I lived in Manhattan for about 5 or 6 months last year, and though I’d rather be outside hiking or doing some other outdoor activity most all of the time, something about New York hooked me. For the first 3 weeks I was there I hated it, feeling like I couldn’t breathe or stretch out my arms. But something changed at about 3 weeks, and I fell in love. New York accepts everyone, and I think thats what I love most about it. Because the city is so densely populated, everyone and their differences are out on the streets influencing other people’s lives, and creating this beautiful collective identity and energy that I have not experienced in any other city. Though I haven’t been to most cities, I have never been to another city that is home to so many distinct individuals that are so connected.

New Yorkers have the reputation of being unkind and impatient. Of course this is true of some, but the majority of New Yorkers are friendly. I’ve made connections with unexpected people in unexpected places in New York. These experiences have made me realize that we all have things in common with everyone, and that the world is much more connected than I previously thought. If nothing else, New Yorkers are able to connect over the fact that they are a part of the city. The terrorist attacks on the twin towers on 9/11/01 were a terrible tragedy that negatively effected every resident of New York City as well as people all around the world. However, it seems that this time of need brought not only New Yorkers together, but the United States as a whole. People were were willing to drop everything and help those who were in need and grieving. This is exemplified in Jonathan Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Oskar, a little boy who’s father died in the attacks on the twin towers, goes on a quest to find answers about his father and his death. In his journey, he meets people who help him deal with the pain of losing his father who he so loved. This willingness of the people he meets to help Oskar through his pain is an example of this connection that was formed all across the United States, and especially in New York after 9/11.

Oskar discovers first-hand that everything in New York seems to be interconnected and that it is possible for him to be very close to something he wants without even knowing it. An example of this is at the end of the book when Oskar has found the final Mr. Black. Around the same time as the Oskar’s mother was putting up missing posters around New York with Oskar’s father’s face on them, Mr. Black was putting up posters also trying to find Oskar’s father in order to try and discover something about his own dead father (299). Oskar realizes that people are very interconnected, even though we don’t realize it.

It is always a surprise to run into people you know in New York. Once, I got onto the subway and sat down across from someone I went to high school with three or 4 years ago who I didn’t even realize lived in the same city as me. Because it is such a small island that is home to so many people, Manhattan forces an interconnectivity that is difficult to find re-create in any other city. You can be walking down the street a block behind someone you know very well and never know it. There is so much happening at all times in New York that it is easy to miss connections that would be hard to miss in a slower-paced setting. It can also be easy to make seemingly random connections that take you by surprise and can have an influence on your life’s path. Oskar has experiences with this in his interactions with he people he meets in his journey, and it helps him cope with his pain for the loss of his father.

Works Cited:

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. New York: Houghton Mifflin       Harcourt Publishing Company, 2005. Print.