2,823 dead, 19,500 body parts collected, 1,300 orphans, and 131 still classified as missing. Eleven trillion dollars will never be able to repair the minds of the 422,000 New York citizens who now suffer from PTSD, yet nine year old Oskar Schell finds himself battling in the midst of it all. When the world came crashing down on September eleventh at 8:45am, school children were shuffled down the streets of New York and back to what could only be considered the comfort of their homes. Oskar Schell unlocked his apartment door only to be greeted by the messages on the answering machine from no other than his father, Thomas Schell. When the phone rings and the caller id is his father, Oskar’s world turns upside down with the simple dial tone. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer tells the compelling story of a boy named Oskar and his mission to find the Black that has the lock that fits the key. Desperately trying to piece together the fragments his deceased father left behind after 9/11 tragically took his life, Oskar delves into a pool of mental instability, locks and keys, and the mysterious renter that lives with his grandmother. Scientifically, there are five steps to grieving. Mentally, there are thousands. 1. The hardest part of losing a loved one is having to bury them and see their body in a casket word this better, cold and unmoving, but for Oskar he didn 't have that word it better , they never found a body. His father had fallen under the 131
In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.
In The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, he asserts that the evolution of information and communication technology (ICTs) is having a detrimental impact on our brains despite the many benefits and advances we have made with it. His main focus is on the internet which he commonly refers to as the “universal medium” (92). Carr presents a very detailed but biased argument in which he views the internet and other technologies as the adversary of critical thinking and progress. To Carr, we are sacrificing our ability to think logically because we are choosing a simpler way to gain knowledge.
How would you deal with living in a community in isolation, feeling lost with those around you, and having your whole life changed with one drop of blood? FOUR by Veronica Roth displays all this with a story of a young man named Tobias Eaton. This book demonstrates the drama and strategy which keeps readers involved. From being placed in one environment from birth and choosing something precisely different, readers can see what Tobias had to go through. The main elements of this book are conflict, style, and mood.
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.
The world is far from a uniform system. Each and every individual is placed in a different situation depending on everything from location, race, beliefs, and economic status. Psychology looks at how individuals come out of these specific environments and how they transform into an adult through the trials and tribulations of their growth. In The Blind Side, director John Lee Hancock focuses on an athletically skilled African-American teen, Michael Oher, who is transformed from a homeless orphan from the projects into a highly sought after college football prospect through a positive change in family, school, and supportive surroundings.
A famous short story, “The Quiet Man,” by Maurice Walsh, tells the tale of the protagonist, Shawn Kelvin, who must come to a resolution both internally and externally throughout the story. Shawn experiences a rollercoaster of up and downs during the story, around the 1950’s in Ireland. Shawn finds the women of his dreams and he marries her, but her brother, Big Liam O’Grady, is the man of the town. Traditionally, dowry is given from the bride’s family to the groom's family. Shawn has no respect from Big Liam O’Grady, or the town. Shawn wants to receive his respect from Big Liam O’Grady and love from Ellen. Shawn is willing to do anything for her, even it comes down to a fight. Shawn fights himself and others, internally and externally, to
Nicholas Carr covers an unprecedented amount of material in his novel, “The Shallows.” He delves into subjects ranging from the history of the book to the business of Google to the psychological concept of neuroplasticity. All of these topics support his main argument: the idea that the internet is destroying our brains. He takes the deterministic approach that we are the tools we use, meaning they shape our brains. According to Carr, the internet negates our memories, deems print books useless, and distracts us from reality. His counterargument comes from the instrumentalist approach; this viewpoint maintains that people stay the same no matter the tools they use. His arguments are both sound and flimsy, current and outdated, and he rants
Laura Hillenbrand is an America author of magazine articles and books. Hillenbrand was born in May 5, 1967, in Fairfax, Virginia. She has written only two books Seabiscuit a New York Times bestseller, and Unbroken, both non-fictions. She is considering one of the best American writers. Her New York Times Article, “A Sudden Illness” won the 2004 National magazine award, and she has also won twice the Eclipse Award, one of the highest journalist honor. Her most recent book Unbroken tells the inspiring story of Louie Zamperini, the son of Italian immigrants.
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.
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
Women are fighting to remain sane. Characters are portrayed similarly in the films “Still Alice” is written and directed by the married team of Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, and “The Hours” directed by Stephen Daldry; with the frontier bases on a novel that nearly did not get published and the latter on an award-winning book. Characters feel worthless. The lack of understanding and the unshared struggles worsen their state. When the stress becomes unbearable, they will seek autonomy through any possible
“Under The Dome”, written by Stephen King, is a sad story telling the events of a town’s disaster. This book is a fictional novel. This story takes place in a town called Chester’s Mill, Maine. This all begins on October 21st. October is the month of destruction.
Put aside your stance on homosexuality, and put yourself into the shoes of someone who is a homosexual. Imagine how you would feel if the world did not accept who you are as a person because you are different. Only because you didn’t find the opposite sex attractive to you. In Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Everything is illuminated we find out that Alex confesses his love for Jonathan near the end of the book as he becomes more comfortable with Jonathan. Why does Alex not tell Jonathan from the beginning? Is he uncomfortable being open that he is a homosexual?
Any death is a traumatic event, a major loss that affects every member of the family as well as society (Leming & Dickinson 2011). Coping with loss it’s very important because it allows individuals to express their emotions and to heal their psychological pain. Grievance s a process that helps people deal with loss. Grief is a very powerful emotion that is regularly triggered or encouraged by death (Leming & Dickinson 2011). This process is complex and requires effort and energy from the griever. Coping with any kind of loss takes time and can be challenging. Takes time for someone to assimilated and accept that the other person isn’t there anymore.
Lu Xun’s story “Diary of a Madman” serves to demonstrate his discontent with traditional Chinese cultural, not only by the fact that it clearly addresses the incidence of cannibalism that is believed to have occurred but also symbolizes the oppressive nature of Confucian principles.Lu Xun’s madman has the ability to recognize the oppressive elements of Chinese Confucian culture serves to mock established but out-dated traditional scholarship and symbolizes the greater wisdom of cultural reform, especially as it is advanced by modern intellectuals of the period.