I finished this book and decided to start at the beginning again to find connections I had since forgotten. It is safe to say that from start to finish this book consistently uses ‘extremely’ and ‘incredibly’ numerous times and in many different contexts. There has to be a reason for this. The words are even in the title so what is so important about these two words?
I began to think what it would be like to be incredibly close to someone while being extremely loud. Why would anyone need to be in such a position, and what characters in the book would have this need? I thought of a ghost desperately trying to get the attention of a loved one left behind in life. I thought of a ghost yelling in someone’s face while that person stares straight through him. Then I tried connecting that thought to the book and I got the answer. Throughout the book, Oskar is searching frantically for some piece of his father. He becomes obsessed with a key that eventually opens a safety deposit box of another man’s dead father. He focuses so hard on finding the lock, the simple solution to an impossible problem. One of the last pages of the book, Oskar says, “…but I believe that things are extremely complicated, and her looking over me was as complicated as anything ever could be. But it was also incredibly simple.”(324). I thought this applied well to his search for his father. The search for the lock that fit the Black key was extremely complicated. It took Oskar eight months for a search that ended in disappointment, but his reason for such complexity was simple; he was trying to keep a part of his father alive.
I am sure there are other, much more philosophical, opinions to why the title and the book focus so obsessively on extremes and incredible epiphanies, but I thought the answer to be rather simple. People do crazy things when they love someone and sometimes one cannot simply say it. “And how can you say I love you to someone you love?”(314).
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Just like Chelsea, I also had so many questions about the words “extremely” and “incredibly” after finishing the book. These words were not only used so many times in the book but also in the title as well. That means they have to have some large influence or significance otherwise Foer wouldn’t have included these words at all.
ReplyDeleteChelsea makes an excellent observation about who would like to be incredibly close to someone and extremely loud at the same time. She thought about it and came to the conclusion of a ghost, which makes perfect sense. A ghost is someone/something that wants to be extremely loud if they’re incredibly close to someone in order to get their attention. Chelsea also points out that Oskar has been searching for something throughout the entire novel; his father. She notices that Oskar is on a mission to figure out what the key opens but it is a complicated and almost impossible problem. However, she says, Oskar was just trying to find a way to keep a part of his father alive. I completely agree with Chelsea’s statement and find it incredibly sad that all Oskar has to hold onto of his father is the key he leaves behind in the vase.
I also really like Chelsea’s last statement about why the title and book focus on extremes and incredible epiphanies. She answers it simply by saying people do crazy things when they love someone. This answer has been prevalent throughout the book, it just took some time to figure it out. We see the answer of love throughout the My Feelings sections and in the letters Oskar’s grandparents write to their loved ones.
I think that the words "incredibly" and "Extremely" had huge connections throughout the book. Other than being in the title, which sets up their importance, they are used to show the connections between the characters. Along with Chelsea's idea of ghosts, I want to connect that idea with Oskar's grandfather who was like a ghost for most of the book. He way always extremely close to Oskar without him ever knowing and was watching without Oskar ever knowing, just like a ghost. Throughout the story he seemed incredibly close though the letters he wrote to Oskar's father, which we were able to read. They reoccured, just like the words "Extremely" and "Incredibly". This idea of words reoccurring throughout the book also goes along with the reoccuring of the Stephen Hawkins letters. They would pop up every so often until in the end Oskar gets an actual letter which helps to close the story in a way. This whole book has reoccurring ideas throughout it and it helps to really get the point across extremely well and incredibly often.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the words "extremely" and "incredibly" used quite often in this novel. Had they been only used in the title, I would not have given them much thought because they are common adverbs we read and hear every day. In Creative Writing classes, we are told to avoid adverbs because they often unnecessary. They are abstract words added to concrete situations. However, in Foer's novel, the repetition of these words gives them power. As we have noticed, they come up several times in the book, and they give Oskar's situation an overwhelming feeling. He is incredibly close to finding answers. Like Chelsea said, the ghost of Thomas Schell haunts Oskar in an extremely loud way. He is obsessed with his mission to find the lock.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar idea about the idea of ghosts being "extremely loud and incredibly close." This is an interesting concept, because the memory of Oskar's father is his driving force, as if his ghost is incredibly close to him and yelling at him to continue his quest. In the end of the novel, when Oskar finds that the key belongs to another man's lockbox, the ghost is quieted. And when Oskar is able to picture all of the events of September 11th in reverse, it is as if he is turning down the volume of his traumatic memory.