The biggest lessons in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is; grief, love, family, and communication. Throughout the novel there were three main characters that learn these lessons from their conflicts that affect them. After the tragic event of September 11th 2001, the story follows Oskar who wants to seek answers about his father after his death. Death is one of the hardest conflicts to get over. Along with death comes with grief, this dynamic duo ruins lives, motivation, and emotional wellbeings. Throughout the novel the three main characters being; Oskar, Oskar’s grandma and grandpa, all having to deal with grief after the death of Oskar’s father. Grief becomes one of the main obstacles the characters tries to overcome. Grief centers around Oskar, his obsession with the death of his father gradually increase, and he fights the illogical reasoning of death. Through grief, the characters learn to love again. After his father’s death, Oskar becomes imprisoned with his emotions not being able to express them normally. Oskar’s grandparents also had troubles expressing their emotions, they created “nothing places” where one of them could be alone with their own thoughts and not be bothered. Their emotional imprisonment faded away their relationship towards each other, this also happened with Oskar and his mother. Oskar …show more content…
The death of Oskar’s father influences everyone in his family, this includes Oskar’s Grandparents, his mother, and especially Oskar himself. The whole family grieves over the death, and seem to fall apart. Oskar had a fear that his mother didn’t love his father and thought she forgot about him, she had a friend named Ron that Oskar resented and used him as a scapegoat for his problems. However Oskar finds peace between his mother and learns important family lessons, and also his grandparents become more involved into his
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.
All in all, Oskar the victim of fates wheel comes out on top as the hero in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Being the unconventional hero he is, someone most people would just pass by on the street, manage to beat the odds and through perseverance, and courage he meet his
Denial was also used through the novel as a defense mechanism so that the person can protect themselves from the pain he or she was feeling at that point in time. When Oskar father Thomas Schelle, has gone missing him and his mother both decided it would be a good idea to “fill a suitcase with a poster of Oskar's father and post them all around town they refused to believe that Thomas could have been dead”(For 229). When Oscar and his mother put up these posters it gave them a sense of belief and hope that their loved one may still be alive. Another person the denied the death of a loved one was Oskar grandfather, they believed he was“trying to remake the girl he knew seven years before”, his beloved Anna, who had died in the bombing of Dresden (83). Many Psychologists have said that “ People grieve because they are expecting their loved ones to magically appear even though he or she is really gone”. Living in denial is very hard for a person and it is hard to move on into their day to day routines. Denials help delay the other stages of the grief and this stage usually lasts the longest. One of the first feelings that we experience after Denial is anger. Anger comes after the numbing of shock that something bad just had happened. Oskar puts all of his anger towards his mother because he thinks that his mother does not love his father anymore because he believes she is not honouring his name and memory. Seeing his mother being happy and continuing on with her life makes him think that she does not miss his dad (Foer 170). Oskar was releasing all of his build up anger towards his mother because he felt that it was her fault and that she was moving on without
Before Elie Wiesel and his father are deported, they do not have a significant relationship. They simply acknowledge each other’s existence and that is all. Wiesel recalls how his father rarely shows emotion while he was living in Sighet, Transylvania. When they are deported, Wiesel is not sure what to expect. He explains, “My hand shifted on my father’s arm. I had one thought-not to lose him. Not to be left alone” (Wiesel 27). Once he and his father arrive at Auschwitz, the boy who has never felt a close connection with his father abruptly realizes that he cannot lose him, no matter what. This realization is something that will impact Wiesel for the rest of his time at the camp.
In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar Schell can be seen confronting several different types of trials, some of these being man versus man conflicts, and others being man versus self. One of the major man vs. man trials Oskar faces throughout the course of the book is in the form of the noticeable and consistent bullying he takes because of his awkward personality and odd quirks. Kids like Jimmy Snyder can be seen exploiting Oskar’s social shortcomings verbally, and even being ready to turn towards physical bullying (Foer 189-192). As Oscar is not the knight in shining armor, he rarely stands up for himself, instead fantasizing about actions he would like to take and follows that up by saying, “that’s what I wanted to do. Instead I just shrugged my shoulders” (Foer 203). Throughout the course of the story, Oskar also faces many internal conflicts. The death of his father has left Oskar traumatized giving him fears of taking showers and getting into elevators…people with mustaches, smoke, knots, tall buildings, and turbans” (Foer 36). As Oskar continues on his quest, he eventually comes face to face with many of his fears, and is forced to confront and ultimately overcome them. Oskar’s final and arguably most daunting challenge is facing his own inner demons in regards to the death of his father. A year after his father’s passing, he has
...was almost no relationship. The father is a busy, well respected member of the Jewish community who has almost no interaction with his family. Eliezer recalls that his father was “cultured, rather unsentimental man. There was never any display of emotion, even at home. He was more concerned with others than with his own family” (2, Wiesel). When the two arrived at the camp we notice a switch in their relationship. The horrible experiences they encounter together at Auschwitz bring them closer to each other. Eliezer’s father becomes more affectionate and shows emotions toward his son who starts feeling this love. This is clear when Eliezer states “my father was crying, it was the first time I saw him cry, I had never thought it was possible” (19, Wiesel). It is clear that their relationship transforms from obedience and respect to love and caring about each other.
After this event, the reader can really see that deep down, the protagonist loves and cares for his father. As he hears his father enter the house babbling gibberish, he begins getting worried.
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).
...ing identity to the point where it no longer exists. This identity can be lost through extreme devotion, new experience, and immense tragedy. Relationships with the most meaningful companions impact both main characters, Elie and Frederic. Due to the events they must encounter alongside loved ones, Elie and Frederic change completely, losing the identity that once existed. The most impactful events of any life are those that involve struggle and tragedy. Any tragic event that one encounters can significantly alter the purpose of life forever. Tragic events such as taking away what one may hold dearest, such as a loved one in the cases of Elie and Frederic. This type of loss can create a saddened, purposeless life in all humans.
. The character Tyler is an angry and confused 21-year-old that smokes too much, drinks too much and has no real plan for his future. The suicide of his older brother Michael has turned his world upside down; he blames the death on his father projecting all of his anger and guilt on to him. According to the Mental Health America, loss by suicide can be the most difficult kind of loss. The family survivors are left with feelings of guilt and anger about their loss. However, when grief becomes center stage of the survivor’s life; it becomes complicated grief, which is often experienced after a loss such as suicide. Complicated grief is like being stuck in an intense state of mourning having trouble accepting the death long after it has occurred and being so overwhelmed with the death that you fail to live your own life the grief undermines your other relationships. (America, 2011) When a family member dies, it forces a family to restructure and redefine itself. (Rycroft and Perlesz (2001) For Tyler this meant that his parents would divorce once agai...
Change is an unpredictable and inevitable thing. One cannot know what alteration it may bring but it can, without doubt, be expected said Hazel M, an Honor English student (par.1). Eliezer, the protagonist in Night, encounters change numerous times. One of the mainly considerable changes he comes across, while in the concentration camps, is that of his relationship with his father. Before the Holocaust, Eliezer’s relation with his father was very distant, I will say non existent. Throughout the novel, enormous remarkable changes occurred in the father son relationship between Eliezer’s and his father. To highlight a few, we will discuss Eliezer and his father’s emotional change, the connection between them as father and son, and how their build trust in their relationship. Eliezer’s relationship with his father is quite important as it allows them both to live through the anguish and despair brought upon them. And their love for each other helped them both stay alive during the course of torture that Jews people were put through.
Foer creates a melancholy tone early on in the book. The first shift happens when he says, “Because even after everything I`m still wearing heavy boots.” (2) Heavy boots is a metaphor for all of the things that weigh him down. He wants his dad back but knows that is not a possibility. The second shift happens when he is giving his final performance of Hamlet. He wonders to himself about the universe and if life was worth all of the work it took to live. “What exactly made it worth it? What`s so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What`s so great about feeling and dreaming?” (145) He feels so numb inside, not knowing what to do anymore that dying seems like a better option than living, and for a nine year old to think that way is a tragedy. The third shift happens when Oskar and his mother have their heart to heart (323). This scene creates a loving tone. As his mother holds him close and comforts him, they have a confession. Oskar understands that his mother has cared all along even if she did not show it. They talk about Thomas, falling in love again, and the day that changed their lives forever. This talk made Oskar understand life as simultaneously simple and
Grief played a large role in the lives of the Boatwright sisters and Lily Owens. They each encountered death, injustice, and sadness. Grief impacted and left an imprint on each of them. Grief proved fatal for May. August knew that grief was just another aspect of life; that it had to be accepted and then left in the past. June and Lily learned to not let grief rule their lives. Life is not inherently good or bad – events not solely joyful or grievous – it is glorious in its perfect imperfection.
The central theme surrounding despair is clearly shown through the use of the three literary devices. Through the information that has been gathered, the reader can conclude that both of these men are so absorbed into their own grief that they live each day as shallow as the last. Despair is revealed through living by a daily routine, masking sorrow, and being stuck living with the same bad habits. A life without meaning is pointless; live a life where there are no regrets and where positive moments occur every day.
...Bendemann's life abruptly changes with the death of his mother. However, along with this change, Georg has to deal with the many torments of the relationship with his father as well as the relationship with himself. Eventually, Georg loses the struggle with his father and allows himself to succumb to his subservient side by committing suicide. As a result, the emotional impact of this dramatic and complex story on the reader is a profound one.