What Will Oskar Find On His Search? (Allison McDermid)

 

**First of all, I want to say when I started reading this novel, and the point of view changed from Oskar to the grandfather, I generally thought it was the same narrator- just in a different time.  This being said, I am wondering how the grandfather will be brought back into the story, since he was never even a part of Oskar’s life.  Will he just appear within the grandmother’s memory?  Perhaps he will return unexpectedly.  How do his notes get compiled with Oskar’s and the grandmother’s?**

 

After our class discussion of the events of 9/11, I tried to imagine what it would be like to actually be a family member of one of the victims.  Even harder for me to imagine:  being one of the victims.  If I were a victim who jumped out of a window at the World Trade Center, I would jump upon the basis that it was MY decision.  It would be ME taking MY own life and not a terrorist threat to the nation.  After thinking about this, all the people that were lost, and lives that were destroyed, it was difficult for me to put myself in Oskar’s shoes.

 

Oskar seems like a sarcastic teenager, not a nine year old.  He reminds me of a young Dave Eggers, dark and omniscient.  Although he is only a child, he has had to grow up fast with the events of his father’s death.  He holds the tapes that share his father’s last few minutes, however, he chooses to hide these from everyone.  Oskar says his favorite person, besides his father, is his grandmother.   Oskar’s grandmother shares a private scene with Oskar through a letter in the chapter, “My Feelings.”

 

In this letter, Oskar’s grandmother describes how she met his grandfather and how they ended up, eventually, married.  There is a twist with her story, because Thomas, Oskar’s grandfather, was originally in love with her sister, Anna.  They do not discuss the past or Anna, although Thomas is clearly still in love with her.  I think that some of the significance of Oskar’s search lies within these chapters not narrated by him.  I think that if he tries to find where the key belongs, Oskar will either be disappointed completely, or he will find something out about his grandfather, not his father like he thought.  Though Oskar is the protagonist, the real story is not about him, or even the tragedy of 9/11.  The real story lies between the grandparents—or else the other chapters would be from the point of view of the father.