Hello readers, in this blog entry I’m going to discuss the significance of Oskar Schell in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close By Jonathan Safran Foer. For those of you that have not read the book, Oskar is the protagonist in the novel who’s father passed away shrouded in mystery during the terrorist attacks on The World Trade Centre on September 11th, 2001. The novel essentially follows Oskar in his quest to uncover the mystery surrounding his father’s death, whilst simultaneously featuring interjections from His grandparents who are featured as narrators in several of the chapters. I believe that Oskar as a character serves as a motif or symbol for the thousands of people who lost friends and family on that fateful day and that Safran-Foer created Oskar as a manifestation of the suffering of all those people.

Continuing, it seems as though Safran-Foer makes a conscious effort while writing as Oskar, to remind readers that he is in fact a young child thus making it even more difficult for him to cope with losing his father. This effort can be seen most clearly throughout the first chapter of the novel which in turn leaves a lasting impression. This is evidenced in the first chapter as a whole. Oskar’s narration style can be described as both erratic and on the verge of incoherent, as he makes reference to trivial facts and events that have occurred in his lifetime. However, upon reading more of the book it becomes apparent that this is just a part of Oskar’s personality.

Conclusively, although Oskar is presented as an unusual child, this can be seen to counterintuitively endear him to readers who become more and more attached to the character as the novel and plot progress. At a higher level of abstraction, Oskar serves as a monument to all those who lost loved ones on September 11th, 2001.