One of the main concepts of this term in ASTU is demonstrating different perspectives about the “War on Terror”. The various memories and traumas from this historical event reveal how many people have suffered and were tremendously distressed. In class we are reading the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Closer and it gives an entertaining yet sentimental viewpoint on tragedies of 9/11 and Dresden. The book depicts how the protagonist Oskar is facing countless obstacles to get over his father’s death after the terrorist attacks. In my blog today I wanted to discuss why tragedies like 9/11 have such a great effect on people’s lives.

After 9/11 Oskar struggles with severe depression, which he likes to call “wearing heavy boots” where he likes to give himself bruises to make himself feel better. Another way this tragedy affected him was his insomnia as he would not let himself stop inventing nor allow himself to stop thinking about the key. As well, his panic attacks made him terrified to take the elevator or use the phone. His struggles are largely correlated to a lot of other people’s experiences during the terrorist attack. With the numerous painful memories that were caused from this day, everyone has their own story to tell. For instance, it was a normal day in New York for my cousin, Salima; she was taking the subway to work and would always get off at the World Trade Center stop. That day when she got to the station everyone was getting evacuated because the twin towers had just been hit. She told me it the most chaotic and stressful situation she had ever been in, in her entire life. Luckily, she got home safely but she has always been traumatized by that experience and it took her a very long time to feel comfortable taking the subway again. As we can see so many individuals suffer from this day even people we are very close to. Moreover, the novel does an upright evaluation on the true emotions that are conveyed by the three narrators about 9/11.

Furthermore, both Oskar and my cousin Salima have been severely impacted yet so many other people have undergone the same effects. On a broader aspect, when faced with tragedies it is almost impossible to completely erase the memory from someone’s mind. Misfortunes allow for negative connotations to have such a large impact on an individual’s life; however, most certainly after long periods of time the traumatizing memories can slowly start to dissipate but only if one allows it too.