Concerning Thursday's reading, this idea of a play on style most notably takes place in the "MY FEELINGS" chapter. I immediately found myself greeted with a sense of discomfort at the outset of this section. The unusual breaks between sentences followed by the censored text in Oskar's grandmother's letter had me re-reading the first page of the chapter before semi-comfortably moving on. What do these breaks mean? Are they simply symbolic of a break in thought, or do they represent a lapse of memory, or holes in his grandmother's story that need filling: places to insert your imagination, giving her story a chance to breath while the reader's mind fills in the blanks with images of who these people are, how they looked, how they felt... These breaks do not occur, though, when the grandmother is quoting a letter someone else has written her. I have also considered what she says on page 83 to be a clue as to what these breaks may represent. She says, in relation to Oskar's grandfather, "His attention filled the hole in the middle of me." Maybe these breaks are now holes from the loss of her son.
I am eager to bring this up in class and see what other people's thoughts are on this. I have yet to come up with a comfortable conclusion to satisfy my curiosity.
Another thing I couldn't help but notice in this chapter are the parallels between the grandmother's tale of being a curious child and Oskar's. As Oskar searches for clues to find the lock to his father's key, his grandmother searched for an answer as to whom composed the letters from jail many years prior. As Oskar received an oversized white jacket from his grandmother, she received an oversized bracelet from her grandfather because "Its size was supposed to be a symbol of his love" (79).
Finally, as many odds and ends are on my mind regarding this text, I'd like to bring attention to the recurring theme of flying and birds. In keeps with the "MY FEELINGS" chapter, such references jump up often. "I thought about birds. Could they fly if there wasn't someone, somewhere, laughing" (78)? "She (Oskar's great-great-grandmother) asked her father for a dove. Instead he bought her a scarf. So she thought of the scarf as a dove. She even convinced herself that it contained flight..." (79). "She (grandmother's sister, Anna) laughed enough to migrate en entire flock of birds" (80). "Birds sang in the other room" (83). Could all of these references allude to the idea of the plane crashing into the trade center (flying like a bird), or people jumping from the building (flying like birds). I especially think of this allusion from the first quote I listed from page 78, "Could they fly if there wasn't someone, somewhere, laughing?" Or, were these people simply falling to their death?
I can relate with much of what Sarah experienced in the second reading of Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Though there were many aspects of the My Feelings chapter that I am still unclear about, I enjoyed it the most. I think it holds a certain sense of mystery that intrigues me. For instance, as Sarah mentioned, what exactly is the purpose of the abnormal spacing? Perhaps this is another parallel that can be drawn with that of the ruby bracelet (79). Oskar’s grandmother is writing a letter to him in which the spaces are too large—just as the white jacket she gave him was too big. Or maybe, as someone mentioned in class on Thursday, the large spaces symbolize holes in the grandmother’s story. Hopefully, the meaning in the format of the letter will become clearer as the novel progresses.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the parallel between Oskar and his grandmother as a young girl. They are both independently commencing on a seemingly impossible journey to discovery. These “searches” give purpose to their lives. It is clear in the first lines of The Only Animal that Oskar is searching for meaning in life, and because he is an atheist, he is struggling to have any success. He labels it “the problem of how relatively insignificant we are” (86). His dad then proceeds to provide a solution to his problem, but Oskar even admits his reasoning behind going on the search for Black is only because “it was something, and I needed to do something” (87). In the same way, finding the author of the refugee letter gives meaning to Oskar’s grandmother’s life.
Overall, I am thoroughly enjoying Extremely Loud and Incredible Close. Even though many parts seem to be confusing, I really enjoy the aura of mystery and secrecy that its ambiguity produces. Foer’s unique characters are easily lovable, and though it is extremely heartbreaking at times, the novel is also incredibly amusing. I look forward to reading on and further understanding all three of the narrators’ stories.
I would also like to comment on the presence of sentences that are separated by multiple spaces and other unusual formatting in the book. This appears predominately in the chapters narrated by the grandparents. However, there are also pages like that in Oskar's narration. While some of these unique printing techniques have obvious meaning, others seem pointless and irritating.
ReplyDeleteThe parts that are confusing include the narration by the grandma that Sarah mentioned. The holes in the sentences could represent a number of things including lapses of memory or "the hole" that the grandmother needs filled. Another idea is that these spaces are meant to represent the grandmother's thinking. This letter to Oskar has had a lot of thought to put in it and the grandma could just be hesitating to think while she writes. This would work well with the other "stream of consciousness" type writing throughout the novel.
I wanted to comment on Sarah's note about the parallels between Oskar and his grandmother. Foer does seem to be stringing the stories of Dresden bombings and the 9/11 tragedy together. He does so by using two personal stories of two already related characters. Both people are dealing with pain at an early stage in life. We also see similarities in their inquisitive minds--Oskar's mission in New York, and the grandmother's mission with the letter. I think by creating this parallel, Foer sets up the reader to see who the grandmother has become and perhaps predict future Oskar. I also think that we see the grandmother making the same mistakes of past generations by "loving too much" and giving Oskar a coat that is too big. It is a very interesting, cyclical pattern. Could this cycle perhaps be saying something about history in general? Humanity? Two tragedies from two different eras and locations also further this idea.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I wanted to comment on Sarah’s question of the meaning of all the bird references. I think that there are two possibilities for these meanings. I agree with Sarah that the birds have some relationship to the events of September 11th, but I think it has other meanings tied into it. The quote from page 78, “Could they fly if there wasn’t someone, somewhere, laughing?” I think relates to the people jumping from the Twin Towers on that day, but I think it gives reasons to their jumping. They jumped, ‘they fly,’ because they know peace waits for what is ahead of them. They could not jump if they did not know that something better was waiting in front of them because it was obvious that what was behind them was hell.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the bird references have to do with the plane, however. I think that the birds have to do with a way of the author expressing freedom from the body by referring to the flight and grace of birds. I believe the author makes his characters use bird references for a coping mechanism. His characters wish to think that when one dies their soul and spirit float and soar through the sky like a bird.
This idea made me think of the birds being references to lost loved ones. When Oskar’s grandmother and grandfather are together, she said, “Birds sang in the other room.”(83). I think this meant that she felt her sister’s spirit with her. When Oskar’s grandmother spoke of her sister, Anna, “She laughed enough to migrate an entire flock of birds.”(80). I believe this means she laughed so much, she lifted the spirits of people around her. She had the ability to change the moods of people she surrounded herself with.
The people falling to their death were not simply choosing to die, but gracefully flying towards their fate; a fate they chose to make. The birds represent a person’s soul or spirit. The characters use this representation as a coping mechanism.
As Sarah has mentioned, the form of this novel is interesting and confusing at times. I would like to speculate as to why Foer chose to present this story using a series of flashbacks, letters, and even pictures. I would like to link the confusing qualities of this novel to the confusion in the atmosphere right after 9/11. Thinking back to middle school as I watched the falling towers broadcast on T.V., I remember that it was not only sad and shocking it was also incredibly confusing. At first we had no idea what was actually going on, who was to blame, or how we could help. I’d like to think of the different forms in this novel as representations of the pieces of information the American people received about the tragedy. What we know about 9-11 today is a collaboration of news segments on television, articles in a newspaper, and specific shocking pictures. We’ve also been exposed to interviews with survivors, or witnesses, or rescuers. We may also have our own personal connection to the attacks. Oskar also holds on to a series of medians through which the same story is told. The tape with the last messages from is father fits into this unique way of telling a story. His grandmother, too, uses letters to reveal what is going on in her life, and what is going on in the world. When the tragedy of 9-11 was first introduced to our lives, it was not in chronological order and it wasn’t presented from just one source. I’d like to think of this novel, as a scrapbook, for lack of a better term, of 9/11. Although it is filtered through the perspective of a little boy, we are still offered a series of sources that reveal how attacks in Germany and attacks in New York affected the rest of the world and the rest of history on a very small, but detailed plane.
ReplyDeleteSarah mentioned that she felt uncomfortable a lot, and that made me think of Beloved, where we were supposed to feel uncomfortable. Maybe we're supposed to feel uncomfortable here, since Oskar and even his grandparents are uncomfortable in that they have no answers. Oskar is trying to find his key, for example.
ReplyDeleteIn direct contrast to this post, I have to start off saying how much I love Foer’s writing style. For years I preferred reading novels written in the third person but have recently discovered the perks of first person narration. This novel is a perfect example of why I have changed my mind. Oskar’s character is so complex, especially for a nine year old, that it would be nearly impossible to create the same impression in a third party narration. Also, the writer can add so much more personality to their writing. The way the story and the thoughts of the characters jump around is essential to the overall feeling of the novel. I understand that for a lot of people this style of writing is confusing or annoying but it’s so much a part of the book that it wouldn’t be the same if it was written any other way.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the three different narrators, I can’t say that I know more than anyone else at this point. I’m hoping that in the end Oskar will get a chance to know everything the reader is finding out now and that it helps him come to some kind of closure or something. I honestly am expecting for all three of the narratives to come together in some way – it would be a real disappointment if they didn’t and I’m not entirely sure what the reason would be for the reader to know all of this information if it doesn't come into play later on in the story. With that, I’m reading the novel assuming that everything will come together and make sense in the end.
In regards to the occasional strangeness of writing style, I see that as simply another extension of the character’s personality coming through. There is a specific place I’m thinking about that I can’t seem to find in the book right now, with unusually large spaces between the sentences, and no punctuation. I love that part because it allows for the thought process of the character to come through without saying it explicitly. But it’s easy to see where someone who doesn't write would miss the significance. The area of the book where the spaces happen is during one of the grandfather’s chapters, where he is trying to explain his actions to his unborn son. To me, the spaces represent pauses in his writing. I see the grandfather as knowing what he wants to portray, but having difficulty finding the right words to make that happen. It’s a process any writer goes through, knowing what they want to say but being unable to make it come out well. And Foer lays it out brilliantly.
While I understand what is said, I disagree with this blog entry.
ReplyDeleteThe "My Feelings" sections were by far some of the best parts in the novel to me. Sarah said that reading the novel, especially the "feelings" sections, made her extremely uncomfortable and to me that means that they were written correctly. Because, as we discussed in class, feelings are uncomfortable. When we hear someone else being extremely honest, most people get uncomfortable. And not even with other people, within ourselves. I know I have had thoughts or feelings in which right afterwards I"m like, "I can't believe I thought that."
I absolutely loved the rhetorical questions that don't get answered and the repetition of them. "Why does anyone ever make love?" She asks that over and over again and you never get an answer. Why? Because there isn't a clear answer to the question, nonetheless, we think unanswerable questions all the time. It's uncomfortable to have such a deep question without an answer that comes so close to the heart of being human.
The breaks in "my feelings" to me represent the breaks in human thought and how our thoughts aren't orderly and put together "seamlessly". If our thoughts were like a movie I think everyone would be a lot less complex than we actually are. It takes away from being human when you take away the confusion that comes with it. We reason and philosophize. It's more representational of the WAY we think (the spaces/gaps etc.)
I like that the memories seem a bit jumbled as well. I know I have memories where it's hard for me to remember every detail. I can only tell parts. And sometimes it's the big parts that I forget and I can only remember a detail. I think Foer is a writer that perfectly displays human thoughts and the complications that come with emotions, with both the set up of words and their meaning.