Hello everyone,

This week in my ASTU class we have been reading Ilka Saal’s “Regarding the Pain of Self and Other: Trauma Transfer and Narrative Framing in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” where Saal looks into Foer’s novel through the lens of Judith Butler’s work. Saal reflects on the impact of authors framing one trauma in the context of another as Foer does with 9/11 in the context of the Holocaust. I have increasingly understood, or at least been subject to, the way in which literature has an enormous impact in our understanding of events. Saal’s work and argument made me reconsider this even more because as I read Foer’s novel I was presented a view of the 9/11 events as I had not seen it before. When these events took place I was only a child and my memories of them are clouded by the naïve views of a girl who understood little about the ongoing situation and following wars. For this reason, reading the perspective, although fictional, of a victim in New York has an impact in my memory of this event. Foer leads its readers to view the victims of 9/11 as exactly that, victims. They are victims of suffering and loss, phenomena that Foer parallels to those of the holocaust. Unlike 9/11 that happened during my lifetime, the holocaust and the World Wars are not as recent and therefor, are a common and constant feature of History textbooks and classes through out high school and the tone is one of tragedy and loss across all the years that I was taught about it. When the holocaust is mentioned, an aura of suffering surrounds it and when Foer frames 9/11 along lines of the Holocaust, even if the reader knew nothing about the events, the tone is immediately accompanied by a feeling of sorrow and empathy for the victims. Today, millions of refugees from Syria are seeking asylum in countries all around the world and what the media compared them to or how their stories are framed has an enormous impact on what people’s opinions on the situation will be. If refugees are referred to as victims of human rights abuse and lack of government protection, they are more willingly accepted but if the media or governments refer to them as possible terrorist or threats to jobs, the open arms close up due to fear. The relevance, especially in our time, of how a story is framed is enormous and we must be cautious of this when we receive news and take in different perspectives of an event or situation.

Have a great day!

Andrea Barraza

Hello Everyone,

In my ASTU class we are reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and as I read it  I felt something that I have never experienced before while reading a novel. I have always been emotional when it comes to romantic novels, happy endings, and the characters involved in such novels, especially those by author Nicholas Sparks. They produce bitter sweet tears that remind me that there are beautiful things worth crying for. Naturally, reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close made tears come to my eyes. However, for the first time, they were bitter, without any hint of sweetness to them. I felt Oskar’s pain, the frustration building as I realized that not only was no truly happy ending possible regardless of the outcome, but knowing that this is not just the story of one boy. In reality there were hundreds of children that were left without a parent because of the terrorist attacks that took place in 9/11, or “the worst day”, as Oskar refers to it. The struggle, the pain, and the knowledge that it happened so close to us makes it harder to swallow than any of the other books we have read in ASTU thus far. The title of this novel, I believe, is an accurate representation of the book because it is a story that hits close to home and continues to ring loud in our memories, even though several years have passed by.

On page 86 of the novel, Oskar begins the chapter with a memory of his father telling him one of the most touching analogies about our insignificance. Oskar asks his father about the insignificance of humans and his father answers by asking him what would happen if he moved one grain of sand in the Sahara Desert. His father goes on to explain that the Sahara is enormous and has been there for millions of years, but moving one grain of sand would change the Sahara and human history. I have re-read this page more times than I can count and that is because it such an empowering way of thinking. Thomas Jr. always treated his son as more mature than his age, and yet, he also showed Oskar the value of things so clearly that the child could understand it.

Every individual is a part of human history and has a role to play. In Oskar’s life, his father played a central role; he was held on top of a pedestal. When someone that important is taken from your life, it must be impossible to deal with since all that is left is an enormous hole. Before reading this novel, I always saw all of the explicitly negative reasons behind the actions taken by the United States; it was extremely easy for me to see how wrong they were in going to war. My stance and opinions against the United States’ invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have not changed. However, this book has forced me to look at the situation from a different point of view – one where war seems emotionally justified, as nothing could ever give a father back to his confused child.

Thanks and have a great day!

Andrea Barraza