Much of the story is influenced by characters' decisions to withold information from others. What things are kept hidden from others and what circumstances or thought-processes surround these decisions? What is lost or gained from keeping these sorts of secrets?
What secrets are revealed in the novel? To whom are they revealed and by whom? Why?
Mystery is the vehicle for the novel's plot--it is what drives the actions of the characters. Oskar is on a quest (of sorts) to solve a mystery. You may consider the key as a metaphor for this. In what ways is Foer's novel a typical mystery novel? In what ways has he broken from traditional mystery tales?
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Oskar is both the withholder of secrets as well as the one who is ‘in the dark.’ Oskar is keeping his quest to find the lock to his father’s key a secret from his mother. His main reason for keeping this secret t is that he feels it is another one of his fathers riddles for him to solve, and by solving it, it will bring him closer to his father. He is also holding it a secret from his mother because he believes she is not worthy to look for it with him, because she didn’t seem upset about his father’s death and now cares for Ron. “I was angry at her for spending so much time laughing with Ron when she should have been adding to the Reservoir of Tears.” (p.52) by keeping his secret he slowly draws farther away from his mother. “I also got a little heavier, because I was getting farther from mom.” (pg.52)
Oskar’s Grandfather is keeping a secret as well. He is keeping his identity protected from Oskar. He assumes the identity of the Renter. “I wanted to touch him, to tell him that even if everyone left everyone, I would never leave him.” (pg.280) He really wants to tell Oskar though so they can have a proper relationship. He can’t tell him though because he promised Oskar’s Grandmother he wouldn’t. By keeping his identity secret he losses the chance to have a relationship with his grandson.
Foer’s novel is a typical mystery story because there is a key that Oskar finds that we don’t know what it opens. So in that aspect it has the element of a mystery. It is also not quite a mystery though, but more of a coming of age and self-knowledge and woth story. Also in the mystery books I have read like The Hardy Boys there has been a villain, person pursuing the main character unlike in Foer’s novel.
I differ with nathan s p when he says Oskar “ believes [his mother] is not worthy to look for [the lock] with him.” I think Oskar keeps that secret from his mother because he doesn’t believe that his mother would allow him try to find the lock. Many times in the book he doesn’t say where he’s going, for instance the time he was going to the art store, he acted as if he were sick (42), because he knew if he asked his mother if he could go to the art store she wouldn’t allow him to go. So by keeping this key to himself allows him to go all over his town, there’s no way his mother would let him go two hours away from home to find people who’s last name is Black (90), his mother just thought he was staying around town. Oskar also keeps the secret of his fathers messages away from his mother in the effort of trying to protect her, so may be he’s trying to protect his mother from one of his dad’s secrets. Also in the moment of finding the key he was angry at his mother for laughing with Ron, he kept the key a secret because he was throwing a pity party and thinking keeping this a secret would some how separate his mother and Ron.
I agree with nathan s p in that the mystery “is more of a coming of age and self-knowledge.” It helps Oskar learn ways of solving mysteries, and dealing with problems, through out the book he seems to be more intelligent in dealing with problems. He also learns more of who he really is.
I agree with Nathan S. when he says, "Oskar is both the withholder of secrets as well as the one who is ‘in the dark’." Oskar definetly keeps his own secrets but he doesn't know that others do too. He is some what suspicious of his mother being with Ron, but his mom knows that he would be really mad at her if he knew that they were together because she's still suposed to be mourning, like him. So in his moms mind she is protecting their relationship by keeping secrets from him.
When Oskar finds the key he finally finds something that has meaning to him. He makes the key his main focus, he even forges a letter to his french teacher telling her that he can't come to lessons anymore simply to make time to look for people whos last name is Black. I think he keeps the key a secret from his mom so he can have free rein on whatever he wants to do with it.
What Oskar and his mom don't realize about keeping secrets is that secrets will slowly destroy their relationship and soon they won't even know eachother anymore, this process is already starting to happen.
I disagree with Ashley when she says, “I think he keeps the key a secret from his mom so he can have free rein on whatever he wants to do with it.” I believe that he keeps this a secret from his mom because when his father was alive these investigations were only between him and his father. I do not believe he is doing it because he wants freedom. He does it so he can still have an imaginary relationship with his father. I believe he still wants a connection between him and his father. He keeps secrets so that he keeps that connection the way it always was, between him and his father. It has nothing to do wit his mother, but I do not think she will see the secrets like that. When and if she finds out I think she will take the secrets as an assault to her and won’t see it in Oskar’s eyes.
Oskar admits that his secrets are destroying his relationship with his mother, he says, “Every time I left our apartment to go searching for the lock, I became a little lighter, because I was getting closer to Dad. But I also became a little heavier, because I was getting farther from Mom” (52). This statement shows how the secrets are getting him and his dad on a closer relationship but him and his mother’s relationship is being destroyed. This is in his eyes though. The secrets is the thing that is destroying the relationship between him and his mother, just like the secrets are helping him and his father’s relationship. It is a loose-loose situation for Oskar.
In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Oskar makes himself a kind of secret keeper. He hides the messages from his dad and the key that his dad left him. In doing this he keeps two really important secrets from his mother. I believe he kept these secrets from his mother because unlike what nathan s said and in accordance with anna f, he wants to protect his mother. what he is really trying to do is keep these heartbreaking messages from his mom, so that she doesn't have to hurt as much. He keeps the quest for the key a secret because he doesn't think that she will be okay with him going all over New York to talk to strangers about a key that his dead father hadn't neccessarily left him. She might think it's a little crazy. Oskar also keeps these secrets from his grandmother. In the book he seems really close to his grandmother and I believe he is not telling her because she will over react and worry about him. For example when he took a bath as a child he had to use a rope through the door, "Every few seconds she would give it a tug, and I had to tug back--undoing what she'd just done--so that she could know I was OK" (100). He seems to keep secrets from the people close to him because he wants to protect them. But at the same time Oskars grandmother is keeping secrets from him and so is his mother. His grandmother is keeping the identity of the "renter" from Oskar. His mother won't let him into her world, maybe it's because they think he is to yound, but in reality he is actually much older then his age.
Out of context, is the renter really Oskars grandfather? I was wondering that for some time. When the "renter" goes out is he really just in a nothing space?
On that note Oksars grandfather is also keeping a secret from Oskars grandmother. The fact that he is leaving, or at least says he is.
In the end there are secrets going every which way in this book.
I also agree with Nathan S that, “Oskar is both the withholder of secrets as well as the one who is ‘in the dark’”. He has many secrets that he is keeping from his mother. The messages on the message machine, is one of the first secrets in the book. The reader learns about almost all of the messages that his father leaves, except the last one. Just like Oskar’s family the reader is in the dark.
The key is also another main secret that is kept throughout the story. This secret is surrounded by many other secrets, by page 97 Oskar is already on “Lie #50”. Oskar lies to his mom about being sick (42) so that he can go to the art store. He also writes a note to his French teachers, so he will have Saturdays and Sundays to look for the lock (51). The secrets and lies seem to never stop.
Katelyn H also mentioned how Oskar’s grandmother is keeping the secret of the renter. I also find her thoughts about how his grandfather could be the renter very interesting.
Like Demitra A said, “The secrets is the thing that is destroying the relationship between him and his mother, just like the secrets are helping him and his father’s relationship. It is a loose-loose situation for Oskar.” All the secrets in the book are tearing the family apart at a time where they need to be closer.
I also agree with Nathan S that this is a typical mystery novel in the fact that there is a mystery that is being solved, but it is missing parts of a mystery novel also, like villains. This novel is more about a little kid trying to find himself after a traumatic event and to do this he follows the key his father left him.
In "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", Oskar decides to withold the information about the key that he found in the vase on the top shelf of the book case in the closet from his mother. He chooses to withold this information from his mother because, as Nathan has said, he didn't feel her worthy enough to know about it. He came to this conclusion because she's always smiling or laughing with Ron and never crying and adding onto the "reservoir of tears".
Oskar's grandfather doesn't tell him his true identity because he made the promise to his [Oskar's] grandmother that he wouldn't, even though he wants to tell Oskar so then they could have a real relationship. He also doesn't want Oskar's grandmother to know that the two of them met. On page 258 it says, "He wrote something in his book and held it up, but I couldn't see it, so I ran back over. It said, 'Please don't tell our grandmother that we met.' I told him, 'I won't if you won't,' and I didn't even wonder the obvious thing, which was why would HE want to keep it a secret? He wrote, 'If you ever need me for anything, just throw pebbles at the guest room window. I'll come down and meet you uner the streetlamp.' I said, 'Thanks.' Although inside what I was thinking was, Why would I Ever need You?" This shows that Oskar's grandpa wants a relationship and wants Oskar to come to him for things, but doesn't want to break his promise with Oskar's grandma.
Sometimes Oskar goes to one of the Blacks' houses, but doesn't bring up the real reason why he (and Mr.Black in some cases) dropped by because he feels heavy boots when he hears their stories. For example, when he and Mr. Black went to see Ruth Black in the Empire State Building and she told him of her and her husband and why she never leaves. She says, " 'I couldn't bear to go home,' she said. I aked why not, even though I was afraid I was going to learn something I didn't want to know. She said, 'Because I knew he wouldn't be there.' " (p. 252). Another example is when they go to see Georgia Black and neither of them felt the need to tell her of the key because she was showing them her museum dedicated to her husband. On page 242 it reads, "I stated to get heavy boots, for obvious reasons, liker where were all of HER things? Where were HER shoes and HER diploma? Where were teh shadows of HER flowers? I made a decision taht I wouldn't ask about the key, because I wanted her to believe that we had come to see her museum, and I think Mr. Black had the same idea."
This book is concidered a mystery because there is a question that the quester needs to answer. In most cases, the question is normally something along the lines of "who done it?", but in this book the question is more so "What does the key open?". In the since of breaking traditional mystery tales, Jonathan Foer doesn't have an antagonist (as Nathan has mentioned in his posts) in his novel. In most mysteries, there is always at least one person or thing that tries to get in the way of the Quester's path and block him (or her) from reaching his goal. The antagonist could be bad weather, it could be the murderer who killed John-Doe, it could be the person who is responsible for the crime, it could be anything. In E.L.A.I.C. there is no antagonist to evade the handsome detective from solving the mystery. Thus separating classic mystery tales from Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
I too agree with Nathan S when he states that "Osker is the withholder of secrets as well as the one who is 'in the dark.'" I think that Osker isn't telling anyone about his quest to find the lock that goes to the key is because it is one of the last things that he has just between him and his father. Not because he doesn't think his mom will let him go all over New York, although that may be the case. The other secret Osker is hiding is the messages his father left just before he died. Osker says "I knew i could never let mom hear the messages, because protecting her is one of my most important raisons d'etre." (68)
Osker's grandfather is keeping a secret as well, about his identity. When Osker and his grandfather finally met in his Grandma's apartment, his grandfather despretly wanted to tell Osker who he was but he was asked not to by Osker's grandma. He said "I didn't want to betray her." (280) So that secret carried on.
This is a typical mystery because is has someone searching for an answer to a question they desire to answer. I agree with Nathan that it is different because there is no villan or person trying to get in the way the answer being found.
Although many of people have pointed out the many secrets that were kept between Oskar and his family, no one has really mentioned the secrets kept in the letters. Oskar’s father was in the dark about the existence of his father until recently, as we are lead to believe. He never knew his father, and we know this because of the letters that are titled “Why I’m Not Where You Are.” I believe that the lack of a relationship between Oskar’s father and Oskar’s grandfather is supposed to be related to the no-longer-in-existence relationship of Oskar and his own father. I think that this is why Oskar thinks that there is more to find in the world about his father. I also think that’s why he reads so much into the note. Normally, the note with the word “Black” written on it in red or any other color with a key attached would have no real significance. But Oskar views it completely differently. He thinks that his father has left something behind for him to pursue and in return, Oskar believes that whatever the key is to will bring him closer to his father.
The key is also why other secrets are kept in this novel. Oskar lies to his mother about where he is going so that he will not have to explain the key or the envelope to her. Oskar’s grandmother lies about Oskar’s grandfather so that she won’t have to explain to her dead son or his widow what happened. And Oskar’s grandfather lies to his grandmother when he tells her why he leaves and he betrays her by then having a relationship with her sister. This novel is a whole spiral of secrets; a domino effect of secrets if you will. Once one secret is kept it leads to more and more occurring. Because Oskar doesn’t tell his mom where he is going when he goes out to look for the lock, his mother in turn can’t tell Oskar that she knows what he is looking for and where he is going every time he leaves. The spiral truly cannot be controlled.
I agree with Nathan S. when he stated that, “[Oskar’s] main reason for keeping this secret t is that he feels it is another one of his fathers riddles for him to solve, and by solving it, it will bring him closer to his father.” By not telling his mother what is going on, he can feel closer to his father. It is his own mystery to solve, and if he brings anyone else into the mystery, it will not be special. The only person Oskar tells the story to is his grandfather. But the interesting thing about this is he doesn’t know that it is his grandfather. He thinks it is just some random person who is renting out a part of his grandmother’s apartment. I think that by telling this stranger who lives with his grandmother all about his story and his father, he secretly wants his entire family to find out. Think of it as a call for help. Oskar wants his grandmother to know so that she could help him or at least get him the help he deserves. Oskar has tried so many ways to get closer to closure that he is now just completely confused. As Nathan S. said, it is one of his father’s riddles for Oskar to solve, not the rest of his family. His father sent him signs and clues and so it is obvious that Oskar wants this to be a personal thing, and therefore keeps it a secret.
I do however, disagree with what Anna F. said about Oskar keeping this a secret from his mother. She said, “I think Oskar keeps that secret from his mother because he doesn’t believe that his mother would allow him try to find the lock.” This is obviously not true because in the end we find out that Oskar’s mother knew about his search for nearly the whole time that it was happening. She knew exactly where he was going every day and exactly who he was going to encounter. She knew that Oskar needed closure on his father’s death and she obviously believes that this is how he is going to get it. She yelled at the child psychologist when he told her that Oskar needed to be hospitalized. She vocalized that sending him away would not solve anything when she said, “Absolutely no way . . . hospitalize my son” (207). She knew, like his grandmother did, that he needed to heal, but she was willing to let him figure out what to do on his own because that was the only way he would get better. That is why she kept it a secret from him. She let him go out to find the lock because it was his way of fixing the situation and getting closer (while at the same time letting go of) his father.
Ashley L. said, “So in his moms mind she is protecting their relationship by keeping secrets from him.” I completely agree with this statement. By not letting him know that she knows exactly what he is doing, she is giving him emotion and physical freedom which is a process that he can heal in. This lets Oskar know that his mother trusts him and is not trying to shelter him from the world. The only way this backfires is when Oskar believes that his mother might no longer be grieving for her husband any longer. In his mind, she no longer cares about Oskar’s father or Oskar and this upsets him.
What I think is interesting is that Oskar not only keeps secrets, he also tells lies. And the lies he tells aren’t always little white lies that are used to protect people, they are sometimes huge lies that can help him while hurting others. Katelyn H. stated that, “[Oskar] seems to keep secrets from the people close to him because he wants to protect them.” Although Oskar feels like he is protecting people by keeping secrets from them, the lying is contradicting that. This is shown a lot when he is going to meet the Blacks. When he visits Abby Black for the first time, he tells her that he is a diabetic so that she will take him in her house. He does this so they can talk about his father and the key. This would only be benefiting him and it is taking advantage of her. He said, “’Actually, I’m diabetic and I need some sugar asap.’ Lie #35” (91). I believe that he keeps secrets from the people he actually cares about and he lies to the people who he wants to take advantage of. He could take advantage of his mother or grandmother, but that would only strain their relationship and it would never get him anything so it would be a lose-lose situation. But this way, he can at least gain something.
Another thing that has been discussed is if Foer’s tale resembles the makings of a typical mystery. Like many have said, the story of Oskar and his mysterious key is not a typical mystery. It does not have the typical characters, but it does resemble the structure of a mystery. It all starts with a death, then someone stumbles upon evidence that they were never really supposed to see in the first place, then we go on a goose chase of the unlikely clue to find out its meaning or purpose, then the mystery is solved. Unlike most mystery stories, in this novel, the clue does not relate to the death. In most stories, it is a murder that the clue is the only hope to solving the murder. In this case, Mr. William Black, who the key belongs to, had never really met Thomas Schell. This is how the atypical story -came to end—Oskar Schell meets many people and finally gives up his search (not really like a true mystery) then the answer to the mystery comes to him. When has that ever happened in a mystery story? Never. Oskar put himself and his clue out there with only a slight possibility that someone would know something about his father, but when they didn’t he stopped searching, and the answer came to him. It was that simple. It was that which his father was trying to teach him while he was alive.
I disagree with Nathan S P when he says, "Oskar is both the withholder of secrets as well as the one who is 'kept in the dark'", but i do agree with Anna F P when she says "Oskar keeps that secret from his mother because he doesn't believe that his mother would allow him to find the lock". Throughout the novel Oskar uses munipulation to get whatever he wants. He keeps the secret from his mother about the key, because he is afraid she won't let him go find the lock it belongs to. He doesn't tell her something to get exactly what he wants. He also lies to all the people with the last name Black that he visits to get help from them or to get them to pity him. A perfect example of this is on page 91, where he is talking to Abby and she doesn't want to let him in so he tells her "Actually, I'm diabetic and I need some sugar asap". He lies and munipulates people to get what he wants. Nathan S P stated, "He feels is is another one of his fathers riddles for him to solve, and by solving it, it will bring him closer to his father". I agree with this statement, Oskar is trying to revive the relationship he and his father had before he died by bringing up things from the past, like the mystery puzzle games. I think Oskar believes that he is not doing anything wrong. But keeping secrets and lying will come back to haunt him
I disagree with what Alexandra m w said that Oskar manipulates and lies to get what he wants. Oskar does lie sometimes but not so he can get what he wants but so he can get the information he needs. When he goes to visit every Black family he does lie but it is so he can ask them questions to get information about this mysterious key he found. This key was hidden in his fathers things and now Oskar wants to know what the clues his father left for him, mean. Now Oskar is trying to use the clues to figure out the riddle his father left. I also agree with the statement nathan s p made and that alexandra m w agreed with about how "his father leaves riddles for Oskar to solve so he can revive his relationship that he and his father had before his father died." Oskar's main purpose throughout this book is to regain the lost relationship with his father.
I agree with Katrina P P that Oskar doesn’t manipulate or lie to people to get what he wants but just to get information. Oskar does lie in his life he even keeps track of his lies, but the only reason Oskar lies is to find out more about his dad.(p.87) And also that I wouldn’t lie unless I absolutely have to. But Oskar does lie to most the Blacks to get information about the key that he has discovered.
Another secret that Oskar keeps is the key that he found in his dad’s closet in an envelope. Oskar keeps the information about finding the key from his mom and grandma. The reason that he keeps the key a secret from his mom and his grandma is because he thinks that it’s like old times spending time with his dad. And that it will help him remember his dad and the special bond they had.
I think that another secret is when he told his mom that he was sick but instead he went to a key shop to find what the key went to. This secret goes along with the key secret that he doesn’t want to tell his mom and grandma.
Oskar hides many secrets from his mom through the book. Even when Oskar feels "heavy boots" from doing so, he has his mother's best interest at heart. By keeping the key a secret from his mom Oskar feels closer to his father. I agree with Demitra A W when she says “He does it so he can still have an imaginary relationship with his father…He keeps secrets so that he keeps that connection the way it always was, between him and his father.” Before his father died, Oskar always played Reconnaissance
Expedition (8) with his father. After his death, finding the key in his fathers closet was a way for Oskar to play the game again, and make it feel like his father never died.
Another thing Oskar hides from his mother and grandma is the phone recording of his father’s last minuets alive. “I knew I could never let Mom hear the messages…I bought the exact same phone and ran home and recorded our greeting from the first phone onto it”(68). Oskar hides this from his family to protect them. He chooses to hide the recordings in his closet because he cares for his family and dose not want to see them get hurt.
In an earlier post, Katrina P P stated that Oskar dose lie, but only to receive necessary information to continue his quest with the key. “Oskar does lie sometimes but not so he can get what he wants but so he can get the information he needs.” When Oskar visits the first of many Black families he tells the man living in the apartment that he is seven years old so the man will help him. “How old are you?” “I said seven, because I wanted him to feel more sorry for me, so he would help me. Lie #34”(90). This shows that Oskar is not trying to be manipulative with his lies, but receive vital information leading to his father’s death.
I agree with Alexandra M. when she said that Oskar lies to him mother so that he will get what he wants. I do not, however, believe that Oskar’s mother would not have let him go out to find the lock to his key. She knew where he was going every day he left the house. You honestly cannot tell me that you believe that she let her nine-year-old son loose in New York City alone without knowing where he was going. That would be irresponsible parenting. Oskar just believes that his mother has lost interest in anything but Ron since the death of Oskar’s father. Oskar tells us that his mother seemed weird by not asking more detail about where he was going. Oskar questions this during his search by saying, “she would ask where I was going and when I’d be back, I would just say, ‘I’m going out. I’ll be back later.’ What was weird and what I should have tried harder to understand, was that she never asked anything else, not even ‘Out where?’ or ‘Later when?’ even though she was normally so cautious about me, especially since Dad died” (52). Oskar realized that it was abnormal for his mother to stop being so protective, but he never questions it. We find out later that his mother knew exactly which street, exactly whose house, and exactly whom he was going to be speaking to. She was, in her own way, protecting him.
Katrina P. has extended on a very good point that many have brought up before. She said, “Oskar does lie sometimes but not so he can get what he wants but so he can get the information he needs.” I agree with this statement. Oskar is not a very truthful person as he points out himself in the book many times, but he does only do it so that he can gain information to help him. I said something before about him lying only caring about himself. He doesn’t really care about other people’s feelings or how they will be affected. All he notices when he is on a mission is himself.
Katrina P. also said that, “Oskar's main purpose throughout this book is to regain the lost relationship with his father.” I can’t help but disagree with this statement. I believe that Oskar’s story told in this novel does not have a main purpose. Sure, there is a mystery that lies within the story, but the only thing I can think of being anything but a plot is him trying to cope with his father’s death. I believe that is the purpose of the book however, not Oskar’s purpose in the book. I don’t believe that he lost his relationship with his father when he died and was trying to recapture it with this search; I think he was just trying to close the chapter of sorrow in his own life. Dana K. also stated something about Oskar searching for this to recapture what he once had with his father. She said, “After his death, finding the key in his father’s closet was a way for Oskar to play the game again, and make it feel like his father never died.” I don’t think that Oskar was trying to pretend that his father never died. I think he is trying to gain closure of his father’s death. He does not truly understand why or how his father died and his main role model is gone from his life. He is a confused child and he needs a way to learn how to understand.
I also agree with everyone that says Oskar lies to get what he needs, not what he wants. He needs to find what the key goes to and to do that he must lie sometimes. It seems that his lies are affected by trust. He tells lies to people he feels that he cannot trust. He believes that his mother or his grandmother cannot be trusted with his secret. When he meets Mr. Black this changes some. He does not tell one lie to him during their conversation. Oskar even asks Mr. Black to help him (164). This has been Oskar’s secret and he has told many lies to keep it that way and now he tells a stranger everything. Oskar seems to trust Mr. Black, and that is why he asks him to help. The people he does not trust are the ones he needs to keep secrets from.
I also agree with Dana K when she says, “ he lies to protect his family”. With his father dead Oskar is the man of the house and he feels the need to protect his family. His way of doing this is by keeping thing he believes will hurt the secret.
The biggest secret in the book so far is Oskar’s grandfather. The reader does not get a lot of information about him, and most of it is out of order. This is still a very big secret in the book that is still very compelling.
I disagree with Kelsey b w because it does not seem like Oskar lies to get what he needs all the time. Sometimes it seems he lies to get what he wants. Also in the book Oskar does not need the answer to where the key goes, but he wants it very bad. He doesn't need it because nothing will happen to him if he can't find out what it goes to. He will not be punished, no one will get mad at him, and he will still be able to live his life. So i disagree that he needs to find what the key goes to.
I disagree with kelsey b w because Oskar does not lie to get what he needs all of the time. There are places in the book where he lies to get what he wants. Such as on page (38) when Oskar tells his mom, "I took my temperature and it's one hundred point seven degrees." which he tells her because he wants to stay home from school that day. He does not need to stay home from school because again he does not need to find what the key unlocks but wants to stay home from school because he wants to find out what the key unlocks.
I however do find that secrets are very important in this book, like many of you said, and that almost everyone in the book wants to have one. Oskar wants to have the secret of the key as shown on page (52) when he says, "The lock was between me and dad." which means he doesn't want anyone to know about it. The grandmother has a secret which is the renter and does not let anyone else see him. The dad had a secret which is the lock and it is possible he did not even want Oskar to see it since it was hidden. The grandfather has a secret, which is the reason why he left. Almost everyone in the book wants to have a secret. Also I find that Oskar's grandfather's silence and unable to speak is a symbol of keeping everything a secret. This is shown on page (16) when he says, "The way you just handed me that knife, that reminds me of-" but he couldn't say the name. I feel this is because he wanted to keep her a secret and then he wanted to have more secrets to the point where he couldn't say anything.
Now that i have finished the book, a couple new secrets have been revealed. First, Osker (p. 288) presses the play button on the answering machine, which he hadn't done since the 'worst day,' and that was on the old machine. There is only one message and that message is for him. The message is from Abby Black, the second person he visited on the search for the lock. Abby stated that she didn't give him all the information she knew and might be able to help, so Oskar set forth to see Abby Black. After talking with her, he had learned that his mom had picked up the phone halfway through the message and his mom knew all about the key the whole time!
Another secret was that Abby didn't tell Oskar that her husband, William (now ex-husband) knew something about the key, but felt he deserved to know and called Oskar and the message had been waiting for him his entire 8 months of searching.
Finally, Oskar has kept a secret throughtout the entire book, which he reveals to William Black when he goes to visit him after learning that he is Abby's ex-husband. He tells William that when he got home from school on the 'worst day,' and when he finished listening to the messages, the phone started ringing and he saw that is was his dad's cell phone calling. He states that "I couldn't pick up the phone. I just couldn't do it. It rang and rang, and I couldn't move. I wanted to pick it up, but i couldn't do it." I think that Oskar couldn't pick up the phone was because he was scared of what his dad might say. I think he kept the secret so long because he became ashamed that he couldn't do it even though he really wanted to.
Something I want to talk about really fast is the fact that Oskar is keeping a secret from himself for most of the novel. He hides the fact that his father is really dead. He doesn’t want to believe it. He thinks of every possible way that his father could have died, yet none of them really hit home because he doesn’t think that his father is dead. Finally, Oskar admits to himself that his father is dead. When he feels his father’s coffin, he knows that his search is ultimately over. His time with his father is over. When Oskar tells the renter about his idea to go dig up the coffin, Oskar is just ready for the search to be over. He wants his closure to be done. The renter is surprised and asks Oskar why he would want to do that and Oskar says, “Because it’s the truth, and Dad loved the truth . . . [The truth is] that he’s dead” (321). Oskar becomes tired of hiding it from himself so he finally admits it and that leads to the end of the novel.
Kelsey B. said, “The people he does not trust are the ones he needs to keep secrets from.” I disagree with this quote for two reasons: one, I do not believe that he needs to keep secrets from anyone, and two, he has lied to people whom we are lead to believe he trusts, so how can this statement be true? No one truly needs to keep secrets. It is just like lying—it is unnecessary to learn the truth or begin to understand anything about any person. Oskar may have been admired doors if he had told his secret about his father up front, but the results that he might have received would have been cataclysmic. That is why he need not keep the secret from people he trusts. He trusts his mother and his grandmother and yet he keeps the secret from them. He doesn’t have any reason to trust the renter, but he reveals his secret to him. And in the same category as the renter, he has no reason to trust William Black, but he divulges every piece of information that he knew about his father on that Worst Day to him. It makes no sense that he would trust a stranger with his secret over his real family. Maybe he didn’t want to get hurt, but I believe Oskar probably would have read more into it than that.
I read casey r's comment and I was thinking about what she said about Oskar trusting the renter and Mr. Black. Oskar told them all his secrets. I believe Oskar really doesn't trust them, they are just easier to talk to. With family, there are strings attached and the people in his family know the whole situation. Plus moms and grandmas always have a way of wanting to know everything and comfort a child when something is wrong. Oskar is able to talk to the renter and Mr. Black because they will try to do something productive and figure out the problem. Personally I feel more comfortable telling nonfamily people certain problems or secrets I am having instead of my family. I prefer to talk to someone who doesn't know everything about me and the whole situation than people who will have something to say back to me. I believe this is how Oskar feels.
Alesha E W It must have not worked sorry I will change it.
There are many ways to convey similar or contradictory points without the overly-simplistic phrases "I agree" or "I disagree," which are popular here elsewhere on this blog. Try some. Such phrases generally lead to terse statements of fact, or a list of spearate, independent thoughts rather than an interactive discussion. They reflect relationships of addition, the simplest. Look for elements of causality, effects, significance, comparison and contrast, and so forth. In the least, avoid predictable or canned phrasing.
Cheers.
Oskar withholds information from his mother because he believes that his mother will get worried about him. Oskar withholds the messages his father left before he died (p. 14) telling Oskar and his mom that he was OK and that he would call back soon. Oskar decides not to tell his mother about these calls because he feels that she would worry about it. Oskar also withholds the information he gets when he finds a key in an envelope in a vase that was in his father's room (p. 37). he decides not to tell his mother or grandmother about this so he can try to find what the key opens. He knows his mother would not let him find out what it opens because she would be too worried about him going out on his own. He tells his mother he is sick and sad about his father, to get out of going to school so he can find any links to this key.
As I am just entering this conversation, there are many things that have been already thoroughly discussed. However, I would like to go back to something that was particularly interesting to me while reading this book, which I think could be discussed further. I am reintroducing it because it was the most prominent answer that came to mind as I read the questions for the "Secrets" topic.
One of the questions asked about the book's secrets was, "To whom are [the secrets] revealed and by whom? Why?" The secret I'm thinking of is Oskar's treasured recordings of his father, from the day his father died. Casey R mentioned an answer to the "to whom are they revealed" question, by saying, "The only person Oskar tells the story to is his grandfather. But the interesting thing about this is he doesn’t know that it is his grandfather. He thinks it is just some random person who is renting out a part of his grandmother’s apartment."
This especially stood out to me because Oskar held onto this secret for a really long time, and I, also, am curious about why he chose to share it with the person that he thought of as a stranger, (Aka, "The renter"). He didn't show the messages to his mother, or his grandmother, or people that actually knew and loved Thomas Schell. Although those people are just the ones who would be desperate to hear Thomas' last words to them... his last thoughts. Casey suggested, "I think that by telling this stranger who lives with his grandmother all about his story and his father, he secretly wants his entire family to find out."
However, I personally feel like Oskar valued this secret so much, and wanted to keep it his own, so he could feel connected to his father. I am aware that this idea has already been mentioned in this blog, but trust me, I haven't made my point yet! Although he had, in my opinion, that desire, I feel that the importance of the messages, and the anxiety created by keeping them secret, were too much for him. Before I go on, I have to point out the repetition of the phrase, "just like Dad used to," (pg. 257) when Oskar met this "stranger." I feel like this shows that Oskar somewhere deep down had a slight idea that this person was more than just a stranger, but without really connecting it or thinking much about it. So that sense, on top of the intensity of the pressure and such feelings (previously suggested), are what I consider the answers to the question. I believe that they are the reasons why "the renter," was the person Oskar had chosen to reveal this secret to.
Any comments? Other ideas?
Although this book is full of secrets, it appears that Oskar does not really like secrets. Oskar wants one answer and reason for everything. During one of the games Oskar plays with his father he only receives a map of Central Park and wonders if there are other clues. His father tells him that maybe no clues is a clue (8). Oskar just wants an answer out of his dad, and even though he loves their games, he always just wants to get straight to the point. He wants to know absolutely everything about everything so he can figure it all out, but his dad loves to keep small secrets and make Oskar think hard to figure the world out. Oskar’s mind is scientific; he wants to know all the fact without having to go on a quest to figure the world out.
Also, the quest to find the lock becomes the only thing Oskar wants to do in his life, but at the beginning of the search Oskar did not want to have to search for the lock. He didn’t want to have to find out secrets or have to search for the lock. This is apparent because he goes right to the locksmith when he finds the key and says, “Well then, what I want to know is how can I find the lock that it opens?” (39). Oskar cannot deal with the idea that the lock is secret to him and he just wants to find the lock; he does not seem to really care about the adventure of learning about new people and the world while finding the lock. This all makes it seem like Oskar does not like secrets; he just wants a simple answer for everything.
(I didn't mean to ignore Rae's blog, i wrote this before i saw she posted one)
Rae n brought up an interesting topic, about why he would share his secret with a complete stranger. The answer to this question was answered in part by Alesha E W’s comment that “Personally I feel more comfortable telling nonfamily people certain problems or secrets I am having instead of my family.” I believe that is how Oscar feels talking to his Mom, although he couldn’t tell her anyway because “protecting her is one of his most important raisons d’être” (pg 68)
Throughout the book Oskar mentions whether he has “heavy boots” or “light boots” and I would imagine listening to your dad’s last words but having to keep it a secret would give anybody very heavy boots. So another reason Oskar would tell a complete stranger is to make his heavy boots lighter. It is a way for him to release the weight of the secret.
Casey r states "I think that by telling this stranger who lives with his grandmother all about his story and his father, he secretly wants his entire family to find out." Oscar reveals all his secrets to the stranger to make his boots lighter as I stated above. The main reason Oskar tells this to a complete stranger is that he is not part of his family (that he knows of.) if his family heard the answering machine it would hurt them. Oskar knows he cannot let them hear it, that is why he runs to the store and buy’s a new phone.(pg.68) He revealed all his secrets to the renter because he had no one he could talk to anymore, Mr. Black left him, he cannot tell his family, and his boots very heavy, so he tells it all to a complete stranger because he believes it is safe with him. There is no way it could reach his family.
Courtney W brings up a very good point when she says that Oskar does not like secrets being kept from him. Yet Oskar tends to kept several secrets from other people in his life. He doesn't tell anyone about the last message from his father, the key he found, or several places he goes throughout the novel. It is interesting to me that he doesn't like people keeping secrets from him but he turns around and keeps secrets from his mother, grandmother, and other people in his life. Doesn't that make him somewhat of a hypocrite?
Like Katrina p, I disagree with Alexandra M that Oskar "lies and manipulates to get what he wants." I don't think that this is at all what Oskar is thinking when he keeps his secrets or tells the lies. I think he is trying to protect other people but he is also trying to make the relationship that he had with his father last as long as it possibly can. By not telling other people about the key and his search, it keeps it between him and his father. It is just like the old games that they used to play together. Maybe keeping this secret is comforting to him because it feels like his father is still there. Whatever the case, I definetely don't think that Oskar is trying to be manipulative of has any alterior movtive in keeping his secret.
The end of the book when Oskar finds out his mom knew about his key search the whole time he was doing it defines the whole book. The fact is Oskar thinks he's sneaky but he has no idea what sneaky really is because he is still a child and being a child comes with innocence.
When Oskar pours out his whole story to the stranger I think that he just needs someone to talk to, and since his Grandma isn't there he settles for the next best thing, the renter. I do agree that Oskar wants his family to find out because he was intended to tell his grandma first, and his Grandma would oviously tell his mom. When he discovered that she wasn't home he became frantic! He only needed to get this off his chest. It is kind of significant that he wants to tell his Grandma but ends up telling a complete stranger it's almost like there is no difference in his mind between someone who helped raise him and has been there his whole life and someone who he met seconds before. I think that this scene is suppose to be another passage way into his mind and to help us understand that his family are as much strangers to him as real strangers are.
I agree with Ashley L when she says that he is just an innocent 9 year old that thinks he is sneaky. I didn't ever see it like that. He is just like Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime thinking he is a super spy or some great detective. But really, everyone knows what he is up to, they just don't want to burst his bubble.
And as the reader I felt that there was a deeper connection between Oskar, Mr. Black (the renter) and the mysterious journal entries written by Oskar's grandfather. My theory is that [I haven't finished the book so I am probably wrong] Mr. Black could possibly be Oskar's grandfather. Oskar's father sent him to Mr. Black for a reason. I noticed Mr. Black's excitement for words and the tone and volume he used. I remembered the letters from Oskar's grandfather and how he didn't speak. Mr. Black is about 100 years old, making him about how old Oskar's grandfather would be. I think that somewhere along the way, Oskar's grandfather got over Anna and learned to speak again, making him very passionate and caring towards words. I believe that Mr. Black has such a great appreciation for words now because he didn't use them for such a long period of time.
I agree with Ashley L in the sense that Oskar thinks that he can get away with going around New York and his mom not noticing. He is just a typical 9 year old child who thinks that he can get away with anything. A child like him at his age is very innocent and thinks that he can get away with anything and everything without his parents noticing.
I also have to say that before i finnished the book, i thought that Mr Black was Oskar's grandfather. It made complete sense because they hit it off so well and really conected in a deeper way. I wrote it many times in my book that I thought they were grandfather and grandson. It also makes sense that Oskar's dad would leave a clue to help Oskar find his lost grandfather.
I agree with what nicole c p when she says that Oskar and Mr. Black really hit it off when they met so it does make a lot of sense that Oskar's father left clues so Oskar could find out his long-lost grandfather. I also wrote in my book that Oskar had resembled Mr. Black in many ways. I also thought that Oskar and his grandfather really connected in a much deeper emotional level.
At the end of the search to find out who Black was and what it meant the whole book came together. The entire book made sense after I found out that Mr. Black was Oskar's long-lost grandfather. Also I thought this story made Oskar connect with his father.
I want to add to the comment made earlier by Ashley L W. “It is kind of significant that he wants to tell his Grandma but ends up telling a complete stranger it's almost like there is no difference in his mind between someone who helped raise him and has been there his whole life and someone who he met seconds before.” Oskar did tell a complete stranger everything that has happened to him in the last six months of his life. I believe he told the man everything because he had characteristics just like his father. On page 237, when Oskar and the old man first meet, Oskar comments “He shrugged his shoulders, just like Dad used to”(237). It was so easy for Oskar to tell the old man everything because he reminded him of his father. Throughout their conversation, Oskar mentions that the man reminds him of his father many times. This is also the reason Oskar ran home to grab the phone recordings. He trusted the old man and the qualities of his father portrayed through the old man made Oskar feel that he was truly his Dad.
Another good point brought up by Bri S P when she says, “Mr. Black could possibly be Oskar's grandfather.” This statement would make perfect sense to why Oskar and Mr. Black have such a strong connection. This statement makes perfect sense but I don’t understand one thing. If Mr. Black is Oskar’s long lost grandfather, why dose Mr. Black stop searching for the key? “I think I’m finished…I hope you understand”(254). The only reason I believe Mr. Black would stop searching for the key with Oskar is because he dose not know Oskar and him may be related.
First of all, Mr. Black is not Oskar’s grandfather to clear that up. Mr. Black was someone that Oskar connected with but is not related to. Katrina P. and Bri S. had hunches that Oskar’s grandfather and Mr. Black are the same person. They aren’t. For this to be true, they would need to have the same name. In his letter’s, Oskar’s grandfather calls himself Thomas Schell. There really can’t be a bigger clue that they aren’t the same person besides the fact that one person cannot talk and the other can. One cannot make themselves begin to talk after a medical problem kept them from speaking for the major bulk of their life. I would like to ask Katrina P. how, as she said, “The entire book made sense after I found out that Mr. Black was Oskar’s long-lost grandfather”? Because this was never true.
Alesha E. said that Oskar talked to the strangers about his father because he thought “they will try to do something productive and figure out the problem.” Strangers are more likely to ignore the problem that a person tells them about than a family member of that person. Let’s say that, in reality, Oskar told his mom that he was severely depressed because of the death of his father. She would get him all of the help that she could get him—no matter the cost. If Oskar had told that to a complete stranger, they would never help him and would probably ignore the problem because there is nothing that they can do about it.
Many people have continuously brought up that Oskar hides the fact that he leaves because he knows she would not let him go out and do this on his own. That is an incorrect statement. His mother knows where he is going and why the entire time he is going and doing it. Oskar thinks that she doesn’t know and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. That just bothers me a little that people think that a mother would let her son go out in New York City alone without asking or knowing where he is going at all.
Courtney W. talked about how Oskar would have chose to sit at home and know everything rather than going out on a quest to find the solution. I disagree with this statement. She said, “he wants to know all the [facts] without having to go on a quest to figure the world out.” It is really complicated, but Oskar knows that he cannot learn everything there is to learn about the world by sitting at home. Instead of just using the phone book to search and question all of the Blacks, he goes out in the world and meets them. He does this because he knows that this is the only way he would be able to persuade people to tell him the truth. Otherwise, he feels that he would be lied to.
Nathan S. suggests that Oskar has to keep the secret of his father and that is why he has heavy boots. He said, “but having to keep it a secret would give anybody very heavy boots.” I don’t think that Oskar had to keep anything about his father a secret. I believe that he chose to keep it a secret because he thinks that it would protect his family. He doesn’t want to put his family in any more pain than they are already in, and because he thinks that he is the man of the house now that his father is gone, he believes that it is his responsibility. That is already a lot of pressure to put on a nine-year-old. I believe that is what gives Oskar heavy boots, not the secret keeping from his father itself, but the pressure to keep it from his family.
When Oskar tells his story to the renter, he doesn’t hesitate. It is the same way with William Black. He just needs to get the story out and he doesn’t really care who is at the other end of the line, he wants to spew his feelings out so someone will finally understand what he is going through. Ashley L. said that, in the end, Oskar’s family is the same to him as strangers would be. He wanted to tell his story to a person. Originally it was his grandmother that he wanted to tell his story to, but that didn’t work out when she wasn’t at her apartment. The closest human to him at that point was his grandfather, so he told his story. I agree with Ashley. The difference between his family and strangers is irrelevant because everyone in his life is just a blur after his father dies. The only purpose in his life after The Worst Day is figuring out things about his father so he can figure out why he died.
Dana K states that “…the qualities of his father portrayed through the old man made Oskar feel that he was truly his Dad.” I do not particularly agree with that statement, Oskar chose to reveal all his secrets to the ‘old man’ because as Ashley l says “When he discovered that she wasn't home he became frantic! He only needed to get this off his chest.” Oskar needed to tell somebody so he went to his grandma, the only person in his family he believed he could talk to. When she wasn’t there he told the renter, all the while he “pretended he was grandma.” (pg. 238) He didn’t tell the renter pretending he was his father, therefore proving Oskar didn’t think the renter was his father.
Casey r disagreed with me on Oskar having to keep secrets of his father from his family. She states “I believe that he chose to keep it a secret because he thinks that it would protect his family.” His family consists of his mother and grandmother. Protecting his mother his one of his raisons d’être (pg. 68) so he really doesn’t have a choice in the matter. He knows that telling his grandmother about his father’s calls would make her very sad. (He does go to her house to tell her near the end of the book, when he ends up telling the renter) but at the time he had to keep it a secret, he knew the truth would only bring pain. His title of man of the house, as casey r points out, proves he has a duty to avoid hurting his family so he has to keep it a secret.
Just joining this conversation it is difficult to put in random thoughts, but by reading through other blogs I am seeing that I agree with Rae N, Nathan S, and Alesha E who are all saying that it is easier to express your thoughts, feelings, and secrets to someone who you are not totally familiar with becuase then you have a sense of security. Since you do not know any of these people, there is no need to worry about how they would think of you.
Oskar doesn't like the thought of telling his mom about the messages on the machine because he feel's it would hurt her in more ways than imaginable, but then again, Oskar has a need to be close to his dad that he can't seem to grasp.
On his quest to find the lock for the key left behind, he never tells his mom about any of his adventures around the city because it was the last "game" that his dad and him had together, and if he lets other people in on it or doesn't complete it, how could he ever understand what his dad was thinking in his last few days on earth?
Oskar, I feel, keeps secrets for his own good.
Oskar keeps many secrets from his mother as we have stated in the past blogs but there is also someone who has kept secrets from Oskar. Oskar's father kept the secret of Mr. Black being his long-lost grandfather. Mr. Black also kept the secret by not wanting to be in his son's life. He never tried to find his son or his daughter-in-law. He never new that he had a grandson too so Oskar's father kept that secret from both Oskar and Mr. Black. So Oskar was not the only one who kept secrets from someone.
I also agree with what ali c said about how "it's easier to express your secrets and your feelings to someone you don not know rather than someone who is really close to you because people who you have just met do not judge you because they do not know you as well. People who know you judge you sometimes even when they do not mean to. In the novel Oskar can tell every family he goes to see the truth and any secret he needs to because he feels more secure about telling someone else the truth.
As nathan s says at the beginning of this chat, there isn't an obvious villian in this book, as there are in many other mystery novels. However, ashley l said that "What Oskar and his mom don't realize about keeping secrets is that secrets will slowly destroy their relationship and soon they won't even know eachother anymore, this process is already starting to happen."
I agree with that statement, and I was thinking that the villian in this story is not a person, but the secrets themselves.
The secrets are, like many of you have said, ruining the relationship between Oskar and his mother, but helping Oskar's relationship with his father, like demitra a said is a "loose-loose situation". So maybe the villian in the story doesn't have to be a person doing bad things, but people holding in their secrets and telling lies to their loved ones.
I was also noticing how many people hold secrets in the story. Like many brought up, Oskar has secrets, as well as his mother, his grandmother, and his grandfather. In the first letter we read to Oskar from his grandmother, she tells us about a letter that she had recieved from a man in a Turkish Labor Camp [75], which is one of her secrets. As she goes on a mission to try and figure out who the man was, she gets a letter from a man in jail[77]. He uncle had been friends with the man, and her uncle had also told her about how many letters he was keeping that the man in jail had written to try and get out. "They filled all the drawers in his dresser. I remember thinking it's enough to drive someone to kill himself. I was right." [78] If secrets could have driven her uncle to kill himself, they could easily destroy relationships. This is just another example of secrets being the villian in the story.
Some other secrets that are shared in grandma's first letter to Oskar are about her friend, Mary, running around her house without clothes, or jumping on her bed [78]. Along with the letter from Oskars great-great-grandmother, where she tells about how she could not wear the bracelet from her father comfortably.
They are small things, but just some secrets to show how many people in the book have them.
Oskar keeps many secrets throughout the story. Most of the secrets that he keeps are about his father, and he hides them from his mother so he does not bring back memories.
There are two big secrets that Oskar keeps from his mother. The messages from his father on 9/11 and the key. The messages are memories to him, that I think help him stay connected with his father. I think that he feels that if he lets anyone listen to them, the connection will be lost and that is why he keeps it a secret. I also think that he tries to protect his mother from any sadness that may be caused by listening to the voice of her husband.
As for the key, Oskar keeps it a secret because needs to know what they key unlocks. I get the feeling that if he tells his mother where he is going and why, then she might not let him search. I do think part of him also wants his mother to ask him where he is going and what he is doing.
Oskar tells no one about the messages. Those are between him and his father. There are many people he tells about the key though. Everyone with the name Black knows about the key, because of his search. The odd thing is that he won't tell his mother about the key but he will tell complete strangers about it.
I like the idea Elise D presents about secrets being the villain in this story. The protagonist, obviously is Oskar, but the antagonist is more difficult to find as i also think it could be the abstract idea of secrets.
From each person Oskar encounters in the book, it seems they have their own bunch of secrets, their own story that Oskar simply witnesses a bit of. Foer writes, "Since I didn't know why she was crying, i couldn't think of a reason. Was she crying about the elephants? Or something else I'd said? Or the desperate person in the other room? Or something i didn't know about?" (Foer 96). There were so many secrets that Oskar doesn't know about but he has so many himself. There are probably thousands of secrets that all Blacks have but Oskar is trying to unlock one. Just by the mass amount of secrets presented makes secrets the villain in this story. Oskar needs to find this one secret to stay connected with his dad-- that's the way to almost comeplete his relationship with his dad. The only thing holding Oskar back is the huge amount of secrets--the keys--to unlock something he needs to know. Oskar calculates how many keys there could be in just New York and I think it could represent the same number of secrets that face him. The main problem is, he just needs one key to unlock one secret.
I think it is very interesting that as soon as you think the secrets are over (when Oskar is going to tell his grandma and lay it all out) you find out that there is another secret yet to be found out: the renter. As soon as Oskar is ready to get rid of all his secrets another one comes up right infront of him. In this situation it's almost as if Oskar can't escape the secrets even though he is prefectly ready to get out of the jungle of secrets he made for himself.
I think it is strange the Oskar never tells his mom about the messages from his father the day he died. I thought that at the end of the novel all the secrets would be out in the open, but there are still ALOT of secrets that haven't been told.
Secrets, for Oskar, seem to be a way of trying to protect his family from the excess emotional pain that he himself has experienced. He beleives that if he can hide the messages from his family that he can save them from heartache, which may infact be true. If he were to show his mother the messages it could coult actually stunt the progress shes made towards accepting her husbands death. She needs to hear them but Oskar must choose the right time to show her the messages. Until that time Oskar knows that it is best to continue hiding them.
As for the key, i think that Oskar is hiding it from his family because that is his last connection to his father. It reminds him of the Reconnaissance Expeditions that his father sent him on and he is determined to solve this mystery on his own. His motive isnt so much hiding the key from his mother, but more so to help him acknowledge and accept his fathers death. The key is his way to put an end to his "heavy boots".
By keeping secrets Oskar has created somewhat of a void in his and his mothers relationship. To some degree he is further from her, but has not lost her. It is not so much the bigger secrets like the messages or the key, its the little things he keeps from her. These little "secrets", such as when they are riding in the limo and he chooses not to tell his mom she looks beautiful, are the "straw that broke the camel's back".
There are many secrets withheld in this book. There are major ones such as many have already commented about such as the key and the phone, which has messages from Oskar's father. As Nathan S P and Anna F P and others have already stated that keeping those secrets secrets and not revealing them to Oskar's mother or his grandmother is keeping his relationship with his dad still intact but also tearing the bond between his mom. There are many other secrets that Oskar doesn't know about but finds out in the end.
There are other secrets that are in this book besides the key and the messages. For instance how did Oskar's dad die? That's one secret that was revealed every now and again by Oskar. He reveals little by little when he goes and visits all the people with the last name Black. When he visits the first Black, Aaron Black, he tells him that his dad died but he doesn't tell us how his dad died. "'Can I ask how he died?' I didn't want to talk about it, but i remembered the promise i made to myself about my search, so i told him everything." (90) He told Aaron Black everything but not the reader. Is it so that we have a little hope that he is still alive?
Another secret that was kept a secret was Ron. What was Ron's story? By having Ron around Oskar's mom it made Oskar mad because she wasn't crying over the death of her husband. "I know he just wanted to be friendly, but it made me incredibly angry." (3). Oskar didn't understand why Ron was around because he wasn't his dad.
This novel is a typical mystery novel because Oskar likes to solve problems even when his dad was alive, his dad would create a mystery for Oskar to solve. Now that his dad is gone he has to solve the mystery of his death.
Garrett E states, “Secrets, for Oskar, seem to be a way of trying to protect his family from the excess emotional pain that he himself has experienced.” While I agree with this comment, I also feel that it is not quite accurate. Yes, Oskar is hiding his father’s messages from his mother to shield her from emotional strain. However, I don’t believe the messages evoke pain on Oskar. They are more of a comfort to Oskar than anything. For instance, when he was out of school playing "hooky," he was extremely depressed. Since he was depressed he listened to the recording of his father’s messages repetitively. Clearly the sound of his father’s voice creates a temporary reconciliation between Oskar and his depression.
Oskar is hiding the key from his mother not because he is up to no good, but because it is his own “project,” for lack of a better word, to solve the mystery on his own. I believe he feels less lonely and submissive when he is on his quest. The lies he is conveying are not neccecarily hurting his family, but are separating him from his mother and bringing him closer to his father. The mystery reminds him of the game he and his father would play and it makes him happy to be busy instead of wallowing in his depression. Currently I believe the lies he tells are benefiting Oskar, although karma may come back to haunt him.
In many ways Foer has created a typical mystery novel. The pictures' irrelevancy in the beginning of the novel mystifies the reader as well as the blank pages and other such curious details. It is mysterious as to why Oskar’s father’s name is written all over the art shop but his name appears on none of the receipts. However, in spite of the typical elements of mystery, Foer’s novel differs from others of such a topic by incorporating the mysteries into the everyday life of a nine year old boy. The mysteries are not the plot of the book, but are there to pivot and morph it.
I do not understand why Oskar has not told his mother about the messages yet. I do not understand the harm that would be caused if he did show them to her. For example if he did show them to her then she would be able to hear her husband’s voice one last time. If he doesn’t show them to her, then he might feel the guilt through the rest of his life and end up never talking to his mother ever again.
Another point I realized is that he is keeping more and more thing inside of him. For example when her was with the therapist she told him to hold all his feelings inside and not let them out, that is how he will become a better person. But I think of it as keeping more secrets from the world. If Oskar holds everything inside him, then he will not be a healthy person and all those secrets could eventually destroy him.
I agree with Garrett E, that him hiding the key from his mom has nothing to do with her. As Garrett says, “His motive isn’t so much hiding the key from his mother, but more so to help him acknowledge and accept his fathers death.” the key secret has nothing to do with his mother, it has everything to do with keeping close to his father. This hunt is how he is accepting his father’s death.
When I was reading throughout the book, I also wondered why Oskar never told his mother about the messages left by his father. I think Oskar wants to keep the messages to himself because it is the last thing that links him to his father. Also, I believe that Oskar feels somewhat guilty about the messages and maybe even feels a bit guilty about his father’s death. On page 300, Oskar is telling William Black a secret which he has never told anyone before. It’s the last message from his father. In this particular message, Oskar’s father called the house and Oskar was there, yet Oskar would not answer the phone. He tells Mr. Black, “He needed me, and I couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t.” I think Oskar feels that if he told his mom this, she would be upset with him for not answering the phone and speaking with his dad, and he doesn’t want to feel worse than he already does. I can only imagine the pain and guilt he is going through. He feels ashamed of himself for not answering and he doesn’t want to bring pain to his mother by telling her that he couldn’t pick up when he knew it would probably be the last chance he could talk to his father. During this visit with Mr. Black, Oskar finally had closure on his father’s death. The building collapsed at 10:28 and that was when his father’s last message was cut off. Oskar knows that this is how he died and he realizes it.
In this book I think that the biggest secret of all was Oskar's grandfather. There are a few reasons why I think this secret is bigger than the messages, how Oskar's dad died, and the key.
I think it is the biggest secret first, because even when Oskar meets his grandfather on page (237) his grandfather doesn't tell Oskar that he is the grandfather. I think he does this because he doesn't want Oskar to be ashamed of him and also because he might be ashamed that Oskar's grandmother only refers to him as "the renter". I think it is also a huge mystery because I don't know if Oskar could handle finding his grandfather like that in that situation because he would have another mystery on his hands and even more unanswered questions. Also because I think deep down Oskar may know that the renter is his family or at least someone he can trust even when he first meets him because on page (255) after he shows the renter the messages he says, "No one else has ever heard that." meaning he can at least trust the renter more than anyone else. Also it gave us clues throughout the whole book that the renter was going to be Oskar's grandfather.
I agree with Demitra A that i do not understand why he does not tell his mother about the messages because they can not do any harm to tell her. They also can help her to remember what her husband's voice sounds like and to remember her husband. It would actually help Oskar, his mother, and his grandmother to remember what his father sounds like. Oskar does not tell his mother because he does not want to remember the pain from the sound of his voice. He also does not want to have his mother and grandmother to start crying at the sound of his voice so he will not have to comfort them and be a strong man for them when he can not be a strong person himself. He would rather hide the messages from his mother and grandmother than discuss his feelings because he does not want to seem weak by crying or showing his true feelings. Oskar just needed to be honest with his feelings, his mother, and his grandmother instead of hiding things from them so they can get through their feelings of sorrow and get on with their lives.
Throughout the story, Oskar is hiding his search for the lock from his mother. He tells her he is "going out" and says that he will return later. But as we find out towards the end of the story, Oskar's mother was "beating him at his own game." She had known about the search all along and had even warned the people Oskar was visiting, that he was coming. So, essentially, Oskar and his mother were keeping the same secret from each other. When Oskar finds out the secret his mom had been hiding all along, he says "My search was a play that Mom had written, and she knew the ending when I was at the beginning." This secret in the story shows the dramatic irony of one person knowing something that the other one doesn't, and acting upon it. It makes secrets in the story very important.
I agree with Nathan S and Ashley L when they say that Oskar is the withholder of secrets and he is also the one who is "in the dark." Oskar doesn't tell his mother about the messages that were on the phone the day his father went missing. I think he keeps this a secret because he wants to have his father's voice to hear, I think he felt he was very close to his father, and maybe he fears that his mom would take the phone away from him if she knew so both she and Oskar could move on. Oskar also keeps the key he finds in the closet a secret from his mom. I think that since Oskar's dad always had riddles for him to solve, that somehow Oskar feels comforted by the key because it is a riddle for him.
Oskar is "in the dark" about his own grandfather, he always assumed that he was just the Renter. I see a lot of secrets being kept throughout this book so people don't hurt each other, when really keeping all of these secrets is slowly destroying relationships.
Michael c said that Oskar’s grandfather doesn’t want to reveal who he is to his grandson because “he doesn't want Oskar to be ashamed of him and also because he might be ashamed that Oskar's grandmother only refers to him as "the renter"” I do not believe this is true. The reason why his grandfather kept his identity a secret was because Oskar’s grandmother told him to. On page 276 His grandfather asks Oskar’s grandma if he can see him. “No.” “Why not?” “Because.” “Because why?” “Because I changed his diapers…taught him how to speak.” Oskar’s grandmother will not allow him to see Oskar because she is mad that he left her and feels that since he abandoned her he has no right to have a relationship with her grandson. He is not ashamed of his title of renter more he is ashamed he is not allowed to have a relationship with his grandson.
Candace w brings up a good point when she says “I see a lot of secrets being kept throughout this book so people don't hurt each other, when really keeping all of these secrets is slowly destroying relationships.” Like when Abby Black keeps the secret of the key’s lock from Oskar but ends up hurting Oskar and their relationship because instead of a giving her a kiss Oskar only gives her a hug. (pg.290)
I have to disagree with what Candace is saying about how Oskar's secerecy is destroying his relationships. He does seem to get farther away from his mother through the duration of the novel, but he begins to feel close to her again once he realizes she was his silent guardian all along. The irony involved in this shows just how much his relationships matter to him and others. The most important being the one with his dad.
I feel Okser's tendancy to keep things to himself seems to bring people closer to him. For instance, there were the events that took place at Abby Black's house. "Actually I'm diabetic and I need sugar asap," (91) is the lie he told Abby to get into her house. She could tell he was lying but let him in anyway. Later on, Abby breaks down about her own sceret problems eventhough she barely knows Oskar. Then, Oscar asks her, "Could we kiss for a little bit?" (99) Abby doesn't say yes, but something about Oscar intrigues her enough not to say no to the boy.
It is also hard to say Oscar is destroying relationships when by going around looking for the key's purpose he befriends so many people. Among these are all the Blacks that cared enough to show up for his play and Mr. Black who takes the time to travel with him. Oskar really does care for others and the bond he shares with them. An example of this is when Oskar turns up Mr. Black's hearing aids and his 'heavy boots' when he doesn't get a proper goodbye to the old man.
All in all, Oskar may seem to be a person who isolates himself and has difficulty keeping relationships, but their is a completely different side to him. His kindness and generosity to people may be subconcious, but it's one of the things that keeps his bonds so strong.
I think Oskar does not tell his family about the key and the search for the lock because they are family. They were there when his father died which creates that imaginary bond and connection to each other. If Oskar told them about the search for the lock, it would bring up all sorts of emotions that he wants to avoid. It was easier for Oskar to talk to strangers because they don’t have that connection with each other, thus making it effortless to tell others about the incident and his emotions that he’s kept inside for so long. Every now and then, talking to people you hardly know is easier to talk to because you can tell them your secrets while knowing you will not see them as often as others. Sometimes it just makes it less complicated for everyone.
I somewhat agree with Rebecca N W when she stated “Every now and then, talking to people you hardly know is easier to talk to because you can tell them your secrets while knowing you will not see them as often as others,” but what about first impressions? If someone blurts out a secret to a total stranger can that person be trusted? Oskar seems to have too much trust in people who are alien to him. This shows Oskar’s innocence is still much unaltered even though he has gone through traumatic times. Secrets to him are no more than small talk. His grandfather even says “Poor child, telling everything to a stranger” (280). This can be a very dangerous thing for Oskar and his family. If he would tell his entire life story to a stranger, then what would he tell on the internet? I fear for this boy, and although he is a fictional character, I know there are actual children out there in the very same predicament.
Secrets are meant to be kept, but rarely are. Foer wanted to present the idea of secrets and whether to keep them secret or not. What damage can a spilled secret do? It is obvious in the world today that secrets are usually meant to be kept, but in Foer’s world secrets are common knowledge. Sharing secrets leads to new relationships and life being explained. If Oskar had not shared his life story with every Black in the neighborhood, he would not have learned what he did about himself and his father. Every new secret sharing led to a new relationship to love. Oskar grew up as did his friends he met. Secrets in this novel are a way of learning about oneself and others.
I agree with Gina when she says that telling secrets to all he knows, “can be a very dangerous thing to Oskar and his family". However, in Oskar's case, holding his thoughts in does not seem to work. Oskar displays his life as an open canvas for everyone to write on or leave their mark upon. In the novel all of his family is so wrapped up in a secret of some sort, that it is not a surprise that Oskar (whom is a tad more interesting than most) is the one who does not fit the mold. Well, not completely anyway. We see Oskar keeping up the Schell family tradition when he decides not to share the messages from his father. "I wrapped up the old phone in the scarf that Grandma was never able to finish because of my privacy, and I put it in a grocery bag, and I put that in a box, and I put that in another box, and I put that under a bunch of stuff in my closet "(68). This is a situation, however, where he thinks it will protect his mom if she never finds out. Almost every secret kept is in order to protect someone else. For example, no one is supposed to find out about the “renter” because the grandma is "protecting" her family. Oskar does not tell his mom about the search for the lock so she will not worry about him. Although Oskar does let most of his life be open for the public eye, he keeps the secrets he keeps for a reason. He is trying to protect those around him. Maybe he should do this with all of his secrets in life, for the sake of himself and the sake of his family.
I think Gina makes a good point when she says that Oskar has too much trust in stangers. I also think though, that it is just part of who he is. He is willing to walk up to people he barely knows, or even does not know at all, and tell them secrets. His search for the key has brought him closer to people. At the begining, it seemed that Oskar had a very hard time fitting in with people his age. It makes me think that the search for the key is also a search to find out more about himself. He hopes that this will help him find out more about his fathers death. His curiosity for how his father dies sometimes makes me think that maybe he feels bad about hiding the messages from his mother on the day of 9/11. He wonders if maybe he would have given her the messages, his fathers life could have somehow been saved. I would definitely be interested in hearing others thoughts on this.
Christina's blog, where she mentioned protection and doing things for the sake of others, got me thinking on a deeper level of the connection between protection and secrets. She said, "Almost every secret kept is in order to protect someone else."
Oskar goes around to all the Blacks in the neighborhood, freely sharing everything there is about the lock. However, during this search he is not protecting himself. He is talking to strangers and constantly going places alone (before and after Black). His mother was not told of the search for the lock, but knew anyways. And where he was not providing protection from himself, she was secretly providing the protection for him.
I know this may seem redundant of the other posts, but I just wanted emphasize the irony in the situation here, and how much protection and the secrets are tied together. I feel like I haven't simply repeat things that have already been said... I hope that I'm right.
Many of the suggested reasons as to why Oskar has kept the secret of his dad's messages from his mother are that he wanted to protect her from pain or their relationship. But perhaps another option is that Oskar wanted to prove a point to her. He constantly tells his mother she should be sad remembering dad and until they have offically moved on, they can't be happy. Maybe because Oskar's mom- as she should- began to move on with her life, he doesn't think she will hear the messages and react the way he thinks she should. It is almost like his punishment for being happy without dad. I think this could be true because Oskar is very set in his ways. He only does certain things and knows exactly what he likes and doesn't. So because his mind is so made up about how his mom should be acting, he doesn't want to give her something that won't matter as much as he thinks it should.
I disagree with what Alyssa R says, "that Oskar has too much trust in strangers." Oskar tells strangers secrets because it is much easier to tell someone you do not know anything you want to but it is really difficult to tell someone your close to something that you have been keeping secrets. The trust is gone if you tell someone that you are close to that you have been keeping secrets from them. Oskar does not want to hurt his mother if he does not have to so he lies to her and does keep secrets from her so she will not be hurt and so she will not have to know things that do not affect her if he finds that they do not affect her. He feels that she does not need to know certain things because he feels that he is protecting her by not telling her these secrets. He also does not want her to worry about him because she already lost his father and she does not want anything to happen to him so she can at least feel like she is saving him from death and any harm that may come his way. She just wants to keep what she can hold onto of what is left of her family. Oskar keeps secrets from his mother for those very reasons so she will not worry and so she can feel as though she is holding onto the part of her family that she has left.
I'm sorry my name didn't come up correctly on my last post. Instead of "Rae N P" it became only "Rae."
Whoops..
Like Katrina P., I also disagree with Alyssa R. I do not believe that Oskar has too much trust in strangers. He is a little boy, and little boys do not tend to trust strangers as much as Oskar does. Perhaps that is why Alyssa feels that it is wrong for him to have that much trust in people that he doesn’t know. I feel that Oskar is a very trusting person and he believes that everyone has a good side to them. Because he divulges his secrets to what he thinks are complete strangers, he ultimately just shows that he wants everything to be out in the open. This means he is more trustworthy than normal people. I don’t believe that Oskar has too much trust in strangers; I believe that the general public might believe this because we have been taught not to trust anyone in the society.
Cristina W. said, “in Oskar's case, holding his thoughts in does not seem to work.” I don’t really think that Oskar holds in his thoughts as much as everyone thinks that he does. He just chooses to share them in a different way. Either he only tells people who he thinks can help him find a solution or he tells people he knows he will never see again. He holds in his feelings when it comes to his family. That is the main reason why he has outbursts and yells at people. When he doesn’t actually yell at people, he thinks about it in his mind and then realizes that if he had said that he would have gotten in trouble. For example, when Oskar is at his play and things are not going his way he talks about hitting Jimmy and rants about his mother and his father. This is his way of getting it out—pretending. He says, “I keep smashing the skull against his skull, which is also Ron’s skull (for letting Mom get on with life), and Mom’s skull (for getting on with life), and Dad’s skull (for dying), and Grandma’s skull (for embarrassing me so much), and Dr. Fein’s skull (for asking if any good could come out of Dad’s death), and the skulls of everyone else I know” (146). By holding it in, he gets out his feelings while still remaining civil and polite and not savage to the people around him.
I agree with Demitra A when she says that Oskar keeps his secrets so he can keep the same conection between him and his father. Although i think Oskar keeps his key and adventures a secret because it is his way of mourning his father's death. By keeping himself occupied in these task's he believe's his father left him, Oskar keeps his sadness and desperate longing for his father hidden. Oskar gains a permanent connection with his dad through this quest. Even with all the secrets he keeps I think Oskar isn't the main person hidding things in the story. Oskar's grandmother is just as much at fault, because of her hidding the fact Oskar's grandfather is actually the renter. By doing this she feels she is protecting herself and Oskar. Oskar's grandma gains security for herself by thinking she is protecting herself from falling for Oskar's grandfather again. By letting his grandfather return, she is losing all the independance and strength she has grown after he left.
All the secrets and the complicated quests in this novel make it a typical mystery but it is also very different in its own way too. The fact that Oskar has uncovered a secret key and a mission to go along with it set up the usual mystery outline. Foer's style of writing in which he jumps from Oskar's view to letters to his father from his grandfather, make the mystery storyline more conventional and complicated to the reader. I disagree with Nathan S when he says this is a typical mystery because it is every bit of being both typical and unconventional.
Many of the posts above are saying it’s bad for Oskar to have so many thoughts and secrets that he keeps to himself. I think that it’s okay for not only Oskar, but for everyone to have secrets and thoughts that are for only themselves to know. There are going to be some things that people want to keep to themselves and other things that they want to share with other people. However, it’s not always healthy to keep all emotions and thoughts inside because eventually, you will, in some way, “explode.” As long as a person somehow expresses themselves, then everything is all right. Many people share these emotions by talking, painting, or even through singing. The way Oskar expresses himself is by “inventing,” or in other words, pretending. I agree with Casey R W when she states, “I don’t really think that Oskar holds in his thoughts as much as everyone thinks that he does. He just chooses to share them in a different way.” Oskar is not your average nine year old, and because of this, he expresses his emotions and thoughts in ways our society would call unusual. He speaks French, adds photos into his “Stuff That Happened to Me” book, and invents in his head.
I like how Kasey and Rebecca stated that Oskar expresses his secrets and feelings through his invention. He is always inventing things. He would rather invent something than talk to someone about how he feels.
I believe secrets are unhealthy to keep inside of you. They will eat you up inside. But when they are expressed the body is cleansed up. Maybe this is why Oskar has so many issues. He has so many secrets boiling up inside him, which cause him to take drastic actions about everything. These secrets just eat him up.
In response to the comment made by Aleshae, I would like to know how to express, "secrets that are unhealthy to keep inside of you", especially when a secret is something that is not meant to be told. Although I agree that it is not necessarily a healthy thing to keep secrets bottled up because, as Rebecca states you will "explode”, I am confused at how you tell the secrets that are well, secrets. The Encarta Dictionary defines the word secret as, “known by only a few people and intentionally withheld from general knowledge”. In order to expose secrets from within you, you have to tell them to others and a majority of the time that means exposing them as general knowledge. In order to avoid “exploding” or telling them to the wrong people, their would have to be no secrets at all. In my opinion, I do not personally ever want to know everyone’s secrets. As Rebecca mentioned, “it’s okay for not only Oskar, but for everyone to have secrets and thoughts that are for only themselves to know”. This is true when we have personal secrets because it is ok to tell those around you or you can choose to tell no one because it is a personal choice. However, what puzzles me are those secrets that are not ours to share. We cannot tell others if we want to respect those people but on the other hand, it is unhealthy to keep secrets. Maybe it is easier to just have your own secrets in that case. Everyone keeps everything to himself or herself. That is of course until someone breaks and leaks out a secret.
Foer explores the benefits of revelaed secrets when he shows us the potential Oskar has when he has resolved the mystery of his father's death. Oskar is continually weighted down with heavy boots because not knowing how his father died is preventing Oskar from healing. Oskar says to the renter, "I want to stop inventing. If I could know how he died, exactly how he died, I wouldn't have to invent him dying inside an elevator" (257). All of this not knowing makes Oskar fear that he will die in an elevator like he invents what happened to his dad. This may be why he distances himself from his family because he does not like to be compared to his dad or his grandpa who are not apart of his life anymore. His father's death lingers on him the most because it's the one that has no answer. This bothers him the most because "Oskar wants one answer and reason for everything" (Courtney W: July 7). He does not like it when others know the answer for his questions because he says,"It makes me incredibly angry that people all over the world can know things that I can't, because it happened here, and happened to me, so shouldn't it be mine?" (256). Secrets are unfair to him here because it's his father and his life that was/is impacted by the tragedy; he wants the answers that others may be hiding about his father's death because they are beneficial to him. If Oskar were to see evidence of his father's death like a video, an interview with someone who saw him that day, or even a body would benefit young Oskar because he would be closer to ending the mystery and allow Oskar to finally start healing.
I have not finished the book yet, but to me it seems like Foer breaks the rules of a traditional mystery novel because finding the lock and solving how Thomas died seem very unlikely of happening.
Oskar is the keeper of secrets, but also the one who knows nothing about his parents past. Oskar withholds information from many people, especially the people he is close to. I've noticed that Oskar usually tells lies to his mother, grandmother and Stan. On his search for the mysterious lock, he doesn't restrain from telling people about his dad’s death, and the true meaning of why he is searching for his dads lock. He tells them straight out, what he wants, why he is there, and how he got to that point.
Oskar's mom is perhaps the one who was the most dishonest. She lied to him about the fact that she had heard from his dad the day 9/11 happened, and that she knew he would die. She also lied to him about the fact that she knew exactly where he was going each day. There are several gains from this, and several mistakes in her decision. One of her main mistakes was that she basically broke Oskar's trust, because he thought she did not care about him, and where he was going. One thing she gained from lying to Oskar is that she understood her son more, and somewhat understood how his mind thought. Though Oskar did not see it, she understood him on some level.
Foer has broken off from the original mystery plots by making the mystery itself uncomprehending. Most mysteries are simple, but this novel is different from any other because of its lack of understanding. This mystery book is the tale of a boy trying to find a lock, but when you look closer the real mystery is an incredible boy who is in the process of finding out who he is, and how he can bring his fathers memory back to life.
Another crucial secret kept from Oskar in the novel is by Abby Black when he asks her about the key. She tells him that she doesn't know what it goes to, but what she doesn't tell him is that her husband knows what it's for. The first time he goes to visit Mrs. Abby Black, he walks into her appartment and they talk about E.S.P. and elephants, the key, and all manners of other such things. Throughout his first visit (Pages 92 to 99), her husband was yelling at her "extremely loudly, like he was desperate" for this and that, but she ignored him. She didn't tell Oskar about the key and the lock then because she was angry with her husband and wanted nothing to do with him. On page 96 it reads, "Someone came to the door of the kitchen who I guessed was the man that had been calling from the other room. He just stuck his head in extremely quickly, said something I didn't understand, and walked away. Abby pretended to ignore it, but I didn't. 'Who was that?' 'My husband.' 'Does he need something?' 'I don't care.' 'Bute he's your husband, and I think he needs something.' She cried more tears." This shows us that she doesn't want a whole lot to do with her husband and she feels bad about it.
They talk some more about elephants and Oskar's Dad and Oskar leaves to interrogate more of the Blacks. He goes through a lot of people who know nothing about the key and doesn't even know that he's already met the Mrs.Black he needs to talk to. On page 288, Abby decides to tell Oskar what she really knows. "I pressed the message play button, which I hadn't done since the worst day, and that was on the old phone. Message one. 'Saturday, 11:52 am. Hi, this is a message for Oskar Schell. Oskar, this is Abby Black. You were just over at my apartment asking about the key. I wasn't completely honest with you, and I think I might be able to help. Please give-' And then the message was cut off." Oskar goes back to visit Abby Black in the narrowest house in New York. On the next page [290] the book goes on to read, "She said, 'I've thought about you a lot.' I said, 'Your message.' 'From months ago?' 'How weren't you honest with me?' 'I told you I didn't know anything about the key.' 'But you did?' 'Yes. Well, no. I don't. My husband does.' 'Why didn't you tell me when we met?' 'I couldn't.' 'Why not?' 'I just couldn't.' 'That's not a real answer.' 'My husband and I had been having a terrible fight.' 'He was my dad!' 'He was my husband.' 'He was murdered!' 'I wanted to hurt him.' 'Why?' 'Because he had hurt me.'" Abby didn't tell Oskar about her husband because she wanted him to suffer and struggle and not find what he was looking for.
Due to this very important secret in the book, Oskar loses his destination for a while and he wastes a bunch of time interrogating the wrong Blacks. However, Oskar also gains self-knowledge from the secret. He goes out and meets Mr.Black and the two help eachother out and they try new things that they were afraid to do before. Oskar meets his grandpa (though he doesn't realize it). He meets many new people and learns a lot about life and the world. So things are lost because of the secret, but a lot of things are gained in its place.
Adding onto what I said earlier this morning about Mrs. Abby Black and Oskar. Oskar had a feeling that Abby knew more than she was telling, but he didn't say anything about it. On page 91 when Oskar first approaches her door, he asks her in the third paragraph, "'Did you know Thomas Schell?' "Excuse me?' "Did you know Thomas Schell?' She thought. I wondered why she had to think. 'No.' "are you sure?' 'Yes.' There was something unsure about the way she said she was sure, which made me think that maybe she was keeping some sort of secret from me. So what would that secret be? I handed her the envelope and said, 'Does this mean anything to you?' She looked at it for a while. 'I don't think so. Should it?' 'Only if it does,' I told her. 'It doesn't,' she told me. I didn't believe her."
They talk some more about dust and elephants and so forth and Oskar returns to his main question on page 97. "I asked, 'Are you sure you didn't know Thomas Schell?' She said, 'I didn't know Thomas Schell,' but for some reason I still didn't believe her...I kept thinking there was something she wasn't telling me. I showed her the little envelope again. 'But this is your last name, right?' She looked at the writing, and I could see that she recognized something about it. Or I thought I could see it."
Oskar knows that she's hiding something from him, but doesn't accuse her or shout it out. He allows her to lie to him.
Again, there is a lot lost and gained from this lie. Oskar gains self-knowledge and gets closer to his father, but in return, he doesn't find the lock until the end of the book, which is months and months later.
The interesting thing about the mystery in this story is how it comes full-circle. As said before, Oskar knew something was suspicious about Abby Black and in the end the mystery is solved with her ex-husband having the 'lock for the key' (295).
I guess this can show that detectives must be through when investigating a crime scene, because one missed piece of evidence could land an innocent person in jail. By missing Abby Black's husband by one room, Oskar was forced to continue his search for eight more months. Although he didn't get anymore clues for his case during this time, he found many kind people to confort him and he was more and more at ease with his fathers death. Of course, it would not have been much of a story if the search had ended with Abby.
The idea Jaclyn S V stated with the crime scene would make this story a very intriguing thing to read, but I do not really agree entirely with this thought. Oskar is not looking for the “bad guy” who killed his father, but more so trying to find himself. This adventure is a thing Oskar needs to do to overcome the depression his father’s death has brought him. Yes, Oskar did miss a crucial part of his puzzle when he missed Mr. Black. If “Oskar knew something was suspicious about Abby Black,” then why didn’t he do anything about it? If he really wanted to end his journey here, wouldn’t he have inquired further? I believe Oskar knew something was wrong, but his subconscious took over and made him continue on this life changing journey. With the help of the secrets he shared and the people he met, Oskar grew up.
The secrets he publicizes to many connect with the feelings he experiences. Oskar tells his secrets to everyone he meets because he feels the need to connect. To connect one must give something the person can latch on to (in Oskar’s case it becomes his life secrets). On page 130 Oskar’s grandmother says something that greatly relates to Oskar’s life. “Aren’t my life and my feelings the same thing?” To Oskar, life’s secrets are no more than feelings. He experiences them everyday non-stop. To share them is no more than saying how happy the good weather makes him. Secrets and feelings become the same thing in Oskar’s mind and therefore secrets help him understand the feelings he experiences. He becomes a new person every time he shares another secret. Oskar changes himself and everyone around him because of the secret life he shares with the world.
A secret is simply knowledge that one does not possess while another does. This would make Oskar, who is very curious, someone who searches for knowledge, or with interpretable possibility, secrets. Because Oskar does not know precisely who the key (and therefore the envelope) belongs to, it is a secret. It is this secret of the envelope that drives Oskar as well as the possibility that whoever owns the envelope knew his father, and an even smaller possibility that that someone miraculously knows how his father died; Oskar's self-appointed goal.
In reality, if the term can be applied to fiction, the reader knows that Oskar is not divinely required to discover the owner of the envelope or life-bound to the discovery of his father's mode of death. It is simply the search for answers; the journey to a variable destination that propels Oskar through life. He requires that secret, and the search for it, in order to "survive" the trauma of his father's death. And when Oskar finally resolves the owner of the envelope and key, and his propellant is consumed, Oskar is relieved from his quest, and suffers nothing worse than attachment from that resolution.
I don't entirely agree with gina h w about the thought that Oskar is on his quest to find the key so he can grow up and that he does it because it is a life changing event. I believe he does not want the quest to end because he feels it is the last scavenger hunt his dad sent him on.
I believe the reason Oskar didn't inquire further from Abby Black even though he knew something was wrong is because a part of him never wanted the scavenger hunt to end. On page (52) Oskar says, "Every time I left our apartment to go searching for the lock, I became a little lighter, because I was getting closer to dad." This shows that Oskar thinks that his dad left this scavenger hunt for him and getting closer to the answer could show Oskar something about his dad such as a secret message. I don't think he could have known when he was doing the scavenger hunt that he was growing up and maturing because on page (290) when he meets Abby he says, "Do you remember me?" "Of course I do Oskar. You've grown.""I have?""A lot. Inches.""I've been so busy searching I haven't measured myself." This shows that he hasn't been paying attention to how much he's grown. It also shows that he wasn't on the quest to see how he's grown and matured but really was on it for the scavenger hunt.
I like the way that Micheal C explained why Oskar kept going on his scavenger hunt even though he knew that there was something wrong with Abby Black. The secret that his dad left him helps him feel like he is his still close to his dad when he is searching for it. So even though he would like to stay, he keeps going on the hunt to find the lock to the key.
I would also like to point out that Oskar has matured mentally throughout this process along with physically. When he goes to viset Abby Black for the second time, she mentions kissing him again and he says that it probably wouldnt be a good idea. Unlike before when he was the one who had originally suggusted it. I think that this huge secret that Oskar's dad left helped him mature because it made him realize that his dad was gone and this matures his mindset.
I agree completely with Ethan G when he states “This would make Oskar, who is very curious, someone who searches for knowledge, or with interpretable possibility, secrets.” The key is just a big secret that Oskar feels the need to know about. Whether the reason is because it has to do with his father who has passed or just because of Oskar’s predictable curiosity, it was still just because he had to know the “secret.” Honestly I think that he still just wanted to know how his father died, and he felt like he owed it to his father. He still felt guilty for never answering the phone the day that his father died. On page 302 Oskar asks Mr. Black, “‘Do you forgive me?’ ‘Do I forgive you?’ ‘Yeah’ ‘For not being able to pick up?’ ‘For not being able to tell anyone.’ He said, ‘I do.’ I took the string around my neck and put it around his neck.” That I think is the kind of closure that Oskar needed to hear. By Mr. Black saying that he could forgive Oskar, I think that made him feel as though his father had not died angry at him, even though we all know that this was not the case. But Oskar, being naïve needed some kind of assurance and some kind of closure.
I think everybody knows that Abby Black's secret was very crucial to the story. But there was another secret that changed the book completely and that is the one of Oskar's grandfather. For most of the story, I thought that he had just walked out on Oskar's grandma, and that nothing was to come of the character. This was until the turning point (pages 236-7) when Oskar meets his Grandma's "realtor." When they meet Oskar notices the man's features that were most like his father's, and he takes note of the similarities. When Oskar and the grandfather are talking, the grandfather tells Oskar to not mention to his grandma that they had met. This is because he did not want Grandma's secret to be revealed. Althought this secret is not as big in the story as Abby Black's, the story would have been much different knowing the Oskar's grandfather was alive, and still living with his grandma.
To Oskar, solving the mystery is is what will bring him happiness. He says, "Friday was also boring, expect that it was Friday, which meant it was almost Saturday, which meant I was that much closer to the lock, which was happines" (207). It is almost as if the key is the key to happiness. I think that finding the lock will bring him happiness because it will bring him closer to his dad. Since Oskar and his father had a strong bond, it is important to him that he has something to remember him by. The key is a secret that both Oskar and his father share. Nicole C make a good point when she says, "The secret that his dad left him helps him feel like he is his still close to his dad when he is searching for it." Although his father is gone, he can still be close to him. Because of the secret that they share, Oskar is able to feel his father presence even though he is dead. The key is a secret that unites them.
I agree with what Gabriela D says about the key uniting Oskar and his dad. As Oskar says at some point in the story, it is like his last scavenger hunt whith his dad since their previous one was interrupted. Once Oskar finds the lock, the secret that is so important to him is revealed. However, it seems like Oskar doesn't want to unveil this secert because it is the last thing that ties him to his dad. This was proven when, at the end, he was happy he found the keys meaning, but had "heavy boots" because his search was over.
Ethan G. hit it right on when he said "Because Oskar does not know precisely who the key (and therefore the envelope) belongs to, it is a secret". The key is the one thing standing between Oskar and the answers he needs to be satisfied in his quest. Besides the thing that it unlocks, it also unlocks the past of Oskar's father. Oskar goes on his whole journey around New York City to find the owner of the key, but more importantly, the key's connection to his father. However, in order to do this, Oskar must create some space between him and his mother. So he creates all sorts of lies, all the while growing more and more distant from his mother. But, as he says on page 52, "The lock was between me and Dad." So Oskar continues on his search, telling his secrets to strangers so that they might help him, but only telling them enough that he might find a logical connection between his father and the key.
As many people have stated secrets have been kept between each of the family members. Secrets kept from oskar by his grandmother, grandfather, and mother. Secrets from Oskars grandmother and mother by Oskar, and son on and so forth. But the thing that no one noticed much was the fact that at the end of the book each secret that was kept was somehow revealed, except for the secret of the messages from Oskars dad, but those would come up in time. At the end of the book Oskar knows his grandma, he has the letters from his grandma I believe? He figures out what his mom knows about the secret he thought he was keeping. The main secrets were out and in the end everything that was infuriating or confusing made sense. Like when Oskar wonders if his mom loves him or if she even cares, when really she was with him the whole way through. I think the ironic thing Oskar is that he is keeping a lot of secrets, but wants to be just like his dad, "Dad loved the truth"(321).
I agree with Katelyn that all the secrets in the book were somehow revealed by the end. Even small secrets. Throughout the book we would continually read a letter from Stephen Hawking which was his copy of the same letter over and over again and I always wondered if Mr. Hawking would ever write Oskar. Secret revealed on pages 304-305.And the larger secrets are also obviously revealed. Oskar always pondered if the renter was real and he was and he is Oskars grandfather, Oskar keeping the key from his mother when she knew all along. I'am a little upset that most were answered though I think books that leave even something small hanging are more enjoyable.
Curtis W. made a great point about the key being the one thing standing between Oskar and the answers he needs. He turns New York City upside down just to find out what this one thing means, and how it connects to his father. While trying to figure all this out, he is uncovering more and more secrets on his journey. The book flips back and forth betwenn Oskar and his grandfathers letters, and it is trying to help the reader figure out the things you need to know. Oskar searches and searches and it never stops. He even has to keep secrets from his mother about it (even though she knows about it anyway). The whole book is one big secret, Oskar's life is one big secret, and it doesn't stop until the end of the book.
I found the end of the book fairly ironic because just as Katelyn H said "all the secrets were revealed". The most ironic though was the fact that oskars mom knew all about his quest from the very start and was even secrtly helping him by calling every person before he even got there(pg.291). Then it turns out that Oskars dad called his mom the day of the inncedent and told her he was fine and got out of the building which was of course a lie(pg.324). I thought it unfair that after his mom told him that Oskar didnt let her listen to or even know about the messages his father had left on the home phone. I guess I felt kind of sorry for the mother because it seemed like throughout the entire book all the people she loved were trying to keep a secret from her, the dad saying that he was fine and was walking home, Oskar with the key AND the messages on the phone, and then the grandmother never told her about the renter and that he was actually Oscars grandfather. In the book i dont think it ever tells you how Oskar found out the renter was his grandfather so in that i disagree with Connor D that books are better with cliffhangers because they always just annoy me.
Katelym H brings up a good point when she says, " At the end of the book each secret that was kept was somehow revealed." This is true becuase in the end all the the secrets that were being kept by each family member in order to protect each other, where revealed. As Ashley L has mentioned,"What Oskar and his mom don't realize about keeping secrets is that secrets will slowly destroy their relationship and soon they won't even know eachother anymore, this process is already starting to happen." In the beggining, the secrets were hurting Oskars relationship with his mother. When Oskar began keeping secrets from his mother, he become more distant from her. He wanted his mother, as well as his grandmother, to have nothing to do with the key and his quest to find the lock. But in the end, when the secrets where revealed, everyone became much closer. When Oskar tells his grandfather about the messages, he feels much closer to Oskar. He says, "I told him if he ever wanted to talk ,he could throw pebbles at the guest room window and I would come down to meet him" (281). There is more trust between Oskar and his grandfater. Even Oskar and his mother become closer when the secrets were revealed. In the end, his mohter tells Oskar about the phone calls she got from his father(324) and both start to open up more. Oskar even realizes that its ok if his mother starts to fall in love again and for her to be happpy. He realizes that there is nothing wrong with moving on.
Sometimes kids have a hard time opening up to their parents or friends about their problems. Eventually with all of the buildup and stress they can 'explode'. This is why it always feels good to get something off of your chest, just like Oskar indirectly did by speaking with his mom and letting go of her relationship with Ron.
Another thing that can sometimes hurt is telling lies. Oskar never tells lies when his father is alive, but once he starts his quest for the lock, they start to add up. Oskar even begins to number the lies and feels bad about every one of them. At the end when all of the truths are revealed and the secrets solved, there is no longer any need for lying and Oskar's 'heavy boots' are lifted. As quoted from Katlyn H, "...the ironic thing [about] Oskar is that he is keeping a lot of secrets, but wants to be just like his dad, "'Dad loved the truth'"(321)."
I disagree with what Jaclyn s p said about “At the end when all of the truths are revealed and the secrets solved, there is no longer any need for lying and Oskar's 'heavy boots' are lifted.” I don’t believe that lying is what caused his ‘heavy boots’ but more of all the terrible things that happen in the world and in his life. His dad’s death caused his ‘heavy boots’. The lying and secrecy is just a side effect. At the end Oskar accepts his dad’s death therefore his boots are lifted. That was the purpose of the trip to the coffin, so that Oskar could accept and move on with his life rather than be dragged down backwards by the heavy boots. He no longer has his boots because he accepted, not because he doesn’t need to lie anymore.
This is a mystery novel, even if not the more tradition ones. So like most mystery novels it reveals most if not all of the secrets that have been present through the whole book at the end. That could be what causes the thought that, Oskar’s ‘heavy boots’ came from all the lies and secrecy throughout the novel.
Nathan S P said, "That was the purpose of the trip to the coffin, so that Oskar could accept and move on with his life rather than be dragged down backwards by the heavy boots. He no longer has his boots because he accepted, not because he doesn’t need to lie anymore". I agree with this statement and would like to add that he digs up the coffin, not only for himself, but also for his dad in a way. “And then I wanted her to tell me that Dad still would have been proud of me”(324). I think he tries to show his dad that all the lies were for something good. When Oskar finally knows the real truth I think he imagines his dad being proud of him, “Because it's the truth and dad loved the truth”(321). Even though digging up the coffin did give him lighter boots that was not his sole purpose for going to dig it up. In the end, I am not completely sure if he ever even got rid of his boots. Although the real truth has entered his mind about how his father is dead, he still will always have the weight of the lies and the weight of all the secrets he has kept. He never actually tells his mom about the message even though he wants to. For Oskar's boots to be completely taken off he would have to let go of everything. The book ends with Oskar wishing things would have been different. This tells me that he will always wear boots. They may not always be as heavy as they were until he realized the truth but they will be there, dragging him down at points, invisible at points, but always there. Just as those secrets and lies can never be untold.
The past few posts have been about Oskar going and digging up the coffin at the end of the book. I see this as an end to his journey and to some what tie up all the loose ends. Oskar is desperatly trying to stay close to his father, even though he is dead, and in doing this he has told countless lies and kept many many secrets. What i found interesting, was that when Oskar and his grandfather get to the coffin, Oskar isn't sure what they are gonig to do after they dig it up, but his grandfather already has something planned. He burries his secrets deep within the ground with his son. Oskar doesn't have anymore secrets either because he now knows that his mother has known about his trips around the city all along. So digging up the coffin is a really good way just to tie up all the loose ends and be done with all the secrets.
The quest to dig up the coffin was meant to help Oskar finally accept his father's death. Although I don't believe Oskar does not have anymore secrets as Corrie S stated.
He still carries the heavy burden of the desperate phone messages from his dad. In order to complete relieve himself from his burden it is obvious he needs to tell his mother.
Holding it inside is only hurting him. He's worried that his mom will blame him for not answering and he's built it up so high in his mind that he puts guilt on himself. Relieving his burden once and for all is the final step to recovery.
Cicily C brings up a valid point stating that oskar needs to reveal the messages to his mother. I agree with this statement but i believe that there is more too it. I think that after he shows the messages to his mother he needs to get rid of the message machine. If he holds on to it i dont think that Oskar will ever be able to accept his fathers deatch. The message machine at the bottom of his closet will always be there to remind him of his father and the fact he didnt answer the calls. With this hanging over his head he will always feel guilt and it will only cause more pain. In order to completely accept his fathers death he needs to show his family, and let go.
I completely agree with what Garret E said eariler about the message machine. " In order to completely accept his father's death he needs to show his family, [the machine] and let go." This is true because by holding onto it he is holding on to his father's memory and voice, but it is also holding him back from moving on.
In response to what Nathan S said about my earlier post, I didn't mean to make it sound like only the lying was hurting Oskar. There is definitely more to the 'heavy boots' he carries. Lying is just a part of it that wont go away unless he apologises or makes up for his secrecy in some way. It is true, however, that his being accepted at the end really helps to pull those boots off.
Everyone in this book has secrets;Oskar, his Mom, his Grandmother, his dad, and even his grandfather. Secrets are the main key to the entire book/story. Oskar keeps secrets from everyone for a few reasons, to get closer to his dad, protect people, and for his own good. When Oskar is trying to find out where the key goes, he doesn't tell anyone, not even his grandmother.
His Grandmother has many secrets. Half of the book she's talking about "the renter", and Oskar just thinks that the renter is an imaginary friend, and I haven't finished the book yet but I'm pretty sure that there's more to it than just an imaginary friend. One afternoon Oskar goes over to visit his grandmother and he says, "But there's someone in the apartment. Maybe it's the renter?" "No," the grandma says [page 106]. She never lets anyone in or let's anyone know whats going on, but I think she feels she needs to keep quiet about someone for everyone else's sake.
After reading Ali C's post, I began to think that Oskar and his Grandmother are similar in their motives for secret keeping. Oskar keeps secrets to protect his family and I think in a way protect himself. I think for him, the minute he admits something it becomes even more real. If he were to show his mother the messages it would be another constant reminder that he didn't answer the phone. For his grandmother, I think the renter is the equivalent of the answering machine. Why does she always refer to him as "the renter"? Why not Thomas or your grandfather? She's not going to refer to him as "your grandfather" for fear of giving Oskar heavy boots. Oskar won't let his mom hear the messages because it would [most likely] upset her.
Oskar and his grandmother are both trying to be the heroes and the protectors by keeping these secrets.
Ali c talks about Oskar’s grandmother keeping the ‘renter’ a secret “for everyone else’s sake.” I both agree with this statement as well as disagree. I believe she needs to keep it a secret from everyone because bringing a long lost grandfather into their lives at this point could potentially hurt their family. So much has happened in their family that bringing a new member in, especially the father to Oskar’s dad could cause unease because he left the family and now reappears after his son is dead.
I disagree with the statement as well though because, I believe that the grandmother doesn’t keep the secret for everyone else’s sake as much as she keeps it for her sake. I believe she feels ashamed; she is ashamed that her husband loved her sister more than he loved her. “We made love in nothing places and turned off the lights. It felt like crying. We could not look at each other…And I knew he wasn’t thinking of me.” (pg.177)
She kept the renter a secret because she is ashamed of being married to a man who cannot love her.
In this novel the only secret is the truth. Like what Ethan G wrote, “A secret is simply knowledge that one does not possess while another does.” That makes me wonder about how Oskar keeps his secrets from his mom and others and why he does that. Does he want them to not know the knowledge of something that he knows to keep them from getting hurt because of the truth? Does the key that Oskar carry hold the real truth about his father and how he died or is it only the secret that’s keeping Oskar close to him? Well in the end Oskar finds out the true meaning of the key that he holds on to deeply. It belongs to someone other than his dad. That is the true secret behind the key and how Oskar only held on to the past because of his father and how Oskar wanted to see his father once more.
In this novel the only secret is the truth. Like what Ethan G wrote, “A secret is simply knowledge that one does not possess while another does.” That makes me wonder about how Oskar keeps his secrets from his mom and others and why he does that. Does he want them to not know the knowledge of something that he knows to keep them from getting hurt because of the truth? Does the key that Oskar carry hold the real truth about his father and how he died or is it only the secret that’s keeping Oskar close to him? Well in the end Oskar finds out the true meaning of the key that he holds on to deeply. It belongs to someone other than his dad. That is the true secret behind the key and how Oskar only held on to the past because of his father and how Oskar wanted to see his father once more.
I like the way that Nathan S P explained how the secret of Oskar's grandfather can be good yet also bad at the same time.
It is a good thing that Oskar's grandmother is hiding that her husband is back because she completly removed him from her life. She even changed her last name back to her maiden name. Also, I think that Oskar wouldnt react very good to a person he doesnt know living with his grandmother. That is just the way that Oskar thinks.
On another note, this secret is also a bad thing. She is lying to all of her family that she cares about so much. Also, she is lying to herself. Nathan S said,"I believe she feels ashamed; she is ashamed that her husband loved her sister more than he loved her." I agree because she loves him but cant embrace the fact that he will always love her sister more.
This is why she slouldnt be keeping her husband a secret, but she does have good reason too.
When he left to interview the Blacks, Oskar was always upset because he felt that his mom did not care about him enough to ask where he was going. His mom secretly knew about what her son was up to, but let Oskar have the freedom to do what he needed while still protecting him. Once the secret becomes known to Oskar, his boots become lighter because he knows that his mom cares for him. This is a relief to Oskar because in the beginning, he says,"I could tell that she didn't really love me. I knew the truth, which was that if she could have chosen, it would have been my funeral we were driving to" (6). I think it could have been different for those two during those past eight months because Oskar would have known that his mother was with him through his journey. I wonder if it would have been different during that time if his Oskar knew that his mom cared.
If this wasn't kept a secret, Oskar would not have felt so alone.
I disagree with what Haley S says. I believe that going on his journey alone is what brought him closer to his father. If he would have known that his mother was with him, or knew what he was up to, then he might have felt that this wasn’t his journey. This adventure was meant for Oskar and Oskar only. If his mother would have told him she knew everything, then Oskar might not have wanted to finish the quest. So I think in this case that the secret helped Oskar.
Another note, is when Oskar’s mother tells the truth and unravels the secret of talking to Oskar’s father on 911, “Dad called me from the building that day” (324) this is when the biggest secret comes out. While she is telling the truth to Oskar she starts to cry and we see like a sort of confession, which is kind or ironic because Oskar says he is an Atheist. Another confession that is shown at the end of the book is when Oskar, his mother, and Ron are eating dinner. Ron explains his “life story” of how his family died in a car accident. I believe this is when Oskar starts to realize that he is not the only one to have lost a loved one, especially after Ron says, “I cry all the time” (315). It is after this point that Oskar feels like he is not alone and that others want to help him.
Real quick, I have had my name as Demitra A P for the past blogs, sorry i just caught that today. I changed it, now it is correct
Oskar keeps secrets and things from his mother because it seems that it is the only way he keeps the bond with his father still there. Oskar does not tell his mother about the answering machine or going to find people with the last name Black because though his father is dead he seems to still want to solve his puzzles.
Though Oskar does not show it outwardly, keeping the secret from his mother shows that he still is grieving his father. It seems that it will take a while until Oskar accepts what had happened and lives normally.
Courtney W W makes a good point when she says "Although this book is full of secrets, it appears that Oskar does not really like secrets. Oskar wants one answer and reason for everything." It is very true, although Oskar also has some secrets of his own, the messages from his father for example. He has not had his mother listen to those yet, but i have not finished so there could still be a chance he tells his mother. Back to the point Courtney W brought up, how Oskar does not like secrets is as Courtney said again, he needs answers for everything no matter what it means from searching every black in New York to getting simple facts out of his mom about Ron. Also getting facts out of other people. Oskar just like to solve mysteries. For instance when his dad was alive his dad used to have him to all of those scavenger hunts, because his dad knew no matter how hard he made it Oskar would keep going because he could not let this mystery go unsolved.
One point that Vanessa G makes made me think. She started talking about all the scavenger hunts that Oskar was on. I know that this is probably not realistic, but throughout the book, I wondered if there was any way that his father could have somehow put the key there, knowing Oskar would somehow find it, and that would help Oskar to remember him. I know that it seems impossible, but I just wonder if it some how could have happened. If it is possible, his father probably would have been trying to give him something to do to help him deal with the pain. He didn't know that he was going to die, but some people say they have a feeling that something bad will happen, and so they live the rest of their lives to the best of their ability. I know that this sounds crazy, and probably is not true, but I just wanted to put it out there and see if anyone else had any oppinion on it.
Alyssa, I totally agree with what you think. At first I thought the same thing. I think the aspect of the father hiding the key particularly for Oskar is plausable, but barely. Oskar's father could have known how his son would react to anything bad happening to him and by chance decided that the key would be a good way to help him cope. I think there is definitely more to it than we can see. I mean, how could the father have known when Oskar would find the key. If he ever found the key. Maybe he just knew his son was nosy and pusposely hid the key to give Oskar something to occupy himself with. Maybe, being the operative word here. I mean it's a great point you are making, Alyssa, don't get me wrong. It's a shame we'll never really know.
I identify with what Demitra A. W on how she says; “I believe that going on his journey alone is what brought him closer to his father. If he would have known that his mother was with him, or knew what he was up to, then he might have felt that this wasn’t his journey.” I thought that was very interesting thought because if Oskar knew that his mom knew everything that he was up to, would Oskar still go on his journey or would it give Oskar a new way to understand that his mom still cares for him and not just letting him go where ever he wants to go. In the end of the book it reveals a lot of secrets. For example the end tells about his mom getting the call from his father and the story of his grandfather. I also thought getting the letter back from Stephen Hawking saying that he got Oskar’s letters and that he couldn’t hold back writing back to Oskar. “But the more letters you wrote to me, and the more of yourself you gave, the more daunting my task became.” By getting that letter back it reveals that the letters that Oskar sent out were like a cry for help from his heroes.
Alyssa r talked about Oskar’s father hiding the key so that Oskar could find it so that it would help him coup with the pain. My opinion on this thought is that his father didn’t hide the key for Oskar to find, or hide it there so that Oskar could coup with the pain. It is mere coincidence that there is a key in the vase. It was not his father who put it there. When Oskar goes and talks to William Black he learns that the key was William’s fathers. And when his father died he gave it to him in a blue vase, and when he had an estate sale he accidentally sold the blue vase that the key was in to Oskar’s father. (pg.299) So Oskar’s father didn’t even know about the key, so he couldn’t have left it there, knowingly, for Oskar to find.
Oskar doesn’t know this though, so he mistakes it for another one of his father’s quests. The key helps him coup with his father’s loss though, because he feels having it connects him with his father. In the end it ends up being ironic that Oskar and William are both looking for what each other has in order to get closer to their fathers. But in Oskar’s case he got close to his father, not because his father left him a key, but because of the quest he goes on. The quest is what also heals Oskar, of the pain he felt, of having to lose his father.
Gabriella makes a good point that MAYBE his father hid the key thinking he would find it, or maybe it wasn't meant for Oskar to find at all. The book has a lot of secrets in it though, like the circling of the newspaper and the scavenger hunts. Another secret is Oskar hiding everything from his mom. But I think the secrets might be connected with each other. After Oskar found the key, he went to the art store and saw his dad's name on everything. It's like that was meant to happen. I wonder if his dad had a secret all along to plan this huge scavenger hunt for Oskar, or if it's just coinsidence.
Jordan B. stated that, "After Oskar found the key, he went to the art store and saw his dad's name on everything. It's like that was meant to happen." I think that was meant to happen. It's not like that's just one big coincidence. Oskar's dad was a very smart and intellegent man, and so was Oskar. He wouldn't leave the key just anywhere when he knows Oskar will find it, and if he really wanted to keep it a secret he would have left it somewhere else where he knew Oskar wouldn't find it. He had to place it in a hard-to-find place, but at the same time make it difficult. I think it was one big mystery for Oskar to solve. What does everyone else think?
I would have to disagree with the previous posts. I believe that Oskar's father did not hide the key there for Oskar. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Schell purchased the blue vase with the key inside it. He was at an estate sale and bought the vase as a gift for his wife. I think he was oblivious to the fact that the key was ever there. Mr. Black explains to Oskar that, “He [Mr.Schell] told me he had an anniversary coming up the next week. He was going to surprise your mom. The vase was perfect, he said. He said she'd love it" (298). This explains why he even acquired the key in the first place. To me it does not make sense as to why, if he found the key in the vase that previously belonged to someone else, he would not return it to him or her as soon as possible. Any courteous person, in my opinion, would have returned it immediately instead of sending their nine-year-old boy out on a scavenger hunt around New York to find its lock. This journey would not be one of importance but rather one of pointlessness. This would be like a homemade daycare where he is sent out so the parents do not have to deal with him for the day. When Oskar discover the hidden key he assumes that it must have belonged to his father because it was in his closet. However, he later discovers that the key never did belong to him but rather to one of the Blacks. Even though the search seemed to be a cleverly thought out plan by Oskar’s father I think it was rather just a key found by a young boy who had to find where it belonged. The way I see it his father would have brought the key back eventually but his trip there would have been meaningless. Oskar’s trip to return the key was full of meaning and self-discovery. Is this fate? I am not sure, but we can all see that Oskar bringing the key back was meant to be- maybe not by his father but certainly meant to be.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is just one epic secret after another. Every character, every event, and every random topic in this story seems to have a secret, all of which tie together at some point or another. This concept becomes fully alive in the chapter "A Simple Solution To An Impossible Problem" (285). When Oskar meets Abby Black for the second time, the puzzle in his mind finally pieces together, "They knew I was coming. Mom had talked to all of them before I had. The whole time. Everyone. Everything. Probably Grandma knew. Probably even the renter. Was the renter even the renter? My search was a play that Mom had written, and she knew the ending when I was at the beginning" (291, 292). The author of the book makes the reader think that Oskar's mother does not keep a close eye on him and care about what he does, but this statement proves that his mother was indeed one step ahead of him everytime. Every character seems to has his or her own secrets. Grandma's secret from Oskar is that he does infact have a grandfather, which Oskar later finds out about on his own. Oskar's mother's secret relationship with Ron is brought up every now and then. "Ron is my friend," Oskar's mother insists everytime Oskar brings him up; however, there appears to be something more than just friends between them (171). One of Oskar's many secrets is his self infliction habit, or giving himself bruises, "If I had been alone, I would have given myself the biggest bruise of my life. I would have turned myself into one big bruise," (295). Oskar's father's secret is the tuxedo that he had planned to wear for the "fancy night out" he had planned with his wife (298). Perhaps the biggest secret of the story is what the key that is so strongly focused on is for. To Oskar's disappointment, it turns out to be the key to Mr. William Black's safe-deposit box, which did not have all that much to do with Oskar's father (298).
The key in this novel is a mystery in itself, but I would have to agree with Cristina W. The key really looks like an accident. However, I do believe that it is hiding something, whether it's just Oskar's father's past, or his own past. He didn't know what he was looking for and his search took him to many places of New York City that he would not have ordinarily gone to. Then the key turned out to be pretty pointless when, Sarah F. states, "To Oskar's disappointment, it turns out to be the key to Mr. William Black's safe-deposit box, which did not have all that much to do with Oskar's father (298)." Oskar is led on a foolish hunt for something that is there but doesn't mean anything to him. But on this search, he did find out things such as his father's tendency to try out many varieties of art supplies. Things like this show Oskar how much he didn't know.
I think that because of Oskar's journey to find the key, Oskar got to know his father better as well as himself. I agree with Cristina W when she says, "Oskar’s trip to return the key was full of meaning and self-discovery." Since the key didn't even belong to his father, it might seem like the whole journey was a waste of time but he actually did closer to his father. Oskar discovered more things he did not know about his father through his journey. He found out that his father really cared about his mother and he wanted to surprise her. Oskar also found out why he purchased the key in the first place. In the end, Oskar matured and realized that he should try to move on and that he should also let his mother move on and be happy. He also realized that he should not be angry at her and that he should not blame her for the death of his father.He says, " I promise I'm going to be better" (323). I think he realized that his father would have wanted him to be happy and move on. I believe that it was fate because if he had not found the key, Oskar would probably still be depressed and mad. Because of the key, Oskar also got closer to his father and he found out more about himself.
All of us at sometime or another have had the experience of sharing a secret with someone. This secret is a very personal tidbit that brings you closer to the person you share it with. There are a number of factors that are present in choosing someone to share a secret with. First you would want to choose someone close to you, someone who could empathise with you. Second, you would want to choose someone you can trust, someone who will keep your secret. By understanding this it is possible to understand Oskar and the stance he takes with the lock. To Oskar the quest for the lock is a secret between his dad and himself, a desperate attempt to become closer to his deceased father. Oskar keeps this secret to himself unless he considers the person he is sharing it with part of the quest, or until the emotions well up inside of him to the point where he "explodes" and everything on his mind spills out. Oskar keeps the secret from his mother because by telling her he would be ruining the secret that keeps him close to his Dad, even though the secret keeps him further away from his Mom. Furthermore, even if Oskar wanted to tell the secret to his mother he feels like his Mom would be incapable of understanding him. He views his Mom seeing Ron as an attempt to forget about his Dad, a stance of which is the polar opposite of what Oskar is trying to attempt.
Obviously the search with the key was the main part of the story. I know it’s been said over and over again but the key is what helped Oskar move on, leave behind his inhibitions and grow as a person. Going back to what Gabriela D said about Oskar’s father wanting him to be happy, I think every parent only wants the best for their child. Oskar’s father would have been so upset if he knew his son had ‘heavy boots’ for practically the entire book. But he would have been so relieved and proud to know that Oskar had conquered some of his fears and followed his intuition with the key. I personally was so glad that Oskar finally had an understanding of how his mom felt. Everyone needs a companion to help them deal with a hard situation like hers. She wanted so badly to just be happy and to have Oskar be accepting of her relationship with Ron.
The way Jeff B described a secret was perfect. It’s understandable why Oskar wouldn’t share his secret with anyone. I mean, until he met Mr. Black, he really had no one at all to trust, and he didn’t think his mom or grandmother would understand. I also think he didn’t want to hurt them because they were so close to his father, and he realized that. I noticed that the two people he tells his story to know absolutely nothing about his father. Although the renter was Oskar’s grandfather, he never had the chance to know his son, since he came back the day after his son died. Bad timing. Or maybe Oskar didn’t share the secret with his mom or grandma because he wanted it to be something special between him and his dad. If I were him, I would have been bursting with excitement about the discovery he made and honestly, I probably would have shared it with anyone willing to listen.
Moving on to a new topic, [and I’m not sure if this has already been addressed] but I was looking at the series of pictures in the last few pages of the book and I noticed that if the building in the picture is supposed to be the World Trade Center, it is upside down. The strip of silver you see in the building slanted the other way when the Twin Towers were standing. This means that the body in the picture actually is falling the right way. Now, I remembered how early on in the book, Oskar invents a skyscraper cemetery that is underground so we don’t run out of room on earth. I was thinking that the skyscraper in the book could be the cemetery he was talking about and his dad is the body falling upwards. It seems that Oskar’s only wish is that his dad could come back to life. I think the series of pictures is illustrating his dad coming up from the skyscraper cemetery, fulfilling Oskar’s wish. Just an idea, and another secret within the book. Let me know if you have any opinions! I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
Alyssa R makes a tremendous point when in her latest blog, because i was thinking the exact same thing about the story. Maybe his father wasn't necessarily thinking about him dying and him leaving that for when he died, but thinking it would take Oskar a while to find that and maybe his father was expecting Oskar to find it later other than sooner. Except Oskar finding it sooner, lead to maybe the thought of his father leaving it for him when he died. It might not be that though also, maybe it has something to do with a property the family has and his dad was maybe waiting for the family to move and surprise them, maybe? But at the beginning of the story, Oskar mentions how his dad had a scavenger hunt for him before he died and he still has yet to finish it, maybe the key has to do with that scavenger hunt and Oskar has not put two pieces together yet, there is a lot of things that key could be, but we won't really find out until we finish the book, hopefully!
After reading many of your comments, I have come to the conclusion that secrets are a plague in this book. There are so many secrets contained within this novel, and each one of them seems to weigh down the secret "keeper." Characters like Oskar and Abby Black feel much better when they are able to get secrets out of their system.
When Oskar visits Abby Black for the first time, he can sense that she is holding back because there was "something unsure about the way she she was sure"(91). The guilt of keeping the secret from Oskar soon gets to her, and she calls him back and leaves a message (which he does not receive for quite some time). The secret is a burden to her, and she feels the need to get it out in the open. It was too late, however, and she ended up having to wait a rather long time to do so.
Oskar seems to get the idea that secrets are negative, and thus he tells all of the Blacks he meets much about his quest. However, he keeps his deepest secret locked away inside of him. He refuses to tell anyone that he received messages from his father on the answering machine, and until he did, he felt sad all of the time. When Oskar confesses to a complete stranger that he did not answer the phone, and that stranger (Mr. Black) was able to "forgive" him for his mistake, Oskar was finally able to move on in his life (302).
In the novel, secrets are everywhere, and anywhere they appear, a troubled person follows along. Perhaps Foer's objective reasoning in the inclusion of secrets is to discourage them altogether.
Extremely Loud presents secrets in order to protect those who would normally suffer from the truth. On the day of the attacks, the father says to his wife that "he was on the street, that he'd gotten out of the building" (324). He told this to his wife so that maybe she wouldn't worry about him and so her mind would not be troubled with the thoughts of him in a burning skyscraper like Oskar pictures all the time. Oskar never heard this for himself because he did not pick up the phone when his dad called. If he had heard that he had gotten out safely then maybe Oskar would not be so afraid of elevators. The grandmother holds onto the secret that her ex-husband is currently living with her so that Oskar would not have to meet the man that abandoned his father. She is afraid that if they were to meet, Oskar would become attached to him and he has a tendency to leave without notice; she does not want Oskar to experience another sudden loss. She is also protecting herself as well because she tells him that Oskar his her grandson and not our grandson; she has no intention of sharing him. Oskar is sheltered by his mother's secret when she does not tell him that she's been calling the Blacks to let them know that her son is going to meet them that day; he would be devastated to know that these people would not tell him any information about his dead father's key. His mom's secret allows him to reach the end of his journey successfully.
Kyle s f says,"perhaps Foer's objective reasoning in the inclusion of secrets is to discourage them altogether". I do not support this because secrets and lies are used to protect people from the truth. Sometimes the truth is more hurtful than a lie. In the end, the truth is revealed, but previous lies keep Oskar satisfied until he figures the truth out for himself.
I feel like this whole big is a big mystery, a lot of little mysteries all built into one. Oskar seems to be a little detective always finding new mysteries to solve. I love this book because it's so much like The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime. It stays interesting because you never really know the truth and when you do, another mystery starts up. I found it hard to even put the book down because it just sucked you in. Although it was hard to follow, I was able to catch up once problems became more in depth. Oskar is good at playing both parts of keeping secrets contained and not knowing of secrets. When he doesn't know the reasoning for something, he is determined to find out. To see such a young boy so determined at something is incredible. I feel like I'm almost there with him when he starts talking about mysteries.
Kyle S. made me wonder as well if Foer's objective of all the secrets is to discourage them altogether. Everytime there is a secret then something bad appears or happens. This does make me curious as though this is another one of Foer's lessons throughout this book. I do think that this novel is another way to get lessons to people but in a mysterious, mind-catching way.
One thing I truly enjoyed about this novel was the lack of control the reader had in trying to figure everything out. By this I mean that there's only so much one could figure out by just reading; there were a few things that i think were impossible to divulge without the necessary information Foer kept hidden from us. Like Kirsten said, I believe that the lack of control could be seen as a lesson or moral that Foer was trying to convey about timing and control. It's possible that Foer was trying to tell the reader that it's ok not to know everything at once and probably a good thing even if we're too inept to figure out why.
Also, the same idea (I think) runs along the veins of the blackening ink and pages of numbers. There is simply no way of knowing what the rest of that letter said, and try as I might, I could not figure out what all the numbers meant. I got so far as "My name is" and little phrases here and there, but for me there was no solid answer; similar to Oskar's quest for the purpose of the key. Nothing seems to work, but of course, maybe it's better that way.
I believe that it is very possible that Foer's use of secrets in this novel may be to discourage them altogether, as Kirsten P said. Secrets do nothing to help Oskar on his quest because they withhold key information that could be beneficial in allowing others to assist him in his ultimate quest. However, secrets are also used in his favor, especially when he is able to find some of his dad's old secrets after he died. This is evidenced mainly when he found his father's name all over the art supplies store. He found that his father was not quite the person that Oskar thought he was for most of his life.
Oskar became an extraordinary secret keeper himself following his father's death. He never mentioned the key to his mother, and never told her where he went when he went to search for its source. He also kept the phone with his father's messages on it a total secret, never telling anyone what it contained or how he reacted when the phone rang on the day his father died for the sixth time. Oskar preferred to work the meanings of these things out on his own rather than having adults interfere. As Kate J said, however, "there was no solid answer" to Oskar's motives. He had reasons, but they didn't all make sense; then again, many things didn't make sense in Oskar's mind. I wonder if the blackening ink Kate mentioned doesn't represent something along the lines of Oskar's thoughts all running together so that nothing he says or hears makes any sense at all and everything is a secret. Hmm.
Their are many secrets pertaining to or around Oskar which are revealed throughout the narrative.One secret that Oskar keeps throughout the novel is that his dad called and left messages on the phone which is a lot on Oscars chest even in the beginning and progressively it is revealed that Oskar also kept the secret that his father called while he was at home and instead of answering he just stood by afraid. This particular secret affects Oskar the most out of anyone because he feels that he could have changed something or been their for his father but instead he just stood by, and that places a heavy load on Oskar especially since he had never told anybody before his grandfather.So in general it seems this secret hurts Oskar and affects him more than anybody else because he feels his responsibility to his father was not fulfilled and as such sees the quest to find the keys owner an opportunity to redeem himself.
Kate J brings up a good point. She says, "It's possible that Foer was trying to tell the reader that it's ok not to know everything at once and probably a good thing even if we're too inept to figure out why". The way the world works these days, people want to know absolutely everything. They are not satisfied unless they have control over every matter. Foer could be trying to tell us that no matter how hard we try all the words will never be able to fit onto the paper. “I could write smaller, I could slice the pages down their edges to make two pages, I could write over my own writing, but then what?” (276). This is a metaphor for our lives. We could obtain all the secrets and hold all knowledge within us but what are we ever going to do with it? The point of not needing to know everything at once is very valid. It is simply unobtainable and rather unnecessary to fit all the words onto the paper, if we look at it that way. Foer tries to put across this point that knowing everything is not always necessary. The world will always have instability within it. There will always be secrets that not everyone can know (hence “secret”) and there will always be lies that are told. The point is that we do not need to have all knowledge. So why do we still strive for it? This is simply because we are humans. We can never be perfect and in a sense, that imperfection makes us better. I think that the secrets and lies in the book create a happy medium. They do the same within the world. They give people a chance to want to be better to themselves and to others. Wasn’t it the secret key of another man that gave Oskar the journey of a lifetime? Therefore, at points, secrets are important to have and keep, but do we always need to know everyone else’s?
Kate J brings up a very interesting point about all of the little mysteries and tricks that pop up in the book. Only the wise and the people who want to figure out the mystery actually go through with it.
My favorite one is the number sequence on page 269. I gave up at the beginning. It starts with the man who can't talk saying, " What, I wondered, is the sum of my life?" (269). It would be very interesting if the sum of his life came out of the numbers and became words. But my question, and what I happen to believe, is that the man who gave up the ability to talk asks about the sum of life and all he can think of is numbers, I believe that the sum of his life is just numbers not a code. He gave up the "right" per say to have actual words to sum up his life. All his life is just silence.
The other code/mystery that I really like is when the grandpa begins to run out of room to say what he wants in his book. The reader doesn't get or is able to finish the story which leaves a certain level of ambiguity for the reader. The jumbled up letters and words allow the reader to fill in the blanks but also leave them hanging wanting to know what happens next.
By putting in these little puzzles it adds a new level of participating with the book. And adds a mystery aspect to the book.
I agree with Rachel D when shes talking about the added 'mysteries' to the book. I found it interesting that both of the number sequence and the pages where the grandpa is running out of room are both about Oskar's Grandfather. It adds a sense of mystery to his character which intrigues the reader. The parts about the Grandfather always interested me.
When I got to the number sequence pages I started to try and figure it out. I stopped after i got through three words because I found it extremely confusing and incredibly hard. I found that this connects with Oskar's Grandfather in that his life must be very hard and confusing, seeing as that he can't talk. It makes communicating very difficult.
Also I found these mystery pages very intriguing because it made you curious as to know what the Grandfather is saying and what happens in those pages that you can't make sense of.
Corrie S, I didn't even think of that both of these mysteries surround the grandfather but you are absolutely right. The way that most of all of the cryptic ideals in the book are about the grandfather kind of make him a stereotypical man of mystery. Thats all he really is. He talks with his hands and paper, his life is just a bunch of numbers, and still with all this he is the only person that Oskar talks to about his life.
Because of all of the mysteries surrounding the grandfather he becomes a very ambiguous character and I really don't know what to think about him. All he really is is an ideal not as much of a trustworthy person. I see him as just a person whose opinions and emotions died along with Anna in the bombings. The person who he has become is the biggest mystery surrounding the book.
The grandfather in this story seems to be almost hiding because he seems to with hold secrets from his own grandson. I don;t know what to think of him, he just leaves me puzzled. I think the grandfather is the biggest mystery in this book because when I got to the end, I was still wondering about him. What happened to him all those years, was he hiding? And why did the grandmother never talk about him? I think he was too attached to Anna to really ever truly love again.
To address Curt(is) W's point on Oskar's search for the lock for his key, I truly do not believe that Oskar's hunt was foolish and for nothing. Oskar witnessed so many different views of the world by visiting the hundreds of Blacks that he did. He was able to see the 467th richest woman, a 103 year-old man, and many new terms that he needs to Google. By going on adventures to search for his father, he ended up finding a bit more about himself. The mystery of the key might have been, and maybe could have been, one of the little adventures that his father set up for Oskar. A little mystery to remember him by as well as a search for the truth in himself.
I had the same problem as Candace W, i just had no idea what to think about the grandfather. I thought it was terrible of him to just leave and not tell his wife anything about what he was doing, never meet his son and only really write to him once,and never even met his grandson. im happy Oskar met mr.Black because i think he filled the slot of the grandfather Oskar never had.
Rachel D made a great point on how Oskar's mystery was not foolish. The key in the story had a great influence on his life. He went searching and searching, and found out many special things about many people. It wasn't a waste of time at all. It also helped Oskar deal with his dad's death. It sort of kept his mind away from it, and more brought him to think of all the times they spent together, and what his dad would want him to do with the key. He always would go and remember all the times he shared with him, and it helped him throughout the book. In this way he didn't get too sad and was occupied with the key, another reason why it wasn't foolish and a waste of time. Oskar simply wanted to see if this last mystery was a secret from his father or just plainly a key that might not mean anything at all.
I really like Rachel D and Nicolas B's ideas on the purpose for the search. Instead of accomplishing his goal the way he thought he would, I believe he's achieved more than he ever could have actually finding it. This makes me wonder what Oskar's dad's purpose for the key really was. Of course, he didn't know he was going to die, but maybe his intention was to get Oskar out and about and into, what we might call, the real world.
Oskar, however, saw the search much differently. I wonder if, because he did not reach the end, it will allow him to focus on the journey itself, instead of the actual goal. I love how Foer created this never ending search because it reminds me a lot about life. It's really not the end that matters, but how you get there and what you've learned in the process. Life's about the journey, not the death.
Also, I think Oskar saw his search as one for a connection with his father. It's his physical memory that includes countless puzzles with his father as well as all the Blacks he's encountered. I love the secrets and information we'll never have about this novel, it adds depth to it's characters and hooks the readers.
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