Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close Analysis

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close stresses the importance of family, and when someone is taken away suddenly, how that can impact one’s views on life and one’s own morality. In addition, the novel emphasizes that people grieve in different ways and at different paces; this is shown through Oskar’s journey and his mother’s friend, Ron. Both characters use those things as ways to deal with the death of Thomas Schell, and both move at different paces. The book also looks into how deception can be an aspect of how people treat others who are grieving; both Oskar and his mother hide things from each other because they both believe it will help the other grieve more easily. Had the two characters not done this, they may not have coped with the death of Thomas the same way. The deception from the two characters when relating to the death of a family member shows how connected the themes of family, morality, and deception are in the novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Michael Wright was in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 at 8:48 in the morning. He is an account executive. Wright was a thirty-year-old man who witnessed the crash at the tower. It was Tuesday morning when Wright and his coworkers felt an “earthquake” when they were inside the men’s room. He then opened the door and was surprised by the fire gushing into the building. From there he tried to evacuate and get to a safe place if possible. Wright’s information was reported in Esquire News “My Escape From the 81st Floor of the World Trade Center”. The following is a narrative of what Wright ‘s day on September 11, 2001 could have been. He was in a good mood when this tragic event happened.

Two airplanes crashed into the two twin towers in New York City, one slammed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters, and the last one crashed into a rural field in Pennsylvania. It was believed that the fourth plane’s intended target was the White House or the Capitol. At 8:45 a.m. the first plane hit the North Tower, instantly killing hundreds and trapping hundreds and trapping hundreds on higher floors. At 9:03 a.m. a second plane struck the South Tower. Minutes later, the buildings collapsed, one after another, leaving heat and debris to billow throughout the city. The temperature could be felt miles away and the suffocating debris was impossible to withstand. People were covered from head to toe with ashes and dying from its effects to the body. It was our darkest hour and we could only turn towards each other for a helping hand and shoulder to cry on. The steady, serene debris continued to fall and darkness filled the sky. Time seemed to slow down, and we felt hopeless, for there was nothing we could do to bring back the thousands of lives taken

It is no surprise to any American just how terrible 9/11 was; many people saw the horridness of it on live TV, but only the New York firemen were there to deal with the aftermath. The idea of all the men lost being fathers and uncles and brothers is, yes, an obvious observation, but also a disconnected one as well. When Reilly talks about Walsh's son Ryan “sobbing uncontrollably in the boys’ bathroom,” the reality of the situation hits the reader. These men were good

Just like every Tuesday, Jane got up and ready for work. She got up at her usual time, about six AM, had a cup of coffee before she got her kids up and ready for school. As she’s helping her three year old daughter brush her teeth, Jane’s husband came in and said his final goodbyes to his wife. Sadly, neither Jane nor her husband knew that though. After about 7:45 AM Jane had her kids dropped off at school or preschool and was now on her way to work at The World Trade Center. September 11th use to be just a normal day in September until terrible events happened; these events changed America’s homeland security, started a war, and a memorial in New York.

During the morning of 9/11, everyone thought it would just be a normal day, however, four airliners were hijacked and planes were under attack by terrorists. One plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, another in Pentagon, and the last two planes hit the Twin Towers of New York City. In that moment more than two thousand lives were quickly taken, leaving families and friends devastated. This horrible incident touched so many lives around the world. New York times published the most popular article about 9/11. Serge Schumann the author of this well known piece, interrupted the tragic crisis through ethos, logos, and mainly pathos.

On September 11, 2001, catastrophe erupted in New York City, New York. This tragic event sparked a war, united a nation, and conceived various personal encounters from people whom were involved in the experience. In the short story “The Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001” Thomas Beller utilizes a chaotic tone that can be observed through his use of details, images, and diction.

Besides the intuitive black-and-white graphics, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close displays a series of gripping texts that range from profound seriousness to adventurous lightheartedness. The story follows through the footsteps of a nine year old boy named Oscar Schell after his father passed away from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Oscar is left traumatized and is constantly unhappy with himself and others. Through his story, Oscar illustrates how to forgive himself from the feelings of regret, loss, and emotional strain. Furthermore, he provides an explicit example showing that even after a painful heart-rending experience, one can overcome fear and transcend grief.

Jess Walter creates a post 9/11 world that balances precariously between real and surreal. It is real enough that the reader is able to comprehend how awful the attack truly was; but surreal enough that the reader feels the same way most Americans did at Ground Zero—confused, frightened, and grief stricken. Remy, the unwilling hero in all of this is exposed to many different forms of grief both public and personal. Using irony and satire, Walter critiques the way public forms of grief were presented as the only viable ways of grieving after 9/11. Reporters wanted to broadcast each and every loss. The government wanted to exploit the grief of the American people so that they could continue what they were doing in

Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001 was a day that no one will forget. I decided to write it out what happened to my family that very day in my mom’s perspective to make it easier to understand. My mom was in Pleasant Hill, CA and decided to skip that day of work because my older sister was sick. Madeleine, my eldest sister, was two at the time. Early in the morning a family friend of ours, Janet, called my mom asking if she saw what was happening. Janet said,” Jeanne the twin towers are on the ground, turn on the news!” My mom was so tired from staying up all night because of Madeleine that when she heard what happened she didn’t belive it. She quickly turned on the news and it replayed the airplanes hiting the twin towers and falling.

This book is told through the eyes of an extremely smart and funny nine-year-old who is also the narrator, Jonathan Safran Foer. He tells a story of the effects of his fathers tragic death, in the 9/11 terrorist attack, on his father, Oskar Schell, and his family as a whole. Oskar's father not only endured the pain of being trapped in the towers, but was killed due to not being able to escape. To add to the stories allready tragic story line, Oskar's grandparents had also witnessed terrorist attacks, like that of 9/11, during World War II and this brings back their old memories. The peoples horrible deaths in

For those individuals concerned, as for the nation itself, the injury of 9/11 warrants collective mourning. As Lisa Beamer observes, we were all “reeling, attempting to comprehend the reality of what [we] had seen.” (9) She is herself extolled as an “unpretentious homemaker and mother” through which “an entire nation can…find hope.” (back cover) Her husband, Todd, typifies a “top young sales representative.” (2) Breitweiser declares herself “a 9/11 widow” and almost beatifies her affluent status. Giuliani cites close friends among the attack’s victims. Firefighters depicted in The Guys mirror our own (or would be) acquaintances, wherever we might be ourselves. These stories of victims, of widows and children, many of whom will never know their fathers, distill a shared recognition of grief, anger, bewilderment. Even if characters’ (and these readings comprise a compilation of characters, real and fictive and sometimes both) material or marital positions seem somewhat alien, one overarching reminder and theme is that we are all human. Even George W. Bush, whatever our opinions of him, merits a whiff of compassion—if only for the desperation with which others try to ennoble his position and reaction or even his

A bright, yellow sun smiled down from a picturesque blue sky, as a slight breeze made its way through the maze of skyscrapers in New York City on a cool Tuesday morning. Who could have guessed a morning as benevolent as this could be a source of such inexplicable cruelty? This particular day in September of 2001 would change the world forever. Without warning, an explosion rang out. A puff of black smoke bellowed upward from the north tower of the World Trade Centers. An unpleasant silence ensued. As the bystanders below tried to make sense of what they had just seen, a woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, then another did the same, and then another, until the sounds of the individuals blended together to create one indistinguishable cry of fear.

Two minor characters in this novel also decide to live depressing lifestyles after losing their loved ones. They are Mr. Black in the apartment above Oskar and Ruth Black in the Empire State building. These two feel they cannot function anymore and hid from the world. Mr. Black has not left his apartment in “twenty-four years” because “there hasn’t been any reason too” now that his wife died (162.) He turned off his hearing aids “a long, long time ago…[to] save batteries” (165.) Oskar finds tree stumps in his bed that contain nails representing each day his wife had been dead. The man is over 100 years old and has been through so much in his life. He explains that for most of it he was at ward and “treated [his wife] as though she didn’t matter.” The bed was “the first thing [he] got her when he came back”(161.) As Mr. Black continues to put nails in it and shut the world out, he is always thinking of his wife. He no longer explores or interacts because she is not there.

Is there a catharsis in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? If so, when does it happen for Oskar, and if applicable for the reader? Discuss. To discuss whether there are catharsises and if so where, it is important to have a clear definition of ‘catharsis’, so there can be no confusion. According to ‘Oxford’s: Literature Criticism and Style’ a catharsis is: “The purging of emotions which takes place at the end of a tragedy.” A good catharsis closes a story and does not leave the audience, or reader with questions. According to the Oxford definition of a catharsis, it is important to determine whether Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a tragedy, but for this essay, the focus will