Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Comparison Essay
Young children are always searching for answers, but what happens when the result makes everything more complicated? In the two books “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” two adolescent boys go on life-changing adventures that stem from an isolated traumatic experience. Along the way, both boys ultimately realize that it is worth the risk to understand the truth.
In order for Christopher to understand something, he must explain it analytically because of his autism. His articulate thoughts were comical, yet profound at the same time. "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them."(Haddon.) This quote proves Christopher’s intelligence, as well as his inability to understand emotional situations. The event of finding a dead dog in the yard confused Christopher, and so he decided to solve the mystery like his favorite detective would. During the investigation, his findings were documented in a journal that he was supposed to write in by instruction of his mentor, Siobhan. Like Christopher, Oskar was a curious little boy who was coping with the recent death of his father during the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Although also very intelligent, Oskar had a weight on his shoulders and often invented things as a method to “fix” other problems, in hopes that it would heal his own. "In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down, and you could know if New York is in heavy boots."(Foer.) The thought of using sadness for advantage is quite a heavy thought for a child, and
In order for Christopher to understand something, he must explain it analytically because of his autism. His articulate thoughts were comical, yet profound at the same time. "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them."(Haddon.) This quote proves Christopher’s intelligence, as well as his inability to understand emotional situations. The event of finding a dead dog in the yard confused Christopher, and so he decided to solve the mystery like his favorite detective would. During the investigation, his findings were documented in a journal that he was supposed to write in by instruction of his mentor, Siobhan. Like Christopher, Oskar was a curious little boy who was coping with the recent death of his father during the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Although also very intelligent, Oskar had a weight on his shoulders and often invented things as a method to “fix” other problems, in hopes that it would heal his own. "In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down, and you could know if New York is in heavy boots."(Foer.) The thought of using sadness for advantage is quite a heavy thought for a child, and
Cited: 1. Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print. 2. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. 3. Mitchell, Jeffrey T. "Work with Traumatized Children — Psychological Effects and Coping Strategies." Journal of Traumatic Stress 5.1 (2006). SpringerLink. Web. 10 May 2011. .