Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close In the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer explains the story of a family who lost a member due to the 9/11 terrorist bombing at the twin towers in New York City. The story mainly concentrates around a nine year old boy named Oskar and his quest to find the meaning of a key his deceased father has left him. He travels all around New York City, meeting numerous people while searching for the lock that the key opens. Throughout the story, I believe that the title of the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, foreshadows the relationship between Oskar and his mother after the father has passed away. From the beginning of the story, the father has been very influential and involved in Oskar’s life. The father invented numerous games to challenge Oskar and to force him to use his mind to solve each mystery. Also, the person Oskar sought out when he had a problem or had a question was his father. Oskar’s world revolved around trying to solve the games that his father created for him. Within his family, his father has been the person Oskar looks up to the most. He has become his hero and role model. However, as the title states, something extremely loud will affect Oskar’s family. From evidence in the story and from the title, we can determine that is it a tragedy that is extremely loud, but the people who share that grief and provide relief are incredibly close. From the death of the father, Oskar has lost an important figure in his life. He becomes obsessed in trying to solve the mystery of the key that he found in his father’s blue vase. At the same time, he develops negative feelings toward his mother. The extremely loud tragedy has caused Oskar’s whole life to turn upside down. He becomes unsure how to live his life and begins to invent imaginative and sometimes impossible inventions and situations in order to escape reality. Oskar drags through the days of school and gets excited only when he is able to search for the lock that the key belongs to. He escapes from his home in order to feel closer to his deceased father and believes that finding the lock will make the pain from the tragedy feel less bitter. This same tragedy has also caused him to feel resentment and even anger toward his mother. He believes that she is trying to forget about the father by spending time with a “friend” named Ron. Oskar feels that she is trying to replace the father with this new man, and this has caused an emotional conflict between him and his mother. The emotional collision toward the mother has caused Oskar to ignore her feelings and has made him begin to lie to her very often. Oskar fails to believe in his mother and refuses to tell her the truth about his search for the mystery lock. While the mother tries to comfort Oskar, she struggles to overcome the emotional barrier Oskar has set up in their relationship. Although Oskar secretly begins his quest for the mysterious lock, the mother has noticed and eventually finds out how he really spends his time during the weekends. However, believing that this search will help him overcome the family’s tragedy, she acts ignorant while actually calling all of the Black’s and telling them about Oskar’s future visit to their home. In a way, the title also foreshadows this secretive protection that the mother provides toward Oskar. With the second part of the title, Incredibly Close even though the mother is distant from Oskar, she still protects him. This secret protection she creates around Oskar allows her to be Incredibly Close to Oskar at all times without him ever realizing it. The Incredibly Close protection the mother created allowed Oskar to talk into more detail with each of the Blacks that he visited. If Oskar’s mother didn’t call each of the Blacks, Oskar would have probably not been able to converse with each of them as openly as it was told in the story. If there was no warning from the mother, then each of the Blacks would have probably ignored or avoided a conversation with a nine year old child. In a way, the mother’s protection for Oskar has also allowed him to gain more access and knowledge from each Black then if he just talked to them as a complete stranger. This Incredibly Close protection from the mother allowed her to keep a close eye on Oskar from a distance while helping him on his quest at the same time. This close watch and special protection was also the only way the mother could get involved in Oskar’s new life with the key. The mother could not allow Oskar to know that she figured out his objective in his quest and intervene. She loved Oskar too much and felt that it was necessary for him to complete this task without her help. The mother decided to do the next best thing and keep an eye on Oskar from the shadows, while he continued on his quest for the missing lock. In regards to the affiliation between Oskar and his mother, in my opinion, the title does an excellent job of foreshadowing the tough relationship these two have during the entire book. The Extremely Loud tragedy caused an emotional rift, while the Incredibly Close part has helped them protect and mend the gap in their relationship. In a way, the title has outlined the reason for the terrible relationship between Oskar and his mother and the method the mother uses to help heal Oskar’s wounded heart. The title is a very powerful and meaningful part of this entire story. I am unsure if Jonathan Safran Foer chose this phrase intentionally, or it was just an accident. Either way, the title foreshadows many important events in the story and gives the reader a chance to analyze the reason for conflict and the method Oskar’s family used to reunite the broken family. In order to feel the full effect of this story, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the title, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
In the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer explains the story of a family who lost a member due to the 9/11 terrorist bombing at the twin towers in New York City. The story mainly concentrates around a nine year old boy named Oskar and his quest to find the meaning of a key his deceased father has left him. He travels all around New York City, meeting numerous people while searching for the lock that the key opens. Throughout the story, I believe that the title of the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, foreshadows the relationship between Oskar and his mother after the father has passed away.
From the beginning of the story, the father has been very influential and involved in Oskar’s life. The father invented numerous games to challenge Oskar and to force him to use his mind to solve each mystery. Also, the person Oskar sought out when he had a problem or had a question was his father. Oskar’s world revolved around trying to solve the games that his father created for him. Within his family, his father has been the person Oskar looks up to the most. He has become his hero and role model. However, as the title states, something extremely loud will affect Oskar’s family.
From evidence in the story and from the title, we can determine that is it a tragedy that is extremely loud, but the people who share that grief and provide relief are incredibly close. From the death of the father, Oskar has lost an important figure in his life. He becomes obsessed in trying to solve the mystery of the key that he found in his father’s blue vase. At the same time, he develops negative feelings toward his mother.
The extremely loud tragedy has caused Oskar’s whole life to turn upside down. He becomes unsure how to live his life and begins to invent imaginative and sometimes impossible inventions and situations in order to escape reality. Oskar drags through the days of school and gets excited only when he is able to search for the lock that the key belongs to. He escapes from his home in order to feel closer to his deceased father and believes that finding the lock will make the pain from the tragedy feel less bitter.
This same tragedy has also caused him to feel resentment and even anger toward his mother. He believes that she is trying to forget about the father by spending time with a “friend” named Ron. Oskar feels that she is trying to replace the father with this new man, and this has caused an emotional conflict between him and his mother.
The emotional collision toward the mother has caused Oskar to ignore her feelings and has made him begin to lie to her very often. Oskar fails to believe in his mother and refuses to tell her the truth about his search for the mystery lock. While the mother tries to comfort Oskar, she struggles to overcome the emotional barrier Oskar has set up in their relationship.
Although Oskar secretly begins his quest for the mysterious lock, the mother has noticed and eventually finds out how he really spends his time during the weekends. However, believing that this search will help him overcome the family’s tragedy, she acts ignorant while actually calling all of the Black’s and telling them about Oskar’s future visit to their home. In a way, the title also foreshadows this secretive protection that the mother provides toward Oskar. With the second part of the title, Incredibly Close even though the mother is distant from Oskar, she still protects him. This secret protection she creates around Oskar allows her to be Incredibly Close to Oskar at all times without him ever realizing it.
The Incredibly Close protection the mother created allowed Oskar to talk into more detail with each of the Blacks that he visited. If Oskar’s mother didn’t call each of the Blacks, Oskar would have probably not been able to converse with each of them as openly as it was told in the story. If there was no warning from the mother, then each of the Blacks would have probably ignored or avoided a conversation with a nine year old child. In a way, the mother’s protection for Oskar has also allowed him to gain more access and knowledge from each Black then if he just talked to them as a complete stranger. This Incredibly Close protection from the mother allowed her to keep a close eye on Oskar from a distance while helping him on his quest at the same time.
This close watch and special protection was also the only way the mother could get involved in Oskar’s new life with the key. The mother could not allow Oskar to know that she figured out his objective in his quest and intervene. She loved Oskar too much and felt that it was necessary for him to complete this task without her help. The mother decided to do the next best thing and keep an eye on Oskar from the shadows, while he continued on his quest for the missing lock.
In regards to the affiliation between Oskar and his mother, in my opinion, the title does an excellent job of foreshadowing the tough relationship these two have during the entire book. The Extremely Loud tragedy caused an emotional rift, while the Incredibly Close part has helped them protect and mend the gap in their relationship. In a way, the title has outlined the reason for the terrible relationship between Oskar and his mother and the method the mother uses to help heal Oskar’s wounded heart.
The title is a very powerful and meaningful part of this entire story. I am unsure if Jonathan Safran Foer chose this phrase intentionally, or it was just an accident. Either way, the title foreshadows many important events in the story and gives the reader a chance to analyze the reason for conflict and the method Oskar’s family used to reunite the broken family. In order to feel the full effect of this story, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the title, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.