Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Characterisation Essay
The horrendous grief that people suffer during their life can affect them in many different ways and lead them to be delicate human beings who struggle with living in an impossible world. Jonathan Safran Foer explores different ways people cope or do not cope with disturbing sadness and the emotions that erupt because of that. He achieves this through two of the prominent characters; nine year old Oskar Schell and his mysterious Grandfather, Thomas Schell who have both been deprived of their loved ones and suffered tremendous grief which they both struggle to express. The novel is set during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, however Safran-Foer does not focus on this but rather takes the dissident voice and places his values on humanism by exploring the deep, saddening emotions of Oskar and his Grandfather that they endure due to the deaths of close ones. Both characters portray different ways of dealing with grief whether it is ignoring the remorseful pain by covering it up with knowledge as Oskar does, or by choosing not to become attached to anyone so not to lose more loved ones which is Thomas’ way of coping. The consequences of these horrid loses have marked the psyches of Oskar and his grandfather in different but equally painful ways.
Safran Foer explores grief through several different characters throughout the novel but it is through the prominent narrator, nine year old Oskar Schell who has lost his father in the 9/11 attacks, that the audience is able to grasp a powerful understanding of the extreme effects that grief can have on the mind and spirit. Young Oskar, who can be described as ‘unrealistic’ due to his odd behaviours such as wandering the streets of New York by himself, feels alone in a cruel world. In clever, sometimes unnoticeable statements, Safran Foer touches on Oskar’s grief by developing recurring comments which suggest reinforces his sadness“ I have heavy boots “ or the self-infliction that Oskar inflicts on himself “I gave myself a
Safran Foer explores grief through several different characters throughout the novel but it is through the prominent narrator, nine year old Oskar Schell who has lost his father in the 9/11 attacks, that the audience is able to grasp a powerful understanding of the extreme effects that grief can have on the mind and spirit. Young Oskar, who can be described as ‘unrealistic’ due to his odd behaviours such as wandering the streets of New York by himself, feels alone in a cruel world. In clever, sometimes unnoticeable statements, Safran Foer touches on Oskar’s grief by developing recurring comments which suggest reinforces his sadness“ I have heavy boots “ or the self-infliction that Oskar inflicts on himself “I gave myself a