Category: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Extremely Close​ is a powerful novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer. Oskar Schell is the main character in the book and he cannot accept the loss of his father, throughout the book he is searching for a key. Foer uses an extreme amount of limitation of language and uses the “ key” to describe Oskar’s feelings. The key is something Thomas Schell left behind for Oskar, he uses it to unlock places and people he did not get to see with his dad.

Throughout the book, Oskar goes on a journey to find the key. Unexpectedly, Thomas Schell suddenly died on one of the worst days in history 9-11, 2001. Throughout the book, Oskar is questioning his dad’s death. Jonathan Safran Foer uses stylistic elements to depict the loss of Thomas Schell. In ​Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close​ Jonathan Safran Foer uses a “ key ” to recreate his father’s past and to unlock what Oskar never got to see. Four also uses “ letters” as a remembrance from Thomas Schell. Oskar Schell buries the envelopes in Thomas Schell’s coffin. The letters are symbolic because Oskar never got to see them from his father and they were left behind, now he is finally finding them.

Throughout, the book Oskar questions the meaning of life and why humans are supposed to be alive. When Oskar is looking for the key he unlocks a plethora of people and places to see and meet throughout his journey of finding the key. Each person Oskar Schell meets helps him to get closer to the “ key “ he is wanting to find. Foer effectively uses stylistic moves to describe mortality affecting Oskar Schell and his life. Oskar Schell cannot come to terms with death, especially Thomas Schell’s death. He says “ ​I’d have said “Dad?” backwards, which would have sounded the same as “Dad” forward. He would have told me the story of the Sixth Borough, from the voice in the can at the end to the beginning, from “I love you” to “Once upon a time…” We would have been safe ( 326).

Foer brings back Thomas Schell to bring back memories as if Thomas Schell were still alive. ​In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, ​Foer uses t​rauma and guilt​ to describe Oskar’s anger. Oskar says ​’How come you didn’t die in the accident?’ Mom said, ‘That’s enough, Oskar.’ Ron said, ‘I wasn’t in the car.’ ‘Why weren’t you in the car?’ Mom looked out the window. Ron ran his finger around his plate and said ‘I don’t know.’ (315 ) This is another example of how the randomness of death confuses Oskar, and he cannot come to terms with the death. ​Oskar feels guilty that he could not prevent the death of his father, the death was unexpected. To connect, 9-11 was an extremely and incredibly sad tragedy to America, it was completely unexpected as to Thomas Schell’s death.

Foer depicts how Oskar is recreating his past when he visits Thomas Schell’s gravesite. Foer uses a technique when his dad is falling through the building, but instead of falling downward he is rising up. Foer uses this technique to portray how instead of when he is falling to his death he rises up to heaven. Finally, at the end of the book he comes to terms with his dad’s death. Foer uses mortality and the purpose of life as Oskar is trying to recreate his dad’s past. He uses mortality to explain how death is an important part of the novel.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an important book to read because it demonstrates how loss can affect personal well being. ​Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close​ teaches compassion for one another. Foer uses stylistic elements to explain Oskar’s feeling about Thomas Schell being gone.

Throughout the book, there are many symbols and pictures to decode the meaning of ​Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.​ Foer uses the stylistic element “ the key” to decode the meaning of why his father is lost and how he can find him.​ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ​addresses communication throughout the book because Oskar is trying to find the key from various people and locations. The power of the “key” is significant because it reveals Oskar and Thomas Schell life and future. The key has a symbolic meaning behind it. Foer uses stylistic elements such as mortality to depict the meaning of ELIC and the reason why Thomas Schell unexpectedly died​. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ​is an extremely powerful book through the limitation of language. ​Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close​ is powerful because it shows a 9-11 tragedy and how it can affect adolescents throughout their life. The “ key” becomes very symbolic because this was something that was left behind and Oskar tries to find it to discover his dad’s past. The key is searched throughout the whole book. Oskar’s mission is to find the key going from house to house and person to person.

In order to often better connect with stories, the use of literary techniques is extremely important, as it allows the reader to personally engage with the text. Such a technique is used by the author of the novel ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’, Jonathan Safran Foer, a story about a 9-year-old New Yorker, Oskar Schell, who is seeking closure of his father’s death in the September 11 attacks. Mainly, the author capitalizes on the practice of imagery, the use of images of figures and/or objects in order to create a personal connection between the reader and the character, historiographic metafiction, the fictionalization of actual historic events and/or figures, and fragmentation, the breaking down of texts or experimentation with language. The use of these postmodern literary techniques by the author, in return, enhances the meaning of the novel, as it not only allows the reader to connect with the story and the characters on a personal level, but it also displays the trauma and the confusion people faced after the events of 9/11 through the various characters in the novel.

For example, given that the novel revolves around a 9-year-old-boy that searches all of New York in order to find any information regarding a key that once belonged to his father, the literary technique of imagery works extremely well, as there is a lot of visualization within the story. As a result, by bringing these visualizations alive through the use of pictures, the author allows the readers to personally connect with the main character, as we are literally seeing his journey evolve through his own eyes and being in that moment with him, rather than just reading the plain text. For instance, in the novel, the readers see that all the graphic images derive from Oskar’s diary called ‘Stuff That Happened to Me’, in which different types of documents exist within it – documents that help Oskar in expressing those feelings that he cannot put into words. “I pulled Stuff That Happened to Me from the space between the bed and the wall, and I flipped through it for a while” (Foer, 52). The following pages are a series of images that make it seem as if the reader is looking over the shoulder of the character, as he is flipping through the pages of his diary, thus directly witnessing what Oskar is seeing. In another instance, when Oskar drops his cat in an attempt to demonstrate “how cats reach terminal velocity by making themselves into little parachutes”, a depiction of a falling cat is displayed in the following page that exhibits the text (190-191). When Oskar references an accident that occurred in the Staten Island Ferry and describes how in his diary, he “had pictures of people who had lost their arms and legs”, in the next page that follows, a CNN news report regarding the tragedy is shown (240). In another instance, upon visiting a woman in order to find more information about the key that once belonged to his father, Oskar requests the woman whether he is able to capture a picture of her. “Can I at least take a picture of you? She said, that would be nice. But when I started focusing Grandpa’s camera, she put her hand I front of her face for some reason. I didn’t want to force her to explain herself, so I thought of a different picture I could take…” (99). What is interesting is that in the previous page, a picture of the back of the woman’s head is displayed, which indicates the ‘different picture’ Oskar chose to capture, thus brining the picture into life and allowing the reader to see the exchange between the woman and Oskar through Oskar’s eyes. As such, the use of imagery by the author really enhances the meaning of the story, in the sense that it really allows the reader to connect with the character and the story on a personal level.

In addition, it also really captures the silences and the disorders that can result as a result of the trauma’s that the characters deal with. With historiographic metafiction, Foer captures the trauma narrative of the events of the 9/11 attacks and the Dresden bombings through the experiences of Oskar and his grandparents and shows how different individuals deal with the disturbance. Now, while these are actual events that occurred in the past, Foer fictionalizes some aspects of it, in the sense that he reiterates the past with regards to the factors that led these events to be considered as ‘historical facts’ in the novel. For instance, Oskar is traumatized as a result of the 9/11 attacks due to the death of his father in the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC). Not only is he the only individual that is aware of the messages that his father left on the day of the attacks, but he is also overwhelmed with survival guilt, given that he chose not to pick up the phone when his father called prior to the collapse of the WTC. “I couldn’t pick up the phone. I just couldn’t do it. It rang and rang, and I couldn’t move… There was a beep. Then I heard Dad’s voice… He needed me and I couldn’t pick up” (304). Through this quote, we can how much Oskar is disturbed by the fact that he couldn’t muster enough courage to pick up the phone and see what his dad needed. Now, as Oskar states, there is overwhelming feeling of “Why did he keep asking ‘Are you there?’” (304). During the happenings of the 9/11 attacks, we can imagine those in the building calling their loved ones to leave them a final message or speak to their loved ones a final time, only for it to go to a message or no one being home. While Oskar’s case was different as he did not pick up while witnessing the call, we can imagine the trauma individuals faced and are possibly still facing upon finding out that their loved ones had call prior to their death, only for them not to be home. This exact trauma is shown through Oskar’s eyes and how that event still continues to disturb him. While Oskar attempts to find as much as information, he can regarding his father’s death through the voice messages his father has left him and his memories with his father, most of the time, Oskar is in a state of a blackout from the shock caused by these memories. For example, he refers to having “heavy boots because it reminded (him) of the lock that (he) still hadn’t found and how until (he) found it, (he) didn’t love Dad enough” (251), trying to fall asleep by impulsively counting seconds, and zipping himself up in the “sleeping bag” (6), all of which point to signs of sadness and disassociation. Towards the end of the novel, the readers are shown a sequence of pictures that seems to illuminate a man jumping to his death from the WTC building. However, what is intriguing is that whether he descends, depends on the perspective the reader is seeing the picture through. In other words, if one goes through the picture chronologically, the man descends; however, if one sees the pictures backwards, the man ascends. If the reader chooses to see the picture in the former perspective, the reader only sees death; however, if the reader sees the pictures in the latter perspective, then there is the possibility of rewriting the history and preparing for a different future. On the other hand, through the narrative standpoint of the grandparents, the readers are shown the effects that the bombings of Dresden in 1945 had on the grandparents. For example, after the bombings of Dresden, it is illustrated how the grandfather lost his ability to talk, and as such, communicates through the use of a notebook. For instance, in one occasion, when spoken to, the grandfather “(takes) out a little book and (writes), I don’t speak. I’m sorry” (81). In addition, because of the trauma that he has been through, the readers also see how the grandfather has tattooed the word ‘Yes’ on his left hand and the word ‘No’ in his right hand, as an attempt to shorten everyday conversation (82-83). This is really effective as we always see people who have been through scary events unable to speak in a clear manner or are afraid to express themselves due to the trauma they have experienced. Lastly, the readers are also taken on a journey to the grandmother’s past in an attempt to experience the events and the trauma the grandmother has been through, when the grandmother describes to Oskar the identity of his family through detailed letters. This account reveals to the readers the loss that left her broken and her relationship with the individual that abandoned her.

All in all, Foer uses the postmodern literary technique of historiographic metafiction effectively in terms of enhancing the meaning of the novel, as it allows the readers to witness historical events such as the 9/11 attacks and the Dresden bombings through the perspective of survivors, thus showcasing the different types of traumas’ that individuals deal with as a result of these events.

The current study presents the comparison of the apocalyptic imagery in Paul Aster’s “In the Country of Last Things” and Jonathan Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’. Moreover, the study illustrates how both writers use apocalyptic imagery to present the moral, social and political corruption in America during the twentieth century. Furthermore, secondary resources are used to illustrate how both novels present apocalyptic imagery in a postmodernism setting. For endurance in an anonymous metropolis and post-apocalyptic, this study purposes at understanding the postmodern victim’s struggle. Apocalyptic is describing or representing the end of the world and total demolition or immensely bad future circumstances (Aamodt et al., 2002). Accordingly, in which the Earth’s scientific evolution has distorted or is subsiding, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of horror, science fiction or science fantasy (Aamodt et al., 2002). To avert an apocalypse event, the stories might involve these subjects deal with the outcome and significances of the event itself, or it might be post-apocalyptic which may be established after the event (Aamodt et al., 2002). Although in a non-technological forthcoming world, post-apocalyptic stories frequently proceed place where solitary dispersed rudiments of technology and society remnants (Aamodt et al., 2002).

Discussion

Apocalyptic imagery is a steady practice often used in post-modernist writing, to improve a person’s knowledge. By the adversities that incurred so conspicuously throughout the twentieth century, humankind was endangered and to signify a society where ethical and political corruption was at its core, the only practice of a post-apocalyptic appeared compulsory in the situations (Bendle, 2005, p.1). Within the novel’s title, the “last things” that are included, regard not just to the disappearing and distraction of reminiscences, but also to the fading objects and technology and the words related in specifying them. During the post-modernist era, this was a mounting worry across America (Bendle, 2005, p.1).

Paul Auster’s In the Country of Last Things

The story was published in 1987 about the fight to endure in a dystopian galaxy, the loss of a recognizable and known world. In a post-apocalyptic unidentified metropolis, the action is set (which absurdly, is both physical and fictional) (Merlob et al., 2007, p.25). Where the deficiency of order, aggravated poverty, and vagrancy establish an almost uninhabitable world, were to survive by scavenging, dying and regaining the vanished autonomy and to murder are the only goals of the individual (Merlob et al., 2007, p.25). The central character of the book, Anna Blume, sets out a mission, to find her missing brother, to a weird place. William, his missing brother in a vortex of dehumanization, viciousness, and terror, only to fail and be trapped. However, the moral honesty and stability were being managed to maintain by Anna and her friends as they anticipate “the extreme derangement”, on the edge of failure and ruin of a civilization (Merlob et al., 2007, p.25). As these survivors’ attempts to leave the “famous City of Destruction”, this novel closes (Merlob et al., 2007, p.25).

The title of the book itself is an invitation to read it as an example of the apocalyptic fiction of “the dystopian or post-holocaust tradition of science fiction”. The author warns us that we are about to enter the “famous City of Destruction”, from the very beginning which lies outside “the gate of dreams”, thus highlighting the probability of no reappearance (Merlob et al., 2007, p.25). By the confines of the environment in which characters place themselves, the lives and aspirations of Auster’s characters are determined (Auster, 2014). Auster depicts the city as restrictive and impersonal. Within this oppressive regime, his characters struggle to survive and endure numerous hardships (Auster, 2014). Adapting to a new identity for the livings in the world. In a distant and apocalyptic dystopic city, Anna Blume undergoes an urban nightmare. The places of preserve, space, language and their impact on the character, as well as tempestuous metropolitan, are the element themes in the novel (Auster, 2014). Auster presents the factors of brutality and human misery experienced by Anna, as well as the metropolis at the bounds of variation, disaffection, and confusion. She came to write this in her blue notebook that ‘One by one, everything is disappearing and never coming back” and also “Once a thing is gone, that is the end of it” (Auster, 2014). An unpredictable and uncertain environment was witnessed by Anna and i.e. at the convergence of contending communal forces, which continuously rein scribe and remove social relations. She cannot develop an intellect or sense of who and where she is, as entirety the whole thing around her is insecure, even her isolated feelings (Auster, 2014). With intellect of meaning, she was frustrated to capitalize the city, which becoming another pointless effort, as in a place constantly devolving, there cannot be any meaning (Auster, 2014).