Welcome to Term 2 of ASTU!

When the class began last week, we discussed the novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. This may be familiar to a lot of people since Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock starred in the film adaptation of the novel. Although I expected the book to centre in the 9/11 terrorist attack, it focused on the coping of a young boy named Oskar who lost his father in the incident.

There has been a debate whether the book believed that 9/11 is the worst day or that it marks an end of an era (post-9/11). Even though the novel represented a number of incidents and coping mechanisms, it didn’t fully claim that 9/11 is the worst day. Oskar, who did lose the most important person in his life, was convinced that September 11, 2001 was his worst day. To say, however that it is generally the worst day is not only Eurocentric (or UScentric) but also diminishes other states’ war and sufferings. For instance, the book discussed the Dresdan bombing. This was the worst day for some people just like Oskar’s grandfather who lost the love of his life. There are many more historical events and tragedies that made a group of people’s lives worse, other than 9/11.

What I find ironic, however, is the aftermath of 9/11. Thousands of people had experienced unfathomable, indescribable lost and trauma during that day but the response of the government and many people to not only avenge their loves ones and America’s freedom but also to cause suffering to a specific group of people, the Muslim community.

What is evident in the book and the way people reacted is that they do what they do to cope to their loses and the pain that they endured. Oskar copes by searching for a connection to his father. Grandpa copes through silence. America copes by bombing the Middle-East and by demonizing the Islam community.

The novel did not focus on 9/11 as what I have initially thought but centred its attention on the search to fill the losses of Oskar, grandpa, the American people and those who experienced great trauma and lost. It helps the readers understand that people cope differently just to feel whole again.