Hey bloggers, it’s been a while since our last blog, though it definitely doesn’t feel like it. Anyways, the obvious topic for today is Jonathan Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I will be giving some of my impressions on this novel while also asking some questions.
Throughout the novel, especially near the beginning, I was asking myself what 9/11 actually had to do with the plot. It may seem slightly ignorant, but I wondered how much the story would have changed if Oskar’s father had died in a car accident instead. This was before I had reached the Dresden bombing, so it made more sense once I got to that chapter since there was some kind of connection in between the two events (which I will talk a little bit bout later). To understand this try to take yourself back to before you knew about the Dresden bombings. If the incident that had taken Thomas Jr.’s life was a car accident, the symbolism would have been much different. Maybe Oskar would be afraid of taking taxis or being in cars or even walking on the streets, as we know he has a lot of phobias that seem a little irrational. A car crash is much less significant than 9/11, and is a very common incident for a book or movie, which simply wouldn’t fit in this novel (considering how different this novel is from anything I’ve read). The absence of a body wouldn’t be an issue, and Oskar would know how his father died. I still don’t know exactly the significance of using 9/11, but I know it would be a lot less interesting using a car accident.
As I mentioned in the earlier paragraph, I wondered what the connection was in between the Dresden bombings and 9/11. We discussed some topics in class, and Isaiah brought up the point of relativity. One connection between the two events is the relativity of good. The Allies in WW2 bombed Dresden, which was highly controversial because it wasn’t the most strategic target, but it was somewhat justified by war. My point is that the Allies believed they were doing what needed to be done to win the war, but the civilians that were killed obviously saw this as a horrible act. The same can be said about 9/11, where the terrorists linked to it believed this terrible act was necessary, but the Western world saw it as one of the worst things possible. Oskar’s family had the misfortune of experiencing both of these events and being on the enemy side on both occasions.
I also thought about the effect of the losses on each character. Grandma and Thomas Sr. had lost two people very close to them (Thomas Sr. didn’t really know his son, but it still counts), while Oskar had only lost one. When thinking of the effects, Oskar’s grandparents had much more dramatic changes than Oskar. I came up with a possible argument that the grandparents finally learned how to live after the second loss. Thomas Jr.’s death brought Thomas Sr. back to New York, where he slowly had better relations with Grandma, and was able to meet Oskar which he spent time with almost like a father figure. Grandma and her relation to Oskar did not seem like it changed much except she was just more careful, but her relation to Thomas Sr. had changed. We only get a glimpse of the new life they live, but it seems they have figured something out, and Thomas Sr. meeting Oskar makes me believe he won’t be leaving again.
These are my immediate impressions/questions about the book, but these may change upon reading Ilka Saal’s article, and further discussing in class. Thanks for reading.
Blogging off, Ryan.