For this post, I want you to write about whatever interests you with respect to the novel.
Here's what interests me at the moment: I find that I have a hard time talking about this book sometimes. I can analyze Oskar & his psychological makeup, and how the hurt and pain and confusion and guilt result in his endearing idiosyncrasies, crazy outbursts, and the obsessive quality of his lock-and-key search. I can talk about the things that make me laugh, like the Hamlet scene and the session with Dr. Fein. But I have a hard time talking about the things that really move me, and there are a lot of them, because I don’t know what else to say except that they move me. The chapter from the grandmother’s perspective, My Feelings (p. 174), is like this. Thomas and grandma have such opposite responses to the tragic losses of their lives, one drawing an iron curtain around himself (nothing), the other become a moth flying toward a light (something). One lacks courage, the other confidence. Grandma can certainly be frustrating in her lack of independence and confidence. On the other hand, though, I understand her. I understand why she would give a trick-or-treater dressed as a ghost two $100 bills because she was paying the ghost of Anna to go away. (It’s like Holden Caulfield paying the nuns $10, as if money can buy back your innocence.) I understand why she would be willing to compromise a lot, practically everything, to feel the security and comfort and warmth that comes with basic human connection. And while Thomas’s inability/unwillingness to live is also frustrating, it makes more sense after hearing his account of the firebombing of Dresden. How could he live after that? After losing not only the love of his life, but his unborn child, his family, everything. Add to that the guilt of leaving his family to look for Anna. I won’t even mention having to shoot an ape, twice, who looked at him with “understanding” but not “forgiveness.” The two of them are like magnets pushed apart by some repellent force (something, nothing; something, nothing). The conversation in the airport, played out by pointing to phrases already written in the notebook, is heartbreaking. Nobody pointed at, I love you — because nobody could. It is a very sad thing, in real life not just books, to hear older people look back at their life with wistful regret. If I were able to live my life again, she says, I would kiss my piano teacher. And send ugly photographs. Makes you want to do things — listen to the voice that speaks to the beating of your heart.
What interests you?
At this point in the story what interests me most is the search that Oskar embarks upon. Not only his search, but Mr. Black as well. I can just picture the two of them walking around New York City, on the train, and shouting at a Mexican lady in a wheelchair from the stairwell. It is comical, yet it all means so much. Oskar is on a search to see where his father’s key fits. He is trying to hold on to the one thing that his father left him – his curiosity. His father had taught him to question things and not to stop until he had succeeded. Oskar needs to find a sort of closure and he feels that finding the lock is the solution to all of his problems. Mr. Black on the other hand is looking for one last hurrah, it is kind of morbid but he is 103 and had given up on life long before Oskar entered his apartment. However, Oskar woke him up from a 20-year slump by turning on his hearing aid and bringing him into the world again. Mr. Black agrees to help Oskar look for the lock that fits the key and while Oskar thinks that he is helping Black by entertaining him, Black is the one who is helping Oskar in a way that no one else could. Black managed to get Oskar on a train, which is public transit and makes Oskar feel panicky, for the first time since his father died. He comes to Oskar’s show and supports him in the audience. Black is almost replacing his father in a way that his mother and grandmother both could not do.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I find the comparisons of the various ways of coping to lost really sad, yet interesting. We get Oskar's perspective, and he is clearly devastated by his father's death, and he attempts to cope with it by throwing himself into this last expedition with the key and the locks. There are countless lines that cause my heart to go out to him and make me pause reading and contemplate. For example, he says to Dr. Fein, "No matter how much I feel, I'm not going to let it out. If I have to cry, I'm gonna cry on the inside. If I have to bleed, I'll bruise. If my heart starts going crazy, I'm not gonna tell everyone in the world about it. It doesn't help anything. It just makes everyone's life worse." Oskar is so conflicted with his feelings and I think he is searching for something (or someone) to help him with this loss. Maybe Mr. Black is the answer, like Caroline mentioned, because his mother is too busy listening to music with Ron and he and his grandmother don't know anything about each other.
ReplyDeleteOskar's perspective is compared to his grandmother and grandfather's, who both attempt to cope with loss as well. His grandfather is forced to bear the weight of an unthinkable amount of guilt and pain, and deals with it with rules and rules and writing and eventually leaving his wife because in truth, she is not Anna. Oskar's grandmother, on the other hand, submerges herself in learning English and writing her story of blank pages. We are really able to understand her love for Anna and maybe this explains why her marriage was forever destined to fall apart. I think it's interesting (and really sad) to see this family's various mechanisms to dealing with tragedy and loss because they are unfortunately forced to figure it out every day and attempt to move on with their lives (even though Oskar makes it very clear that he does not need to-- or want to).
Several things have interested me thus far in the novel, such as the grandma, Thomas, Anna, Dresden, Oskar, the key, and the meaning of the word Black. And although Oskar and his search are the main story of the book, what has interested me the most so far are the letters that Thomas has written to his "unborn child". I found Thomas' description of the days around the Dresden fires and his times with Anna heartbreaking and quite moving. Oskar's story with his fathers death is horrible as well, however, I feel that the story wouldn't be as significant or as captivating if it didn't have the back story of Thomas and the grandmother. It's frustrating to see how much Thomas loved Anna, only to end up settling for her sister. It's sad to see that after years of marriage he gives up and tries to start over and find a new life alone. It's melancholy and depressing to see that those circumstances could be a reality. I also find it interesting that Thomas' letter to Oskar's father has red circles all over, like when little Thomas would circle phrases grammatically incorrect, almost like he didn't really care what was in the letter, but pointing out everything that was wrong with it. I was moved that the grandmother loses someone she cares about who probably doesn't care us much for her. She filters out her real life, and drowns herself in the writing of her past, proving further that they were really nothing rather than something. All in all, the whole situation is pretty sad but teaches one what to look for and what not to look for when one is making a life decision.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that I'm such a fan of Oskar is that he takes himself seriously, despite how ridiculous his ideas seem to others. As somewhat of a dreamer myself, I admire how he can present his ideas in a way that somehow makes them seem perfectly logical, despite the fact that most are impossible. This made me think of the business cards that Oscar made for himself, and how great it would be if everyone carried around a business card, so when you meet someone new, you can simply hand each other your cards and immediately know what the person you just met is about. Mine would go something like: CALEN BOLE: Professional {Student, Pokemon Trainer, Ralph Lauren Model} - Amateur {Drummer, Cook, Sculptor, Water Bender, Music Critic, Break Dancer, Shinobi, Survivalist, Drum Teacher, Atheist, Political Advocate, Collector of Old Records, Babysitter, etc.} With this, anyone who meets me can see what I'm about, I can see what there about, and we can bond over what we have in common. Anyways, my favorite aspect of ELAIC is that each character not only has a unique personality, but a unique imagination. This stimulates my own imagination, so I can come up with my own improbable or illogical ideas.
ReplyDeleteThis book interests me in general. The matrix of characters is like those jigsaw puzzles that I never used to be able to finish (or maybe just got distracted). Oskar's brain jumps around from subject to subject in a seemingly random order, but if one looks deeper inside (with the help of class discussions) they do have a rational explanation behind them. It also intrigues me with the different ways it shows people dealing with loss or sadness. Oskar with his inventions and his quest to find "black" to get closer to his deceased father, Grandma with her nothing and something spaces, Grandpa with his loss of speech etc. It reminds me that not everyone copes with things the same way. The several different blacks in the story interest me as well. I've always wanted to spend a day just roaming around and getting to know the stories of random people I find on the street, and Oskar's quest reminded me of my long lost fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI think what I find most interesting about this book is Oskar's general outlook on life. He has such a unique way of thinking and seeing his life through his perspective not only makes the book more enjoyable with his sense of humor, but it makes it easier to relate to Oskar who in most circumstances, would be a harder character to relate to. Even though he's such a unique boy, by seeing things through his perspective, we are able to recognize the fact that he's still just a regular boy who is suffering the loss of his father. It's much more enjoyable to read his chapters compared to the grandmother or the grandfather. With them, I have a hard time understanding where exactly they're taking off of, or what exactly is happening, since some of the most key points are mentioned so briefly. However, I'm enjoying meeting all these new characters from Oskar's point of view, because he introduces them in such creative ways. I'm definitely enjoying this book
ReplyDeleteOskar is obviously a very interesting kid due his high level of intelligence and maturity, but his thought patterns are quite interesting as well. When I read "Catcher in the Rye," I identified with Holden Caulfield because of his views of society, and I now identify with Oskar Schell because of how he chooses to deal with emotion. Like Oskar, I bottle up my emotions because I don't want to burden someone else with my problems, which is the same reason that Oskar gave to Dr. Fein. The thoughts that Oskar expressed in the ELAIC quotation that Meghan used were thoughts that I have thought and still do think. The fact that Oskar is so concerned with burdening another person with his issues coping with his father's death eloquently displays his intellectual maturity. Usually, a child would eventually talk to SOMEBODY, but Oskar is firm about not openly discussing his depression with others. Instead, he resorts to hurting himself to cope with the emotional pain, which isn't something that a nine-year-old child should even consider.The intricate web of Oskar's mind is one of the most interesting aspects of this book.
ReplyDeleteWhat interests me about this book is how it seems, in many ways, like a book about my dad. My dad didn't lose his father in 9/11. But he still bears a resemblance to both Oskar and Oskar's father. My dad was the child that taught himself to read, had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a massive vocabulary, and an "oh i already knew that" attitude. He's also the type of person that loves brain teasers, puzzles, and mind games. And because he had all of these traits, it made him similar to Oskar's dad in relation to me. He was always eager to fill my interests in anything, encouraged me to be incredibly curious, and always loved teaching me big words. He would also give me elaborate stories and brain teasers to ponder. I think this shows how similar Oskar and his father were. This explains how intimate and personal their relationship was, and how Oskar could connect with him in a way that he simply couldn't with anyone else, including his mother.
ReplyDeleteWhat interests me about this novel is the various parallels within the book. Both Grandpa and Oskar looking for a long lost person. The search for both seemingly impossible. Also, how the theme of rememberence, and trying to remember people who are no longer in your life. Oskar in his desperate search, Mr. Black with the nails for everyday his wife has been dead, the crazy empire state building lady living on top of the tower, and grandpa still just mourning over Anna and not even being able to talk in her absence. But my favorite reocurring theme in the story thus far, is the idea of regret. Now that sounds terrible and i already feel synical writing it. But its such a powerful feeling, and thus incredibly difficult to capture, but when Grandpa says "why can't we just say how we feel?" it is in my opinion the most beautiful moment in the book. If grandpa had told his son how we felt, is Oskar got to say what he wanted to his mom, Grandma to Oskar, and all the other characters to their significant others. How much would the story have changed?
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