Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Encountering Trauma through Literature

As this weeks class blogger, I compiled a blog post to summarize and connect your key themes and arguments. Every post uses the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, as the focal point of their conclusions and musings; however this did not lead to a conformity of ideas or a lack of originality. I found the opposite to be true. Each blog was unique in perspective, posed different and challenging questions to the reader, and interpreted Foer’s work personally and insightfully. My post seeks to connect the varying observations about the topic of trauma and the role it plays in shaping individuals and shaping society so as to spark further dialogue about the impacts that trauma can have on our thinking and subsequently on our behaviour.

Trauma is one of the most prominent themes in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. Not only is trauma central to the experiences of Oskar and those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks, but, as my fellow classmates mentioned, it is central to those affected by other horrific events in the novel, such as the Dresden bombings and Hiroshima. A few blogs touch on how different people internalize trauma and react differently to traumatic experiences. These insights are exemplified in the novel at hand, and can also be connected to other literary works, such as Persepolis. Central to the plot of the novel is Oskar’s own struggle with the loss of his father. Heavily laden with sadness Oskar’s embarks on a journey to find a lock matching a key he found in his father’s cabinet. Fiona Tse interprets this journey as bringing him closure, despite an anticlimactic ending. Similarly, in the post, “What are we missing?”, my peer Amy Main presents the journey as a method by which Oskar “confronts” his trauma. These perspectives cause me to think that perhaps Oskar might be using the lock and key as means to remove himself from or cope with the trauma of 9//11, replacing his feelings of pain and confusion with the familiarity of being in the middle of one of his fathers games. Ben adds to this conversation on the complexities of trauma by presenting Oskar’s experiences at a catalyst for growth. He discusses how he changes throughout the course of the novel and suggests that trauma, however large or small, can play an integral role in the shaping of our identities.

Robert Bernheim’s post, “The Rise Of Islamophobia After The 9/11 Attacks”, examines at the novel and its themes from an alternative vantage point, and as such, I have chosen to discuss it further and attempt to connect his insights to those made by other classmates and myself. His post hones in on the contagion of islamophobia and its rapid diffusion following the events of 9/11. Robert observes that this fear can seem innocent at first, such as Oskar’s skittishness around Muslim people or those wearing turbans, but that these types of thought can, and often do, manifest into harsh generalizations with devastating repercussions. I took particular interest in the part of Robert’s post where he says that despite calling the attackers “Muslim extremists” the public exercises selective hearing and only hears the word “Muslim”. Perhaps, trauma is partially to blame for this. Trauma, as the aforementioned posts point out, takes root in different forms for different people, however it is my observation that it almost always takes root by implanting fear, at least for a time. Maybe it it is only when we become aware of this fear and begin to understand it that we are able to use trauma for positive growth.

In her blog ”The Importance of Visuals”, Georgia discusses the novel in a more tangible sense. She discusses the power of the visual elements of the novel and how it is a “key part of memory which is what this book relies on…[which] adds a reality to the story that very few other books can compete with”. My experiences and impressions of the novel leave me in agreement with Georgia; the visual aspect of the novel along with that Persepolis and Safe Area greats a powerful story and expresses memory in a way many novels fail to. I suggest that there may be a connection between the visual nature of the story and the reader’s vicarious encounter with trauma, as it allows the reader to insert themselves more wholly in the story and thus have the opportunity to walk through Oskar’s grieving process along with their own.

Thanks for reading,

Chase T-R

I really enjoyed reading your post Lauren! I too found the organisation of the Fond interesting. I loved how you could piece together Kogawa’s drafts and rough work to see how her novel progressed. I particularly liked the part of your post about the poem. I found that seeing little things like that can give a unique perspective on Kogawa’s larger creative possess. Reading your post made me think about an article I read a few years about how J.K Rowling was bored on a delayed train when ideas for Harry Potter came to her and she madly scribbled them down on a few napkins. Reading that came to me as a complete shock to me. I find that it is pretty cool to see how the way writers create famous books isn’t as ‘cut and dry’ as we think.

-Chase T-R

Olivia Richard’s blog on scent was quite enjoyable to read. She discusses how her ASTU presentation group categorized scent as being a technology of memory. When we talked about technologies of memory in class this hadn’t crossed my mind. But now, thinking about it, it’s completely true. Just like the way specific songs can capture a moment or experience, and each time you hear it, you remember, the same goes for scents. Scent being a technology of memory wasn’t hard to grasp because I have experienced its effects. For me personally whenever I smell Red Rose tea I have a nostalgic feeling of running into my cabin after a long car ride to huddle around the fire for relieve from the wintery chill and let the heat breath life back into the cabin. As my father, dogs, and I fought for warmth we would always read books and drink tea for the hours it took to make the cabin habitable again. I love how little nuances like this exposes how highly complex our brains our at remembering.

John Chase T.R

The question that was posed by Joey intrigued me, and pushed me to think more critically about how illustrations can have diverse and lasting impacts beyond what might be expected. Before reading this post, the in-class discussions and readings crafted my thoughts on the matter, but Joey’s post furthered my understanding of why Marjane Satrapi might have chosen to express her story as a graphic novel. In this medium, her childhood has been portrayed as digestible and therefore relatable, whilst expressing higher level abstractions through the illustrations. Images have a power to speak to people in ways that words are not always able to express, even by the most profound of poets or educated of scholars. It is my experience, which I know is shared by many others, that no words can adequately express the dancing colours of a sunrise or the fading hues that layers of mountains take on along the horizon at sunset. Images, and in another form, illustrations allow the writer to express themselves where words may not do justice and allow for unique interpretation on the part of the reader. Joey contrasts the relationship of black and white throughout the novel to portray themes such as the dichotomy between good and evil. He credits Marjane Satrapi with using illustrations to create foreshadowing, insightfully proposing that, “the drawings have the ability to show the truth in the lives of and the circumstances in which the characters live”, which expanded my perception of what the drawings were capable of expressing.

      Hello ASTU class! Didn’t have the chance to read your fellow classmates’ blogs this weekend? There’s no need to worry! I’ve written a summary of the class’ collective thoughts for your enjoyment! Each and every one of the unique ideas and connections you shared helped to broaden my outlook and these insights are the focal point of tonight’s class blog. I have chosen to segment my summary and review into two themes that were consistently woven into the discussion: global citizenship and the value of bias.

The Effects of Interpretive Communities on Global Citizenship

     The submissions by Mariana Baldivieso, Andrea Barraza, and Mckaylee Catcher all focus on relating the idea of an “interpretive community”, an integral aspect of remembering as discussed in “The Role of Interpretative Communities in Remembering and Learning”, to our program’s guiding concept, global citizenship (Shahzad). Within this common theme, each blogger identifies different connections between the concepts and places value on different aspects. Mariana personalizes this connection by discussing how her greatest influencers, her parents, embody the term global citizens. Her relationship with and proximity to two global citizens is vital in the ongoing creation of her own views and ambition for seeing change. I have extended this observation to hypothesize that global citizenship in one’s interpretive community fosters and grows global citizenship in others. Andrea Barraza furthers this by reiterating what we are learning through the combination of CAP courses; she proposes that the classroom, as it is made up of interactions with ethnically and culturally diverse peers, serves as an interpretive community, similar to Mariana’s. With a broader perspective, Mckaylee Catcher enters the conversation with an optimistic tone towards the importance of globalized communities. The basis of her argument is that interpretive communities, such as the ones discussed in the aforementioned blogs are contributing to the creation of a world free of the biases that come from generations of misleading media and discrimination. Diverse and progressive communities allows us to remember and translate the past as diverse critical thinkers. The thread of global citizenship that runs through these blogs has sparked my interest about how the effects of interpretive communities can be associated with the world’s current trend of rapid and transformative globalization.  

Bias: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly?

      Numerous other blogs discussed the role of bias in shaping our perceptions of the past and present. I would like to bring our attention to Harnoor Sidhu, who provides a slightly counterintuitive interpretation. Harnoor disagrees with the stereotypical connotations that are typically associated with bias arguing that biased literature is often highly valuable, allowing readers to glean the perspective of the writer, as well as their cultural influences. Harnoor is not trying to convince her readers that biased writing or media cannot be misleading or highly discriminatory, but she is urging people not to blindly dismiss it and view it as an opportunity to learn. This argument is compelling to me as this outlook on bias is crucial to our collective growth when it comes to interpreting scholarly writing. Rowan Likes shares the value that Harnoor places on biases and takes the point further by discussing the importance of mitigation between individual remembering and interpretive communities. According to Rowan, a healthy balance between the two is what promotes the rounded and dynamic mindset that we have associated with global citizens. His reasoning behind his point is that although the influences of interpretive communities are an important aspect of remembering and learning, there is importance in having individual experiences through literature and the real world. Rowan attributes healthy relations between the two as key factor in ensuring we have the ability to create our own autonomous thoughts, while still being influenced by others. From my individual experience thus far, the CAP program actively works to provide such a balance and strives to develop the students into diverse critical thinkers.

Works Cited
Shahzad, Farhat. “The Role of Interpretive Communities in Remembering and Learning.” Canadian Journal of Education 34.3 (2011): 301-316. Web. ProQuest. 1 Sept. 2014.