling the story to an audience. The narrators tone in the story is impartial to all of the characters. The narrator’s neutral tone helps the reader enter Liane’s world. Vance also uses repetition to emphasize certain details about Liane’s adventure. One example is when the author repeats certain phrases as seen in the following quote: “Liane sped along the crest of a wall and sprang a great gap to a shattered fountain. Behind came Chun. Liane darted up a narrow alley, climbed over a pile of refuse, over a roof, down into a court. Behind came Chun” (Vance p. 183) By repeating
In the history of written literature, it is difficult not to notice the authors who expand their reader's style and manner of reading. Some write in an unusual syntax which forces the reader to utilize new methods of looking at a language; others employ lengthy allusions which oblige the reader to study the same works the author drew from in order to more fully comprehend the text. Some authors use ingenious and complicated plots which warrant several readings to be understood. But few authors have used all these and still more devices to demand more of the reader. James Joyce, writer of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, uses extraordinarily inventive and intricate plot construction, creative and often thought-provoking word constructions, allusions to works both celebrated and recondite, and complex issues and theories when challenging his readers to expand their method of reading.
In addition to vocabulary, Poe’s use of repetition ensures that his audience will appreciate the deeper meaning of his writing and understand which concepts are important in his stories. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator, after stating that he is not insane, goes on to describe “how stealthily, stealthily” (Long) he proceeds when going into of the elderly man and blighting the room with the lantern. The repetition of “stealthily” demonstrates just how sneaky and narrator is, suggesting that he is crazy.