Fear, it can be seen by many as an excuse to not succeed in life and has the ability to corrupt if it is not overcome. Within the novel “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer the protagonist, lives in fear after the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers. His fears stop him from completing his goals to find a lock to the key that he believes his father has left behind for him. In order to find the lock, Oskar must conquer his fears. After a tragic event, one must conquer fear and reach the desired goal. On September 11, 2001, Thomas Schell was involved in the 9/11 attacks. A terrorist attack against the Americans that sent four planes crashing through the world trade centre killing thousands of people who worked there. …show more content…
However, the tragic event that killed his father has made Oskar afraid of everything that has to do with 9/11: “Even after a year, I still had an extremely difficult time doing certain things, like taking showers, for some reason, and getting into elevators, obviously. There was a lot of stuff that made me panicky, like suspension bridges, germs, airplanes, fireworks, […] scaffolding, sewers and subway grates, bags without owners, shoes, people with mustaches, smoke, knots and tall buildings. A lot of the time I’d get the feeling like I was in the middle of a huge black ocean, or in deep space, but not in the fascinating way. It’s just that everything was incredibly far away from me” (Foer 36). The only thing that is holding Oskar back from finding the lock is his fear: “It took me three hours and forty-one minutes to walk to Aaron Black because public transportation makes me panicky” (Foer 87).Oskar’s going to great lengths to avoid facing his fears and he is allowing the fears he has about dying the same way that his father did to control his life. By allowing these fears to control his life Oskar is having a hard time finding the lock for the key and will therefore not be able to complete the goal that he has in
In the stories that author Kevin Wilson wrote in “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth,” several characters are ruled by fear. The fear that these characters have eventually winded up having a solution or solve that helps resolve their fears. Fear is defined as: "a feeling of agitation or anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. An example of fear in one of the stories is Leonard in “Blowing up on the Spot,” because he fears death and it controls and restricts his life. Towards the end of that story, Leonard finds his resolve of having that fear. The type of things that can lead to resolutions of fear is epiphanies. In his short story, Mortal Kombat to boys was facing a fear like no other.
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living in our fears.” (Les Brown). This is observed in numerous instances in The Book Thief. In the novel, fear can cripple indistinguishably as physical injury by subjugating one’s tenets, forcing paranoia down their throats, and ever so carefully whispering the panic. This may result in either a cracking, collapsing whimper or a roaring laughter.
The idea of fear is a fairly simple concept, yet it carries the power to consume and control lives. Fears have stemmed from an inadvertent psychological response to situations deemed threating to one’s personal safety, but have evolved into a complex web of often illogical misconceptions which are able to cloud a person’s judgment and result in situations often worse than originally intended. Fears can be hard to quell, but it has been shown the best way to overcome fears is often to face them, as author James Baldwin asserted when he wrote, “To defend oneself against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” Baldwin makes strongly qualified statement, and his idea fears must be faced to
Jack’s fear shows the reader that not only can someone have an emotional and dangerous response to it, but it can also be used to manipulate someone for his pleasures. As a kid, Jack, feared and hated his father and loved his mother. He feared whenever his psychopathic father would bring and beat his mother in the basement. The tables turned when a deep sense of realization switched into the psyche of his mind, he ended up loving the beatings and craved the cause of fear towards his mother. His innocence is lost and is refined into the mind of a psychopath, “ The knowledge that the father could instil such terror into another human being turned the boy’s fear of him into admiration and he began to emulate him. Soon,
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” What is fear? Fear can be a noun or a verb. In the noun form, it is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. In the verb form, it is to be afraid of someone or something that is dangerous, painful, or threatening. If one person looks into fear, then that person becomes feared. But imagine a whole society or community looking into fear. The fear not only gets larger as it spreads, but it also gets more fearful than it already is. The power of fear can be displayed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in Ronald Oakley’s “The Great Fear”. As fear moves on from one mind to the next, it leaves the
What is your biggest fear? In the nonfiction story Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer climbing to the top of Mount Everest is his biggest dream but also their greatest fear. The intense journey of climbing up and ascending down the mountain Krakauer and his climbing companions push through many obstacles including nature, their mind, and fear. Fear is a common theme in Into Thin Air it also occurs in the novel The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is an inspiring story about a boy named Santiago. He has a recurring dream about going to the pyramids to find his treasure. He goes on a long journey to follow his dreams and also struggles with the obstacle of fear along the way. Fear becomes a big obstacle for Santiago and Krakauer in reaching
Fear can cause our thinking processes to be distorted and irrational. It may create negative anticipation of things to come. It could cause excessive worrying of what others think or a fear of God’s wrath (Nichols, 2010). Fear sometimes makes the emotions of the individual get out of control with anger, anxiety, depression, and worrying (Nichols, 2010). In the book, all of these emotions are addressed and insight is given to help overcome them. It is important to do the necessary hard work to untie these knots in order to bring a person back to a healthy emotional state of mind. If the fear is not dealt with properly, it can also lead to negative physiological changes to the body as the immune system is weakened
Fear is what we feel when we are scared or afraid of something or someone. In this story “Right to the streets of Memphis” by Richard Wright. Richard was scared “Sent me home in panic” (115). This shows how he was afraid of the gang. So after he had gotten beaten up by them he did not understand what was happening. Thus, fear is a difficult route to go do but what really matters
overcome their fears. Through the actions and decisions of the characters the themes of fear and
I think the Swede’s fear comes from feeling insecure and out of place surrounded by these strange men. Swede in my opinion was emotionally unstable to begin with and a little “out there”, but when you throw in some strange men that he just met it gets even worse. He was described as “shaky and quick eyed” from the beginning. He feels so different from the other to the point where he gets paranoid and fears someone is going to kill him in the hotel. I understand Swede feeling alienated and like he doesn’t belong, but once he starts saying that someone is going to kill him, that’s when he lets his own unstableness get to him. Once Pat Scully gives him alcohol he transforms from this shaky and kind of awkward guy to feeling like he is invincible.
At the beginning of the novel, Dragan, gripped by fear, makes decisions that seclude himself and make him feel trapped by the men on the hills. Dragan chooses to stay in Sarajevo yet he does not want to talk to former friends and acquaintances out of fear of losing them,“ He’s stopped talking to his friends, visits no one, avoids those who come to visit him” (Galloway 43). His fear of death controls his choices so much so that he decides to become a recluse. Another example of his fear controlling his fate in the war is when he refuses to cross an intersection because of the possibility of a sniper working there that day. He also does not move as his friend Emina is shot as she attempts to walk across the street, “Still he didn’t move when the shots were fired. Not because he thought anything through, but because he was afraid” (Galloway 181). Dragan
Death in any person’s life is tragic, whether sudden or unexpected. Everyone experiences it at least once throughout a lifetime. In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, the reader meets several characters that lose people very close to them. Each person has a certain way of dealing with the death, but overall his or her grief is out of love. These two emotions are triggered by one another. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close displays few characters that show any sign of moving on with their lives. Grief takes over and seems to stay forever. Characters such as Oskar, Grandfather, Mr. Black on the floor above, and Ms. Black in the Empire State Building experience grief
One of the man’s worst fears is to come across an individual who will harm him or his son. Having that fear flashed before his eyes cause him to show no mercy for any human. He does not care that the thief was left naked and cold, or on the verge of dying. The need to survive can place any individual in this situation where his only goal is to survive and to do so; he will even become a man willing to dismiss another person in need of aid. Also, the man and his son enter many
The definition of fear is an unpleasant emotion resulting in being afraid of someone or something that is a dangerous threat. However, fear can come in many forms and affect people in several different ways. Fear is evident in all areas of life. Everyone experiences fear whether the outcome is positive or negative. Fear is no doubt inevitable. For example,whenever you have to present a speech, you may fear ridicule or judgement. Or when you are walking to your car late at night by yourself, you fear many dangerous situations that can happen. According to Mary C. Lamia in “The Complexity of Fear” in Psychology Today, fear in terms of psychology is described as the fear of the unknown, fear of death, and catastrophic fear. Mary C. Lamia has found
Horror movies. The type of genre that gives a thrill of adrenaline, yet also gives nightmares late at night. Everyone has watched a horror movie at least once in their lives. And during the movie there is also a time in which the viewer just wants to punch the TV screen and call it quits. Whether it is because their favorite character just did something dumb, or because the ending was horrible, there is always a moment in which one thinks: I would have chosen a better option. I could have survived. In literature, it is often the same thing. Believe it or not, fear is a huge contributor to how the story goes; how it ends, and who dies. Fear either motivates the character to take action or, defeats them. But fear doesn’t act alone. Fear influences people, but what influences the fear? The answer is quite simple, no matter how shocking it can be. Just as love brings happiness, it also brings forth the poison of fear. Whether it is the fear of losing the person they love, or fear that they are no longer loved, both of them are huge contributors on how a character’s actions or decisions are influenced.