Jonathan Foer's Novel 'Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close'

Coping with Loss Jonathan Foer 's novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, deals with many themes, the most significant being how one deals with loss. In the novel, Oskar Schell found a key in his late father 's closet and makes it his mission to find the missing lock. Along the way he is faced with many challenges in coping with the tragic loss of his father. Oskar 's personality and the way he deals with situations is greatly affected by his father 's death, his relationship with his mother is strained because he doesn 't comprehend how she is coping with the loss, and he is constantly faced with losing the memory of his father. Foer shows us how deeply such a tragedy effects someone, not only as an individual, but how their loss
effects the people around them. Although Oskar has a reptuation of being a mature, old souled, and extremely reasonable nine year old, his father 's death changes the way he perceives things, and how he handles himself in certain aspects of his life.
There are many scenes throughout the novel where Oskar turns to harming himself to deal with his overwhelming emotions. For example, when his mother and her boyfriend were in the living room giggling and listening to music, and Oskar was in his dad 's closet, he writes, "I zipped myself all the way into the sleeping bag of myself, not because I was hurt, and not because I had broken something, but because they were cracking up. Even though I knew I shouldn 't, I gave myself another bruise" (Foer 37). In these lines Foer reveals the true pain Oskar is hiding. Oskar recedes into himself, and causes himself physical pain in order to avoid the real reasons he is hurt. Another example of Oskar losing himself is when his mother was tucking him into bed, and he was begging her not to fall in love with anyone or he would stop loving her. Oskar was being very childlike, Linda got frustrated and said, "You remind me so much of Dad" (171). Oskar, with venom in his voice, replied, "If I could have chosen, I would have chosen you" (172). Here Foer shows us just how angry and hurt Oskar is, how overwhelmed he is by his frustration. Later in the scene Oskar apologizes profusely for his words, which were extremely hurtful and intended to do
so. While dealing with the tragic loss as best as he can in his own way, Oskar seems at odds with how his mother is handling it. He is doing his best to hold on to his father not only for his own sake, but for his mother 's too. This is shown perfectly when Oskar is still in his father 's closet and he writes, "Mom was with Ron in the living room, listening to music too loud and playing board games. She wasn 't missing dad" (Foer 36). With these words, Foer shows the reader that Oskar is disappointed in his mother 's lack of mourning. Oskar is still very much grieving over his father. Because his mother is laughing with another man in their living room, Oskar believes she doesn 't care. Much later in the novel Oskar questions his mother about whether she truly misses his dad or not. Oskar has this notion that to be happy and to move on with life means to forget. Oskar explains to his mother that he isn 't trying to find ways to be happy because his dad would want to be remembered. Linda inquires, "Why can 't you remember him and be happy" (171), to which Oskar, extremely critically, replies, "Why are you in love with Ron?" (171). In this scene Foer shows us exactly how Oskar is trying to cope with his loss, by constantly grieving, which is the opposite of what Linda is doing. She tries to explain to Oskar that he can live his life, be happy, even though he misses his father. Oskar lashes out by trying to hurt his mother. Throughout the novel, Oskar deals with his constant fear of losing his father forever. He can 't seem to let go and move on with his life. Towards the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Oskar has hidden away the recordings of the voicemails his father left the day he died. He 'd hidden them so his mother wouldn 't hear them, but when Oskar 's longing for his father becomes unbearable he sneaks into the closet and plays them quietly, "The night when I decided that finding the lock was my ultimate raison d 'etre, I really needed to hear him. I was extremely careful not to make any noise as I took the phone out of all of its protections. Even though the volume was way down, so Dad 's voice wouldn 't wake Mom, he still filled the room, like how a light fills a room even when it 's dim" (69). The word "needed" reveals just how lost Oskar is through his father 's death. In order to deal with his loss, and his relationship with his mother, Oskar holds onto every last shred of his father there is. Towards the beginning of the novel, when Oskar is missing his father he sneaks into his closet and touches all of his things, "Even though Dad 's coffin was empty, his closet was full...I touched all of his white T-shirts. I touched the extra laces for his sneakers that would never run around the reservoir again. I put my hands into all of the pockets of his jackets. I put my feet into his slippers" (36). The image of Oskar in his father 's closet running his hands gently over his father 's belongings, and trying on his slippers demonstrates just how heartbroken Oskar is over his father 's death. He needs to hear his voice, and smell his old clothes to keep the memory of his father alive. Foer used the perfect character to portray the grief of such a controversial and traumatic event such as September 11, 2001, which society has come to know as "9/11".
According to a review in The Harvard Book Review, " Oskar 's paradoxical status - as an impossibly mature child, an explorer fearful of most means of transportation, a fatherless child who wants to define himself as a son - makes him a saturated object of tragedy; Safron Foer 's key into the events of September 11th lies thus in his creation of the ultimate composite grieving character" (Ullman 2). Ullman 's take on Foer 's development of Oskar Schell as the main character shows that the innocent, less cynical mind of a child, that also happens to be extremely mature, and brilliant is the perfect way to convey Foer 's perception of the grief of a very heartbreaking moment in history. Although Ullman praises Foer 's choice, The New York Times sees it differently, commenting on the sometimes random trains of thought Oskar has, "In theory, there 's nothing wrong with a narrator like this, especially when he 's a cunning combination of other narrators from the kind of books that his author wants to conjure with, but there are neurological limits to some reader 's ability to tolerate a wee one who says whatever springs to mind at roughly the same speed it springs to mind and keeps circling to the clue of cluelessness and other riddling Oriental insights" (Kim 2). While it may be at times hard to understand what is
important to the storyline due to the A.D.D. like tendencies, which is a result of having such a young narrator, it creates a whole other way of looking at the tragedy of 9/11, through a child 's eyes. Foer take us on his own journey centered around the magnitude of grief the world suffered on that fateful day. He portrays the stages of grief and their degrees through the eyes of Oskar Schell, a nine year old boy suffering the sudden loss of his father, and all the challenges that come along with mourning and moving on.

Works Cited
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Boston, MA: Mariner, 2005. Print.

Kim, Walter. "Everything Is Included." - Review. The New York Times, 03 Apr. 2005. Web. 06 June 2013.

Ullman, Sandy. "Harvard Book Review." Harvard Book Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 June 2013.