Jimmy’s Comments (group member since Apr 26, 2011)

Jimmy’s comments from the extremely smart and incredibly good looking group.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a story of tragedy. Though many people look at tragedy as a negative situation, Jonathan Safran Foer helps us understand the good that can come from tragedy. Death of others close to us is necessary and good for us. Death of others close to us is necessary and good for us. Through out our life we will experience death of many people close to us and we must accept and embrace these experiences to help better our life in the future. Oskar, his mother, Grandmother, Grandfather, Mr. Black that lived above Oscar and Mrs. Black that lived in the sky scraper all we’re affected by Oskar’s fathers death and inevitably their lives were better off from this loss.

Oscar, though lost his father and felt a large amount of pain in the process, was able to experience so many things and people he never would have before and changed so many people’s lives. His story to find the truth of his father behind the key is the main plot of the story, but through out his journey he is able to meet many different people he never would have encountered. He helped bring these people that never would have met each other together and overcome their tragedies they experienced in their lives, eventually finding good in their tragic situations.

Oskar’s mother lost her husband, which would be a terrible thing for anyone to have to endure. Through this whole process she began to slowly float away from Oskar, her closest thing left of her husband. As Oskar went on his Journey through New York, trying to solve what happened to his father, he became more confused and upset as he struggled to find the answer to the key. In the end when he finds the key eventually means nothing in regards to his father, he slowly comes to peace with the death and the situation he is in. He accepts that his mother has had to face the same struggles as him and they are able to grow closer than they have ever been.

The Grandmother and Grandfather had not seen each other in many years. Both of them probably did not expect to ever see each other again. They faced a lot of tragedy in their life, and instead of accepting what has happened, they both were trapped in the past and couldn’t move on. This kept them apart for decades but through the death of their son, the grandfather decided he must come back to see part of what he never saw. This was tough for the Grandmother to accept since it had been so long and her she had accepted his loss and moved on with her life. Though it was hard to let him back into her life, she eventually did and they were able to be together again. Oskar is able to meet his grandfather finally as well which would have never happened without his fathers death.

Two of the more interesting people Oskar met on his adventures in searching for his father, Mr. Black from upstairs, and Mrs. Black that lived in the Empire State Building. Their lives we’re changed very drastically because of the death of Oskar’s father. Mr. Black had not left his room in years and had not experienced sound in years as well. Oskar was able to connect with this human who had not had contact with other humans in a very long time, and essentially bring him back to life. He was able to take him on his searches with him, as a helper and as a friend. He became the only friend he had had in years and was like a son to him, because on his card for him the one word definition he wrote was “son”. Both Oskar and Mr. Black changed one of the people they visited, Mrs. Black in the Empire State Building. After meeting Mrs. Black who shared a similar story as Mr. Black in that she had not left the tower and been on ground in many years, the two of them connected and this never would have happened if they would not have been brought together by Oskar and his fathers death. The two of them we’re brought from their false lives and were reborn because Oskar brought them together.

All of these people were connected because of one thing that happened: the death of Oskar’s father. Though this was a tragic situation for Oskar and his family, a lot of good has come out of the ending scenario. People were brought together that never would have met or never would have planned seeing each other again. Oskar was brought closer to his mother and both of them help remind each other of Oskar’s dad. Tragedies will occur through out our life, whether they are large such as Hiroshima or 9/11 or the loss of someone close to you. Many people find pain in these situations, which is natural, but inevitably what is done is done and we must find the good in other things as we grow and move towards the future. Jonathan Safran Foer wants us to understand that tragedy will occur in our life, but with out pain then we would always be happy and numb to emotion. Pain makes the good times better and builds character, developing us into who we are as individuals. We must accept what happens in our life knowing it all has a reason and make best of every moment with everyone because you never know when it will be the last.

I agree, All of these stories, Grandpa's, Grandma's, Oskars, Mr. Black who lives up stairs and hasnt left his room for 24 years...They all have faced a tragedy in their life and instead of moving on they are stuck in the past not letting go...I think that as the story goes on these stories as well as the friendship of Mr. Black from upstairs will all help Oskar accept his fathers death and move on living life in a positive manner.

yea I would agree, he wants to hold on to the present and not move on what so ever, for example he was offered coffee and he accepted just because it stints his growth, I found that funny but it also shows that he wants to stay trapped in the present and basically never wants to move or anyone close to him to move on, like his mother who likes Ron but Oskar hates Ron because he thinks his mother loves him instead of loving his father

He does learn to appreciate everything and become attached to everything, but then he starts to realize and question what all of it means and ask him self is it worth it to waste all this time worrying about all these things when in the end everyones going to be dead? I think hes just too smart for his own good....

I think part of what the author is trying to convey in this book is the similarities in these two lost love stories, Oskar losing his father and having to settle for his mother wishing she was actually the one in the tower and he still had his father, grandpa losing his love and having to settle with her sister, but taking the sister and trying to mold her into her older sister, both very sad situations and both happened many years apart, but I think hes trying to show that these similar stories of tragedy can relate even between long periods of time since this whole story seems to disregard time as it jumps between generations

I've also noticed that he uses "Extremely" and "Close" together in sentences to describe many different situations for example...

"I felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first time in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it? What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?"

Pretty sad as well that a child would think that...

Oskar seems to come up with quite ridiculous inventions such birdseed jackets, the signs on the ambulance, the ability to carry your heartbeat in your pocket and so on....do you think there is a pattern at all in the inventions he creates?

After Mr. Fox talked yesterday about the significance of noise as well as silence to the two different stories, I started to wonder what the meaning of the title Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close meant...what do you guys think?