This is topic is a kind of scavenger hunt. Locate where the title words—“extremely,” “loud,” “incredibly,” and “close”—emerge in the novel. Consider how they are introduced. With what other words are they connected? Is it always Oskar who uses them? In what contexts do they appear?
After searching, finding, and thinking, try to assert what the title means. Why did Foer choose these words as his title?
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When I started the book I started circling the words "incredibly" and Extremely". In one context Oskar tells Gerald, "they could make an incredibly long limousine that had its back seat at your mom's VJ and its front seat at your mausoleum, and it would be as long as your life" (5). The word incredibly makes the point that the limousine is really really long. It is the way of life. If the car went from the very start to the last moment of life, it is the only path someone can go on. This makes life so predictable and it wouldn't be very interesting, fun The person doesn't have a choice on what happens. The way of life would be boring and lonely.
On the other hand Oskar tells the reader, "when she leaned in to look at the key, her face came incredibly close to my face" (97). In this sense, Oskar is close to a girl. He shows Abbe the key and shows her a part of his heart. The key is a symbol of a missing peice in his life. Being close to her allows her to help heal him.
Since these two examples are a meaning of loneliness and being with someone, I beileve the word incredibly is a symbol of anything is possible. The word is universal. By using the word, Foer can write about anything in the world, about how anything is possible.
I think the title is more of a reaction to Oskar's father's Death. If something is extremely loud and incredibly close it will shake one and he will wnat to know why. Oskar feels this way even if it was not physically close, but emotionally.
One thing I noticed about the word "close" was that, even physically close, that ment affection to Oskar. When Oskar asked Abby Black, "Could we kiss for a little bit?" (p. 99) it was after she ewas crying and he wanted to cheer her up.
The words extremely and incredibly are used quite a lot throughout this novel, but only did the title make sense to me at the very end of the book. On page 293 Oskar is in William Black's office talking about Abby when Oskar tells him that when he was at Abby's house that there was a man who was yelling. William asks him about it and Osker says he was yelling "Extremely loud." On page 295, Oskar asks William, "Don't you think it's so weird that we were in the apartment together eight months ago and now we're in this office together?" William nodded and Oskar said, "It's weird, we were incredibly close." The title makes sense because it's about how the answer to the mystery of the key was extremely loud and incredibly close, the entire time.
I concur with Katheryn G P when she says,"how the answer to the mystery of the key was extremely loud and incredibly close, the entire time." The title is the key to finding the key and the key is essentially the title. The key was around Oskar's neck, "and wore it like a pendent" (74), and was "Incredibly Close" to his heart because he cares about so much and it was "Extremely Loud" in a sub-conscious way. It was like the key was screaming in his head because Oskar wanted to find what it belonged to so badly.
I also strongly agree with the observation that both Kathryn and Kevin made, that the key was extremely loud and incredibly close throughout the book. But I what I find interesting is the context that Foer used “incredibly close.” It was always used to describe a loving affection towards someone. “'Dad?' 'Yeah' 'Could you tell me a story?' 'Sure'...I tucked my body incredibly close to his.” (13) He uses “incredibly close” to describe the strong, loving connection with his father. This connection was not only physical but also emotional.
Another loving connection is that between Oskar and his Grandmother. “Grandma leaned her head out the window and put her mouth incredibly close to the walkie-talkie, 'Is everything OK? Over?'” His Grandmother's first priority is Oskar's safety and his love. So again, Foer used “incredibly close” to describe it.
My final example is between Oskar and Abby Black. “I told him about the voice of Aaron Black and how I was so incredibly close to kissing Abby Black.” (239) “We were incredibly close. I could smell her breathing. 'If you want to kiss me you can'...'You asked me, that day we met, if we could kiss. I said no then, but I am saying yes now.'” (290) The amount of love he felt for those he cared about could only be described as incredible.
In the book Foer uses extremely loud and incredibly close many many times. The first time Foer uses these words is when he says, "...you have to hit INCREDIBLY fast and that is EXTREMELY hard for me..."(3), with this Oskar is using these words for emphasis. Foer makes Oskar use extremely and incredibly as emphasis words many more times throughout the book. I believe that they are meant to be used in this way. You can see this by looking at the title. EXTREMELY loud and INCREDIBLY close, even in the title Foer uses these words to emphasize the meaning. He could have just said loud and close, but he chose to emphasize the words.
Another interesting thing that I have noticed is that Foer only has Oskar using extremely and incredible to emphasize things. In the chapters that are authored by Oskars grandma or grandpa, you don't see extremely or incredibly. This makes the connection in my mind that the title is in all it's greatness refering to Oskar and Oskar only.
But also the chapters that are narrated by Oskars grandparents seem to be a kind of definition of the title. They give an example of being extremely loud and incredibly close, but in their own special way. Like in chapter two how Oskars grandpa starts to lose his words, but is still extremely loud in his own way. By the end of the book he has written all over the walls and every surface you can think of. This is a silent person being extremely loud. Or if you look at Oskars grandparents relationship, they are married, which in itself makes them close, but they have set up "rules" (109) which has torn them apart.
So the way I interpret the book is it refers to Oskar, but you can also find meaning from it in the chapters coming from his grandparents.
I agree that the title is referring to Oskar's loss, and how losing his father affected Oskar so incredibly that it took over his life to the extreme, which Katelyn H F says as well. However, though Oskar is the main character in the story, he is not the only one the story and its title refer to. Although this is not talked about directly in the book, the English teachers told us that this book was written to help ease the pain of 911 that is still a constant element in America's life. The title is a direct reference to 911, because those five words "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" describe the essence of that day, and how it affected the public so dramatically and permanently. Directed towards the book however, the words were also used frequently with other characters aside from Oskar. As Katheryn G P says, "The title makes sense because it's about how the answer to the mystery of the key was extremely loud and incredibly close, the entire time." She is referring to the extreme coincidence that Abby Black's husband had the lock Oskar had been searching for and that they, as Mr. Black says it have "been looking for each other" (295). Here Oskar finds it amazing that it took them eight months to finally find one another when he had been in Abby's back room, so incredibly close. The words" incredibly close" are used here to highlight that even in such a big city, lives are always criss-crossing each other. So, though "incredibly close" can, as Cicily C P says, "describe a strong loving connection", it more frequently symbolizes human connections, strong and weak, familiar and strange, that bind humanity, as shown in the "scene" between William Black and Oskar. Even strangers are always incredibly close to everyone else, because, as I believe this book is showing, we all experience the same happiness, anxieties, love, and yes, trauma, shown through 911, that install empathy and have helped keep America and us close. This I think is partly shown through Ron and Oskar's mother, who met and now laugh together because they both, once strangers, became "incredibly close" through the same experience of losing family (315).
In the book, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", the words "Extremely", "Loud", "Incredibly" and "Close" are used an incredible amount of times throughout the entire book. My favorite example of this occured at the bottom of page 165 where it thus reads, "Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close. Maybe twenty of them. Maybe more. But they also seemed like just one bird, because somehow they all knew- [picture of birds on the next two pages]- exactly what to do. Mr. Black grabbed at his ears and made a bunch of weird sounds. He started crying- not out of happiness, I could tell, but not out of saddness either." What is and/or was happening in this scene in this extremely incredible book is Oskar had asked Mr. Black if he wanted him [Oskar] to turn Mr. Black's hearing aids on after they had been turned off ever since his wife had died. When he does, a flock of birds goes past the window and was thus deemed the first thing Mr. Black heard since he had turned them off "a long, long time ago."
In this case, it was Oskar who uses the words in the passage of the book. The contects in which the words appear are rather touching terms in the book. Mr. Black has not heard any sound of any kind for years and the first thing he does hear are the sounds of birds flying and flapping their wings frantically outside his window. Birds taking flight has many different meanings in many different subjects. One of the most popular meanings is "rebirth" or "a new beginning". In such, this is like Mr. Black's "rebirth" or "New beginning". After hearing the birds, he ends up joining Oskar in his quest for self-knowledge or knowledge of his dead father and leaves his appartment for the first time in years. He starts over in life.
After searching dillegently throughout the book, I have concluded that the title might mean that things may appear extremely loud and incredibly close even when they may seem like they don't. Oskar could be incredibly close to his father, but he doesn't know it right away. Things that cannout actually talk or make noise could be extremely loud, like a sudden realization of something, or an idea; the idea to dig up Thomas' grave to burry the letters. The words could have been screaming to Foer as a title and so he used them as a title for his novel because they were extremely perfect for the title as they are used various times throughout the book. It was a perfect match.
I am going to side with Katelyn H F on the part where she says, "But also the chapters that are narrated by Oskars grandparents seem to be a kind of definition of the title. They give an example of being extremely loud and incredibly close, but in their own special way." The two grandparents are, indeed, extremely loud and incredibly close in their own way. It's all "Yes" and "No", or "something" and "nothing" for the two of them. It's a "something room" or a "nothing space". "Yes" and "No" collide. It's like "order" and "chaos" and how often the two of them coexist. The two grandparents may be incredibly close to eachother physically and emotionally, but then at the same time, they're somehow not. Thomas Sr. may not talk, but his writing can be incredibly loud at times. Grandma writes her life story on the "something typewriter" but there's "nothing ink" in it, so even though she writes it out for him, he cannot read it because the story was never actually copied down on the paper. There were always rules they had to obey so they could live alongside "something" and "nothing". On page 108, it states in Grandpa's point of view, "So many rules, sometimes I can't remember what's a rule an what isn't, if anything we do is for its own sake, I'm leaving her today, is that the rule we've been organizing ourselves around this whole time, or am I about to break the organizing rule?"
They might have been incredibly close, but the inevitable task of leaving was always dawning upon the couple in an extremely loud fashion. Yes and No collided too much and the two ended up pushing the other away from them with all their rules of "something" and "nothing" because they were Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to each other.
Through this novel we see that the title of the book has a specific meaning. The first word, "close" is seen when he showed Abby the key that was always close to his heart (97). Aleshae W said, "The key is a symbol of a missing peice in his life" and she is exactly right. The key symbolizes that it is a peice from his father. A token or momentom of him. When Oskar's father died he kept that last little "clue" close to his heart.
You see "Extremely" used frequently when Oskar was at Abbys'. Oskar says, "I got extremely close to the picture" when he saw it of the crying elephant (96). Abby's husband, "just stuck his head in extremely quickly" (97). Then finally Oskar says, "it's extremely hard to believe someone" when Abby says that he is not being annoying (97).
So basically the title "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is protrayed through this novel quite a bit.
On one page (171) I noticed the two words together for the first time. (They were together before but they did not click) It was when Oskar was describing himself: "EXTREMELY DEPRESSED" and on the bottom of the page "INCREDIBLY ALONE." He is feeling extremely depressed about his father being gone and incredibly about his mother being with her friend Ron. They emphasize his feelings about his life surroundings. Foer uses these words a lot in his book and they are used for emphasis, even in the title. Foer wants the reader to feel how Oskar, or anyone who lost someone on September 11, how it felt.
Oskar uses extremely a lot to describe his father after the "worst day." He also uses incredibly a lot to describe his mother. "She was incredibly beautiful, with a face like Mom's...."
The first time I saw "extremely" and "loud(ly)" next to eachother was on page 93 when Oskar was at Abby Black's house. "The man in the other room called again, this time extremely loudly." A little while later the words "incredibly" and "close" come up. "Our faces were incredibly close." (p. 97) Within five pages, the title comes up. When I was reading it the first time, it did not mean much to me but reading it later I found it forshadowing. Abby and her husband would become very important later in the story.
Merrilyn K W states, "I have concluded that the title might mean that things may appear extremely loud, and incredibly close even when they may seem like they don't." I couldn't agree more. In everyday life, people see hundreds of faces everyday, maybe one face repeatedly, but yet we may never know that that "stranger" lives right next door. We may never know how incredibly close we are. Oskar has this revelation when he meets one of the many Blacks he has set out to find, except that this Black "lived in our building, just one floor above us" (151). Lives are constantly touching, but people choose to ignore one another, to set up rules and private "nothing" spaces, like Oskar's grandparents did, in order to hide because giving one another privacy is the proper thing to do. Yet, as Mr. Black shows, such hiding is extremely depriving to one's soul, and loneliness has a way of setting in. This is when Oskar uses the title, for he realizes how near people are, like Mr. Black, and it "made me start to wonder if there were other people so lonely so close" (163). So as Merrilyn said, and as the book, I believe, is trying to show, even though you do not see the person, and even if you believe you suffer alone, there are people right next door, people brushing your arm as they pass you on the street, and invisible faces around the globe that share too the ache of living. Feel too the throbs of loss. Feel too the extreme trial of living again. Another example of "things" that may not appear to be extremely close are Oskar's Grandma and Grandpa. How could there still be a connection, a beating pulse that can keep the two together even when separated forty years ago? It is possible because their lives were always so extremely and incredibly intertwined. Its just as Katelyn H F says; "Oskar's grandparents seem to be a kind of definition of the title." Both shared the love, the adoration, of Anna, and both lost her. Both have suffered greatly, living their lives in the extreme; yes and no's only with no room for grey, living to work, not working to better their lives, sharing their words, and having a son. No matter how cruel they have been to themselves and each other, and no matter how many times the grandpa leaves, they will always be incredibly close. Together, they have experienced life and death, and as the grandmother says, he has "been my life's work" (309). Thus, the definition for incredibly close does not have to mean love, as these two show, for love is too selfless and broad a word for them. The words "Incredibly close" fit perfectly for they refer to a shared pain, a shared understanding of each other, and the way "the hairs of [their] arms touched" (313); an extremely light and incredibly penetrating connection.
Again, I agree with Katheryn G when she says, "...the mystery of the key was extremely loud and incredibly close, the entire time." Obviously it wasn't just coincidence that they ended up being in the same apartment building, Oskar's father planned it that way. Mr. Black was the Black that Oskar was searching for. The title of the book clicked for me when I noticed that Mr. Black spoke extremely loud and lived incredibly close to Oskar. When I first began reading the book, I underlined the words 'extremely' and 'incredibly' as Aleshae W did. This helped me to realize that those adjectives were used when Oskar felt emotionally connected to something.
Emily M P says, “The key symbolizes that it is a piece from his father.” I think that this is the reason why Oskar chose to keep the key “incredibly close” to him. Oskar felt like this is the only thing that he had left of his father and he didn’t want to let it, or his father go. When he finally solves the mystery of the key he is disappointed because it’s almost like his father’s memory was becoming smaller. The key was something that could remind Oskar of his father everyday and by losing it, he was afraid of losing his father as well. He was scared of moving on from that chapter of his life because in a way it was almost like he was moving on from his father’s death. He wanted to keep the little that he had left of his father “extremely close” to him.
The words extremely and incredibly are used to put emphasis on things or situations and show how, I guess, over the top they are. And I believe that they are used in the book by Oskar, and Oskar only, because he is a very over the top and kind of eccentric boy. He seems to get very into the things he talks about, like his ideas. At the very beginning of the book he talks about his limousine idea. He says, "they could make an incredibly long limousine that had its back seat at your mom's VJ and its front seat at your mausoleum and it would be as long as your life"(5). I can just picture this little boy being extremely passionate about what he is talking about and using that word to really show how much of an incredible idea he thinks he has come up with. As a lot of children do, they over exaggerate things. I believe so does Oskar. I believe that when Oskar is with Abbey and he says, "she leaned in to look at the key, her face came incredibly close to my face" (97), that he is over exaggerating not only because he is a child but also because as a writer Foer throws this in to add to the emotion of the book, always making things more emotional with words like incredibly and extremely to make it seem more than it quite possibly is. This has been Stephen K W saying good luck and good night.
When I satarted to read this book I did not circle any of the words from the title because I felt I always understood it's meaning. What the title said to me at first was that when the plane hit the towers it was extremely loud and incredibly close to Oskar's home. Then I figured it was not just the planes that were loud it was the action in itself. After all actions speak louder than words. This act of terrorism was loud enough so that everyone, not just Oskar, throughout the country could hear the pain and loss. The word close describes the relationship between Oskar and Tom and I also think incredibly describes how close and hard it hit Oskar's heart on that "worst day" as Oskar calls it. His heart was broken and his mind was confused, "before I had time to figure out what to do, or even what to think or feel, the phone started ringing"(15). The title should have great meaning and relation with the story. The sudden and unexpected loss of September 11th is what is extremely loud and incredibly close in this story.
The words extremely and loud were used throughout the novel as we have all found out. But the reason for the title Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close could be any of the different contexts the adjectives were used to describe. But I do not agree with Bri S when she says, "The title of the book clicked for me when I noticed that Mr. Black spoke extremely loud and lived incredibly close to Oskar". I do not believe that the way Mr. Black talked or how close he lived to Oskar had anything was the reason for the title. If Oskar had not meet Mr. Black I think everything would of been the same. He had nothing to do with who the key belonged to, and he did not have to walk around the city with Oskar it was his own choice. I do believe that it was coincidence that Mr. Black lived so close, but I do not believe it was the reason for the title.
On the other hand Will J makes a great point. Because September 11th was extremely close and was a very loud event I think it could be a possible reason for the title. Because that day was the "worst day" of Oskar's life. Many times people write about times in there life and the title often times reflects that.
I like what a lot of people had to say about how the words extremely and incredibly close were used as a way to emphasize something important in the story. Now I know this quote has been used a lot but it is a good one, "when she leaned in to look at the key, her face came incredibly close to my face" (97). The element of Abby Black is important because it turns out that she had information about the key the entire time. Extremely and incredibly also describe Oskar's feelings and those are really important to the story. His reaction to his feelings add a lot of emotion to the book and it illustrates the point of how someone is affected by a tragedy such as September 11th
Krystal W W has a point that “the way Mr. Black talked or how close he lived to Oskar had anything with the reason for the title,” however I have to disagree with her that “if Oskar had not met Mr. Black I think everything would’ve been the same.”
Even though Mr. Black did not really contribute anything to solving the mystery of the key you have to remember that, in the end, the key had nothing to do with Oskar’s father, so, in a way, there was no mystery. I think the point is not what the key opened, but how it affected people. The key and Oskar’s mission changed Mr. Black’s life. They gave him a friend and a variety of new experiences—in short, they gave him his life back.
The key also gave Oskar a way to cope with his loss and a way to make new friends and see new places. He says that at the night of his performance “ a lot of the Blacks I had met in those twelve weekends were there.” (143) By looking for the key he has connected with a lot of people, broadened his horizon and learned lots of interesting life stories.
So, in this respect, Mr Black is essential because he is the closest and best example of how a life was changed by Oskar (and the key).
I think all this goes back to the question whether “any good can come from your father’s death?” (203) And the answer is yes; lots of good came from it.
So, in the end, may be the title doesn’t mean that Mr. Black is extremely loud and lives incredibly close; may be (as Mr. Black and his life shows) it means that there are lots of interesting and unique people (with loud personalities) that live close to us and all we have to do is reach out and connect.
Also, to Kitty W F:
I found this quote while looking for stuff for my post and i think it goes incredibly well with your last post:
“Abe was there. Ada and Agnes were there. (They were actually sitting next to each other, although they didn’t realize it). I saw Albert and Alice and Allen and Arnold and Barbara and Barry. They must have been half the audience. But what was weird was that they didn’t know what they had in common . . .” (143)
weird, huh?
Words from the title of this book obviously show emphasis in the scenes they are used in. Like when Oskar is with Mr. Black, a flock of birds flies by the window "extremely fast and incredibly close"(165). However, considering the bigger picture, there is a simple theme underlying the simple use of these words as just adverbs.
The more and more I read this book through Oskar's eyes, the more and more I feel that many instances he speaks of are simply surprising or just bigger than himself. Oskar is a kid. Think about the things he is accomplishing at his age: searching for a secret key's purpose, meeting audults around the city, and investigating about his father. These aren't normal hobbies for a kid, and his lifestyle seems to be extremely risky and incredibly larger than himself.
I think these words put obvious emphasis on the events that Oskar is experiencing, but on a larger scale, Oskar is in neck high with the world around him. There are secrets to unfold, people years older to meet, and a father to dearly miss and grieve over. These words aren't just emphasis as text, these words are emphasis for the things that Oskar has to face.
I did the same thing that Will J did; I did not underline or realize the importance of the word "incredibly" and "extremely." About half way through the novel is when i started to accknowlege the importance of those two words. I realized that he uses those words when he is putting emphasis on a topic.
Through the story he puts those words into titles for example, "EXTREMELY DEPRESSED" and "INCREDIBLY ALONE" (171). In both cases he has already crossed out his first idea for the title of the chapter and these titles are the second idea. It is interesting how he uses these words in both the title of the book as well as the titles of the chapters.
I think the title is more of a reaction to Oskar's father's Death. If something is extremely loud and incredibly close it will shake one and he will wnat to know why. Oskar feels this way even if it was not physically close, but emotionally.
One thing I noticed about the word "close" was that, even physically close, that ment affection to Oskar. When Oskar asked Abby Black, "Could we kiss for a little bit?" (p. 99) it was after she ewas crying and he wanted to cheer her up.
On one page (171) I noticed the two words together for the first time. (They were together before but they did not click) It was when Oskar was describing himself: "EXTREMELY DEPRESSED" and on the bottom of the page "INCREDIBLY ALONE." He is feeling extremely depressed about his father being gone and incredibly about his mother being with her friend Ron. They emphasize his feelings about his life surroundings. Foer uses these words a lot in his book and they are used for emphasis, even in the title. Foer wants the reader to feel how Oskar, or anyone who lost someone on September 11, how it felt.
Oskar uses extremely a lot to describe his father after the "worst day." He also uses incredibly a lot to describe his mother. "She was incredibly beautiful, with a face like Mom's...."
The first time I saw "extremely" and "loud(ly)" next to eachother was on page 93 when Oskar was at Abby Black's house. "The man in the other room called again, this time extremely loudly." A little while later the words "incredibly" and "close" come up. "Our faces were incredibly close." (p. 97) Within five pages, the title comes up. When I was reading it the first time, it did not mean much to me but reading it later I found it forshadowing. Abby and her husband would become very important later in the story.
When cassandra w p says, "When I was reading it the first time, it did not mean much to me but reading it later I found it forshadowing. Abby and her husband would become very important later in the story." it brings us back to the fact that essentially the title is the answer to finding the secret of the key. When Oskar is talking to William Black he says, "'It's weird,' I said. 'We were incredibly close'" (295). The secret lied within virtually the first person he saw. The key led him to an answer but ultimately the answer was nothing important or related a lot to his dad.
When Olga decidedly said "yes" to the daunting question as to whether or not any good can come from a father's death, I also connected that with whether or not anything good can come from 911. And I believe it can and it has. I agree with Will J W when he says that , "The sudden and unexpected loss of September 11th is what is extremely loud and incredibly close in this story." The title describes 911 perfectly. But, the title goes even further I believe, further into the future, and the act of restoration, of human connections, and the reminder that their are others suffering that suffer older wounds, wounds that hurt deeper then any 911 has given them. Oskar's grandfather lost his lover, he lost his child before he even had it in his arms, he went through war, and thus, he lost the ability to speak. He lost the ability to live a life worth living. For Oskar's grandmother, she lost a sister, a son, and the ability to cry. For Ron, he lost a family in a car crash, and has to live with the guilt of not dieing with them. For Tomoyasu, she had to see her daughter, Masako, literally melt away in her arms; she saw "what death is like" (189); ugly and unwelcome. All these people and more have lost or suffered from events in their life that were incredibly close to their heart, and forever loud in their minds. 911 is just one event in a history of events that must be learned from, but cannot eclipse everything else. These words are for all that have lived, suffered, and lived again. As Collin says, ""These words aren't just emphasis as text, these words are emphasis for the things that Oskar has to face"; the hard truth that life does go forward, that bodies can not "float up through the sky" (325).
To Olga, that quote did work, and I appreciate the participation/feedback!
I really like the way Kitty put the title, she said; "incredibly close to our hearts and extremly loud in our mind". That is exactly right on the mark. Someone dieing that you love is really close to the heart, and the memory of the event is stained into your mind. It is always with you.
Also I believe that the title makes the mystery of the key so obvious. If it were extremely close and incredibly loud then solving the mystery should have been really easy and book would be over in one hundred pages. But the mystery took most the book. The solution was never seen. This is how most things are. They are right in front of our face the whole time and we never notice it.
I agree with Stephen K W that "[the words] are used in the book by Oskar, and Oskar only, because he is a very over the top and kind of eccentric boy." Not only is Oskar definetely over the top but he also seems to see the world and everything in it in its most extreme manifestation. Oskar's mother says that Oskar says either "nothing is so-and-so. Or everything is so-and-so. Or obviously."(43) May be it's something he picked up from his Dad, or just a result of his autism (or whatever it is), but Oskar doesn't really see the shades or gray areas in the world. It's either all or nothing with him.
This comes up again when Oskar is arguing with his mom about Ron. When she tries to explain to Oskar that she is dealing with her grief by laughing, Oskar says that "I am not trying to find ways to be happy, and I won't."(171) The only way he can see of grieving for someone is being miserable and crying all the time. The fact that different people act differently doesn't occur to him.
Later on the same page Oskar orders his mom to either “promise me you’ll never fall in love again, or I am going to stop loving you.” This is probably one of the most extreme things he says in the entire book because not only is he asking his mother to control something she can’t, but he is also trying to make her miserable for the sake of a dead man. He doesn’t seem to realize that times will change and they will have to move on form his father’s death at some point.
To wrap this up, I think it’s funny how J. Foer highlights this trait by making Oskar unable to wear anything but white. Since white and black are both the extremes of the specter I think this shows that Oskar is an extremest.
I agree with Olga where she said, "...but Oskar doesn't really see the shades or gray areas in the world. It's either all or nothing with him. "
This idea could be an explanation as to why these particular words were used and repeated throughout the story. That along with the thought that Katheryn first mentioned, which was that the words were specific to Oskar and used during times of Oskar's narration only. When combining those two ideas, it seems these particular words were a unique and successful way to characterize the protagonist of the book. This I believe, could be one, among many other reasons, why Foer would place stress on these certain words.
Over the course of the entire book, I noticed that the words extremely and incredibly appeared well over 40 times in the book. This is a very important fact, especially since it is Oskar, and only Oskar who says them. Both the words incredibly and extremely are always followed by an adjective nearly every single time they are introduced in the book. I believe this is because both those words are always describing how Oskar really feels.
Reading other students entries, I noticed that some thought that when Oskar said extremely or incredibly, he was exaggerating. I would have to strongly disagree with this because Oskar was being very blunt about his feelings, and it was really how he felt at the time.
Having lost a dad as well, I was able to relate to the character much more than I intended too. By reading between the lines, I was able to conclude that the title is specifically talking about Oskar's state of mind directly. The impact on 9/11 was literally extremely loud, but the loss of his dad was extremely loud in his mind, yet incredibly close because it was as if he knew something like this was going to happen all along.
It seems like whenever the words "extremely" and "incredibly" are used, they are being spoken by Oskar. He uses these words as adjectives to describe things that are "loud" and "close." Oskar says that some of his thoughts are "extremely loud," meaning that they are very bright and are always running through his head. Also, when he is visiting with Abby Black for the second time, he says that they "were incredibly close."(290) He uses this terminology to describe how close he was to her, and how he could smell her breathing. Oskar uses these words a lot to describe people. This is shown on page 300 when Oskar says that he is "incredibly curious," and on page 298 when he is saying how his father was "extremely thoughtful." Without the use of these words in the story, Oskar wouldn't have been able to express himself as clearly.
When starting the novel, the title certainly did evoke a feeling of “over exaggeration.” Then, throughout the course of the book, I could tell that the title somewhat described Oskar’s personality. This can be shown with the way he is very, very confident. In my mind, I don’t see nine-year-old children walking around a gigantic city such as New York, but in Oskar’s case, he very much is knocking on people’s doors that he doesn’t even know. As is portrayed in the book, Oskar can be described as an incredibly loud person, with loud being another way of portraying his confidence. With the words “incredibly close” I noticed that this was somewhat telling how Oskar was exceptionally close to finding what he was searching for. One of the very first people he visited was Abby, and it ended up being her who gave him the answers he was looking for. So summing up, I feel the title of this book was a way of representing Oskar’s original personality throughout the novel.
The title Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close matches up perfectly with this book.I think that Foer uses the no-verbal elements in Oskar's "stuff that happened to me" and the death of Oskar's father to describe the words "loud" and "close."
Looking through the pictures on pages 53-67 it made it seem like this book was a real, non-fiction story. As I read further on in the story I came accross the picture of a crying elephant on page 95. Next to this picture Oskar told Abby, "'It looks like the elephant in that photograph is crying.'I got extremely close to the picture and it was true" (94). After seeing the picture and reading what Oskar said, i felt extremely close to the story. It made me as a reader feel as if I could have been there myself looking at the same photograph. This non-verbal can also seem very loud. As i turned onto the page all I could see was this gigantic picture of an elephants eye that was zoomed in so that you could see every detail. The picture is shocking acting very loud and clear in my mind.
I think that the death of Oskar's father also proves to be both loud and close. When hearing that his dad died in an accidental tragedy, Oskar is astonished. The news is so loud in his head that he can't think about anything else. The only thing he seems to accomplish is wondering how his dad died and how he could have prevented the death. However, when he begins his search for his father's lock, Oskar starts to get "incredibly close" to his father. He begins to realize all of the important lessons that his father taught him and how his journey has been the ultimate healer throughout the process.
The title Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close matches up perfectly with this book.I think that Foer uses the no-verbal elements in Oskar's "stuff that happened to me" and the death of Oskar's father to describe the words "loud" and "close."
Looking through the pictures on pages 53-67 it made it seem like this book was a real, non-fiction story. As I read further on in the story I came accross the picture of a crying elephant on page 95. Next to this picture Oskar told Abby, "'It looks like the elephant in that photograph is crying.'I got extremely close to the picture and it was true" (94). After seeing the picture and reading what Oskar said, i felt extremely close to the story. It made me as a reader feel as if I could have been there myself looking at the same photograph. This non-verbal can also seem very loud. As i turned onto the page all I could see was this gigantic picture of an elephants eye that was zoomed in so that you could see every detail. The picture is shocking acting very loud and clear in my mind.
I think that the death of Oskar's father also proves to be both loud and close. When hearing that his dad died in an accidental tragedy, Oskar is astonished. The news is so loud in his head that he can't think about anything else. The only thing he seems to accomplish is wondering how his dad died and how he could have prevented the death. However, when he begins his search for his father's lock, Oskar starts to get "incredibly close" to his father. He begins to realize all of the important lessons that his father taught him and how his journey has been the ultimate healer throughout the process.
The title Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close matches up perfectly with this book.I think that Foer uses the no-verbal elements in Oskar's "stuff that happened to me" and the death of Oskar's father to describe the words "loud" and "close."
Looking through the pictures on pages 53-67 it made it seem like this book was a real, non-fiction story. As I read further on in the story I came accross the picture of a crying elephant on page 95. Next to this picture Oskar told Abby, "'It looks like the elephant in that photograph is crying.'I got extremely close to the picture and it was true" (94). After seeing the picture and reading what Oskar said, i felt extremely close to the story. It made me as a reader feel as if I could have been there myself looking at the same photograph. This non-verbal can also seem very loud. As i turned onto the page all I could see was this gigantic picture of an elephants eye that was zoomed in so that you could see every detail. The picture is shocking acting very loud and clear in my mind.
I think that the death of Oskar's father also proves to be both loud and close. When hearing that his dad died in an accidental tragedy, Oskar is astonished. The news is so loud in his head that he can't think about anything else. The only thing he seems to accomplish is wondering how his dad died and how he could have prevented the death. However, when he begins his search for his father's lock, Oskar starts to get "incredibly close" to his father. He begins to realize all of the important lessons that his father taught him and how his journey has been the ultimate healer throughout the process.
I agree with what brook said about feeling like the story was real and all of these things really happened. The pictures in this are EXTREMELY loud, and out there making a point. they say that a picture is worth a thousand words and the pictures that are talked about this way are exactly what I see when I read the book they are all EXTREMELY loud, and i feel like I maybe some way I could be INCREDIBLY close to them.
Incredibly close things also happened throughout the book. Between the pages 272 and 284 where the lines of words get slowly closer and soon overlap each other , which is more of an uncomfortably close than incredibly but it still fits the title well enough.
I agree with Conner and Brook about the title of the book. They pointed out that the "extremely loud" part of the title is talking about the pictures. It makes sense because the pictures were obviously loud because they jumped out at you. Plus, i think that the really random ones really catch your eye and dont fit in to the book for that perticular reason. One example is on page 56. It is a drawing of one of the layouts of a paper airplane that Oskar and his dad used to make. I feel that this is important because him and his dad were so close. But the picture on the other page (57) doesnt really make much sense. Yet it makes sense to put those pictures side by side because the one of the turtles catches your eye and makes you look at the important one.
Now for the other part of the title. Incredibly close could be taken in many different ways. It could just be refering to the relationships in the novel. It could remind you of how close Oskar was to his dad or how close Anna and Oskar's grandfather were. This realates to what Connor said. He was relating to pages 272-284 where it is telling stories of Oskar and his grandfather's relationship. It is literally showing how they just keep getting closer.
I have to say I agree with everyone that the pictures in the book are what is so extreme, making up half the title. The pictures in this book are very extreme and not normal pictures you would see in a normal book. The picture of the elephants eye is what really caught my eye. That picture also caught Oskar's eye when he was in Abby's house. A picture of an elephant crying is a very extreme picture. It makes you wonder why this elephant is crying. I believe every picture in the book had its own reason and its own extremeness to be in the book.
Now to the other half of the title. I think incredibly close is refering to the way Oskar was able to get so close to everyone with the last name Black, to solve the mystery of the key. If he would of never went on his search throughtout the city the mystery would of never been solved. The very first house he went to was Abby's and he was incredibly close to her husband, William. William was just in the other room yelling extremely loud. This whole time the person the key belonged to was exremely loud and incredibly close to Oskar.
When I started reading the book and Oskar was introduced, the title immediatley slapped me in the face. The title is perfect, it describes his journey to finding the answer for this mysterious key. It is also the complete opposite of what Oskar was before his dad died. Oskar was very kept, and non-outgoing, and the only person he was ever incredibly close to was his father.
One of the times I saw the word incredibly was when Oskar said in the beginning, " I know he just wanted to be friendly, but it made me incredibly angry" (3) when referring to Ron. Oskar uses the words from to the title to express him comfortability, in this case he was not so comfortable.
Oskar also showcases his use of the words from the title when his father and him play the Reconnaissance Expedition and Oskar says, "and sometimes they were incredibly complicated and would go for a couple weeks." (8)
He uses these words when speaking with mostly everyone, before he would just use them with his father, I think the words follow Oskar as he becomes close and closer to finding the answer to the key. The closer he gets the more frequent I feel his use of them will increase, which is good for Oskar.
I think the words from the title he uses are perfect for describing the truth inside him. Before he used his hands to say "yes" and "no", and the words from the title are so lengthy its almost complete opposites.
As I was reading the book, and the words inredibily and extremely came up, I noticed the two words were used in the same sentence. Or atleast very close to each other. This means Foer likes to link the two together. As if they were a pair.
The only thing is when Foer uses the words from the title "close" and "loud" are not always following. "Loud" is not used as much as "Close". So, the word "close" is more important. During the book, Oskar says, "I felt, that night, on the stage, under the skull, incredibly close to everything in the universe, but extremely alone" (145). Oskar feels like his character, Horatio, he is in the play and has a part, but his part is to be invisible. So, no one notices him.
This is when he feels alone and that no one is there for Oskar. He wishes he was close to someone. He gets frustrated and so nothing makes sense.
In this book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I noticed that the book title was used but only in parts. Like extremely was used many times through out this book. Some examples are, "It's that I believe that things are extremely complicated"(4). That is saying that Oskar feels that life is very complicated in many different ways. Another example is used also by aleshae w when she talks about the conversation with Oskar and Gerald. “In one context Oskar tells Gerald, "they could make an incredibly long limousine that had its back seat at your mom's VJ and its front seat at your mausoleum, and it would be as long as your life" (5)."
The word "incredibly" is also used a lot in this novel. When Oskar wrote to Stephen Hawking he didn't think that he would receive something in return but on the contrary he did so he was really excited and he wanted to laminate it. "'There's something incredibly wonderful that I want to preserve'"(12) in this context he seems pretty content.
I found both "extremely loud" and "incredibly close" in one sentence and it's describing one of Oskar's inventions. "'Yeah, so I invented a device that would detect when a bird is incredibly close to a building and that would trigger an extremely loud birdcall from another skyscraper, and they'd be drawn to that'" (250). Oskar is talking about how birds die by smashing into windows and that is his invention to keep the birds from doing that. I thought that was really interesting because it's talking about birds that are like airplanes and how the birds hit windows and in Oskar's fathers case the airplane hit the building.
It is always Oskar that uses the words in the title but mostly to describe something that is very important. I think that Foer chose these words for his title because Oskar wants to tell the world about his feelings of his father's death so he wants to scream it out, but when he gets the chance he can't. So he wants to be extremely loud but he's incredibly close.
The meanings of the title were very clear at the end of the novel. Oskar says it himself, his thoughts were "extremely loud". I saw that sentence to mean they were so persistent and imoportant to Oskar that it made it difficult for him to think about or notice anything else around him. So, they became some of the main focuses of the story. The first two words of Feor's title "Extremely Loud" are describing Oskars's loud, bright mind. Ultimately, it is describing Oskar as a whole.
"Incredibly Close" those are the words that really get to the reader. It is just so frustrating and yet such a relief that Oskar was so "incredibly close" to finding the answer to 'key mystery' from the very beginning of his search.
The two phrases, "Extremely Loud" and "Incredibly Close" are meant to be strong emtional connections the reader grows to the text (as I assume all titles are meant to be). The first connecting to the mind the reader grows to love and look out for by the end of the story, and the second not only describing how the reader feels toward the main character but of how the plot of the story is set up.
I have to say Amanda R really hit the title perfectly. Oskar's thoughts are "Extremely Loud". They are his main focus which makes everything he says seem exagerated or over-used. Oskar uses his thoughts to help him throughout his life and figure out all the mysteries. Oskar depends on these thoughts to guide him as he ventures through life battling puzzles. It seems as if his thoughts are his only focus and that is what he knows. To describe Oskar's thoughts i would use two words, extremely loud.
What Aleshae W brings up is the fact that close may be more important than loud. I think Foer used a more vibrant word to describe close to really capture the meaning of it. Both words are extremely and incredibly important but in their own ways.
The quote Aleshae uses from page 145 says that he feels extremely alone yet incredibly close to the skull. This uses almost all the title but the alone part. Sometimes being alone does feel loud in some perspectives.
Naomi N says that the title was used, but only in parts. I think it was only brought up to an obvious point in some parts. I think the title was always hidden behind the text, just unable to be completely figured out.
In the chapter titled, "The Only Animal", starting on page 86, the words "extremely", "Incredibly", "Loud" and "close" are used a numerous amount of times. In this chapter, Oskar goes to visit Mrs. Abby Black in the narrowest house in New York to ask her about the key. Skipping ahead to page 91, where Oskar first appears at her house and starts to talk with her, he says, "'I'm extremely thirsty,' I said, tourching my throut, whisch is the universal sign for thirsty." The next appearance for one of these words is on page 93. "She took a heavy breath, like she was incredibly frustrated, but on the other hand, she didn't ask me to leave." In the next paragraph, "The man in the other room called again, this time Extremely Loudly, like he was desperate, but she didn't pay any attention, like she didn't hear it, or didn't care." And again in the following paragraph, "'C'est sale,' I said, showing it to her and cracking up. She became extremely serious." On page 96, these words pick back up again. "I got extremely close to the picture, and it was true. 'It was probably manipulated in Photoshop,' I said. 'But just in case, can I take a picture of your picture?'" and at the bottom of 96 and top of 97, "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." The two of them talk about her husband and Oskar's father and at the bottom of the paragraph it states, "'I'm being annoying,' I said. 'You're not being annoying.' she said, but it's Extremely hard to believe someone when they tell you that." The words appear two more times in the time that Oskar is with Abby. In the second to last paragraph at the bottom of 97 the book goes on to say, "I pulled the key out from under my shirt and put it in her hand. Because the string was still around my neck, when she leaned in to loook at the key, her face came incredibly close to my face." and again at the bottom of the page, "Our faces were so Incredibly close."
Within these few pages, the words "extremely", "loud", Incredibly", and "close" are used an incredible amount of times. They're mostly used in the context of explaining something that is going on: he was talking "extremely loudly", we were "incredibly close". If Foer just decided to say "we were really close to eachother", the book wouldn't have the same effect. Because he uses the words "extremely" and "incredibly", you end up picturing the events better in your mind than just "really close". They were "EXTREMELY close" together, so you picture them centimeters away instead of "really close" where it could be anywhere from a foot to a couple of inches. "The race was Incredibly close and the hare was extremely close to winning, but the turtle beat him with an incredible lead." It's a better writing tool to describe how things happened.
This scavenger hunt got me thinking about all the words Foer could have used instead of using “extremely” “loud” “incredibly” and “close.” These words do give a better meaning to things like Merrilyn K had mentioned about how it gives you more of a detail and how close or loud something is. Merrilyn said, “If Foer just decided to say "we were really close to each other", the book wouldn't have the same effect. Because he uses the words "extremely" and "incredibly", you end up picturing the events better in your mind than just "really close".” That is a very interesting point. In this novel, there are a lot of words he uses, but the really bold ones are the ones that he uses as the title. There are probably a couple of episodes in this book that we could find the words coming up constantly like the story between Abby Black and Oskar. So there must be some other reasons behind the title of the novel like what Kirsten P said, “I think the title was always hidden behind the text, just unable to be completely figured out.” And again, who will absolutely know what the title actually means unless it’s Foer.
I also understand what Amanda R is getting at about how the reader begins to understand what Oskar is going through and “how the plot of the story is set up.” She also makes a really good point about how the title enhances the understanding of Oskar. It helps the reader look at those interesting points that he makes by using “extremely” “loud” “incredibly” and “close.”
An observation I have made about the title words being used in the book are that they are each used for different emotions. Like Cicily says about the words "Incredibly Close", "It was always used to describe a loving affection towards someone."
This is shown first when Oskar asks his dad to tell him a story, "I tucked my body incredibly close into his.." [13]
You also see the words many times the first time Oskar meets Abby Black. "I'm sure people tell you this constantly, but if you looked up 'incredibly beautiful' in the dictionary, there would be a picture of you." [91] This is another time when the words are used in an example of love or affection. You also see them with Abby Black when Oskar is showing her the key. "Our faces were so incredibly close." [97]
On the other hand, it seems like the words "extrememly" and "loud" are used in times when Oskar is more scared, or something that isn't very happy is happening.
For example, when Oskar first comes to Abby Blacks home, "The man in the other room called again, this time extremely loudly, like he was desperate," [93]
It happens again on page 97 when, "He just stuck his head in extremely quickly, said something I didn't understand, and walked away."
I concur with Amanda's post about how Oskar's thoughts are extrememly loud. This is another example of extremely loud being something that isn't necissarily good, as Oskar can't do anything but listen his extrememly loud thoughts.
I have noticed most bloggers have been searching the book to find every single time they see the words “extremely loud” and “incredibly close” to find some ideas on why Foer choose this title. But if the reader looks at the book as a whole they find those words describe the feelings of Oskar himself. With Oskar dealing with the death of his father, anyone who has ever lost a parent would know their feelings seem to scream at them constantly. Their mind cannot seem to get away from their extremely loud heart telling them how to feel. For some, the nosey world around them seems to shout what to do with their feelings. Life becomes extremely loud.
With the death of a loved one comes the healing process afterwards. The “worst day” never seems to get any further away. Oskar relives it every time he listens to his father’s voice. At the end of the novel, all Oskar wants to do is “reverse the order, so the last one was first, and the first one was last” (325). The day his dad died is still so incredibly close that he thinks he can go back to the way it once was. All he would have to do would be rip the pages of his life out and put them in reverse order; he “would have been safe” (326). Safe is an unusual choice of wording in this sentence. Someone would think Foer would have chosen something like “happy” or “Oskar”. Safety is not loud or close to Oskar. Life was comfortable for Oskar before his father died. Now all Oskar knows is his feelings are extremely loud and incredibly close.
While everyone in this post seems to be focusing mainly on the hidden refferences within the text of this book, I am going to focus on the visual clues that are displayed within the book.
Between pages 47-49, there are the "ink pen writings." These are basically the only pages of color the reader will find through out the book. Therefore by using the element of color, the book creates an "extremely loud" effect, because it will catch the reader's eye every time they thumb through the pages. Another refference is in the story when the grandpa vividly describes the bombing, "We heard a horrible noise, rapid, approaching explosions, like an applauding audience running toward us..." (210). The word "approaching" is similar to "close" and explosions are generally extremely loud. A picture of a roller coaster is displayed on page 148. Anyone who has ever been on one can say that roller coasters are obnoxiously loud.
I have noticed that there are more "incredibly close" visual refferences than there are "extremely loud." On page 53, there is a photograph of countless keys incredibly close together. Pages 61 and 253 show a brightly lit up city with all the buildings tightly packed together. The upclose picture of the elephant (95) catches my eye as I skim though the pages of this book, as well as the pages near the end where the text slowly begins to overlap each other (272-284).
Every picture in this book is related to the title, because the photograph is either "extremely loud" or "incredibly close."
The title of the book could mean or stand for many things to many different people. The other bloggers have come up with several and i think they are all true including gina's theory about it representing his emotions, naomi's idea that he always uses extremly or incredibly to describe something important to him, and espeacially sarah's idea that the title represents the pictures and text.
I dont disagree with any of these but i personally think the title means that oskar was really incredibly close to his father and it was a huge impact on his life when he died. The exremly loud part comes when he was looking for the lock to the key through ALL the blacks and boroughs which to him was an extremly loud statement that he still loves his father and is tryin not to let him down.
like i said before i think the other meaning are probably more true than mine.
Usually when something is "extremely loud", it startles you or is a wake up call. The book title makes you think that this was a very real and happened in such a fasion that no one could have known it was comeing. The randomness of the event was like a loud noise that comes out of nowhere. On the other hand, the "incredibly close" part comes with the fact that Oskars dad was involved with what happened. It came close to his heart and will effect him in ways that it won't effect others.
My opinion is the same as Robert G's, when he states, "the title means that oskar was really incredibly close to his father and it was a huge impact on his life when he died." This would make the title seem very accurate to the book, because the reaction to a father dying would be "extremely loud." Also, I agree with everybody in the fact that the way the book uses these adjectives, makes the book Oskar's own story. He personalizes the story using his humor and word choice. The use of these two words throughout the story show the narrator's voice and word choice through a defined vocabulary.
Sarah F P made a very interesting point on how the pictures in the book are related to the title. I never would of thought of that and now it makes more sense on why the book has pictures. It’s a very interesting idea about how the colors and the elephant picture and the roller coaster all relate to the title in different ways. Robert G also made an interesting point about how Oskar is really close to his father, “Oskar was really incredibly close to his father and it was a huge impact on his life when he died. The extremely loud part comes when he was looking for the lock to the key through ALL the blacks and boroughs which to him was an extremely loud statement that he still loves his father and is trying not to let him down.” He made an excellent point on how Oskar is looking for his dad in an extremely loud way to be incredibly close to him.
Every one is making very excellent points about this novel and it’s title. In a way the title describes the book in four words. Like when Mr. Black describes every one with just one word, well Foer described the book in four, “extremely” “loud” “incredibly” and “close.” All of which describe how Oskar is feeling through out the book. And in the end Oskar finds that he got incredibly close to getting his dad back, but found out how extremely loud he was being for trying to bring him back. Oskar found out that his dad is really dead and the only reason for Oskar being so close to his father is his feelings for him for being alive and how Oskar wants his dad back.
I have just spent the last 20 minutes flipping to random pages in the book and highlighting the words "extremely" and "incredibly" trying to draw relations between both words. I found that Oskar is the only one to use them and when he does he is searching for the key or telling parts of his story. I was trying to figure out if extremely and incredibly are used in a context that generally has the same meaning. I noticed that occasionally, extremely and incredibly are used to describe words that are or could be considered opposites. For example on page 324, Oskar and his mother are talking about Thomas and Oskar says "I believe that things are extremely complicated, and her looking over me was as complicated as anything ever could be. But it was also incredibly simple." Both words also describe other words with similar meanings. The best example I can think of is "extremely loud and incredibly close" because if something is loud it is most likely pretty close. After looking at the examples I highlighted in the book, I can't come up with and relationships between extremely and incredibly.
I cant find a relationship between extremely and incredibly either. Maybe they are both just used as an exaggeration. Oskar is the only one that uses the words but I think the title does describe the grandparents very well oppositely. Extremely Loud but they dont talk very much because he's mute. Incredibly Close describes their understanding for eachother but they aren't close at all. That might be streching it but oh well.
The two words also aren't always used together. At the very beginning they are both used and then extremely is only used. Then on page 171 when Oskar and his mom fight, extremely is used but then it's crossed out and incredibly is used but incredibly is crossed out too. The fact that they were both crossed out was like they weren't good enough words to describe how he felt at the time. He seems to be reaching for something more and better just like the grandparents relationship; they are trying to find the love for eachother that just isn't there.
It just drives me crazy that the words dont have an obvious relationship but the words do help to show the relationship Oskar has with people around him.On page 70 it says "grandma leaned her head out the window and put her mouth incredibly close to the walkie talkie which made her voice sound fuzzy" when he uses incredibly close for something his grandma does it kind of is a metaphor for the relationship between them. They are close to eachother physically by being across the street and emotionally because they have a bond.
Most things, when described as extremely loud, are going to be incredibly close. It seems like that is the point you would get from those words, outside of the book, but inside, it seems as if there really isn't that connection. The words are found together sometimes, and when they are, they have a direct connection. For example, on page 145, Oskar says, "I felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to everything in the universe, but also extremely alone." This statement is Oskar saying that he felt so close to everything, but so alone because he is not that extremely close to it. In this case when the words are used together, they are describing how Oskar is feeling. And in most cases, they are always describing Oskar.
I think that it is really interesting how Jordan B relates the title to the grandparent’s relationship. I agree that their relationship, ironically, is extremely loud when the grandfather is mute, and they are incredible close in their understanding of each other. Maybe the book wasn’t just supposed to be written about Oskar but also the grandparents. I also think that Oskar uses extremely and incredible as if there isn’t another word he can think of to describe his feelings. I think the author uses these words to show the extremity of the emotion he is trying to portray. He wasn’t just close to his father he was “incredible” close to his father. Also I think that it is weird that for almost every time he uses “extremely” or “incredibly” they can switched, Incredible loud and extremely close, and still make sense. But I still do not see a relationship between the words.
The title Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is put into full effect in the chapter "Alive and Alone" (234). Up until this chapter, the words "extremely loud" and "incredibly close" were just tossed around the story here and there. This particular section gives the reader what he or she has been waiting to hear about. Answers are revealed and the picture is painted clear. Oskar's negative side shines more brightly in this chapter, "I tried to invent optimistic inventions. But the pessimistic ones were extremely loud" (235). Oskar calls for his grandmother and yet gets no response, "It was my first time being in Grandma's apartment without her, and it felt incredibly weird" (235). Jonathan Safran Foer tends to place these frequent words in relatively important sentences, such as when Oskar says, "Even though I knew the view was incredibly beautiful, my brain started misbehaving, and the whole time I was imagining a plane coming at the building just below us. I didn't want to but I couldn't stop" (244). The author of this story specifically placed the title's words in the most intense chapter of the book.
I agree with Sarah F, the words “extremely” and “incredible” aren’t really used together or put in a place where they are really noticeable. Before the chapter I circled extremely and incredible and realized that they were never used in the same sentence. After this chapter he starts to put them at least in the same though. And Sarah is right, after the chapter “Alive and Alone” he put the words in the most intense parts of the book.
The definition of these words are: extreme- something situated at or marking one end or the other of a range, a very pronounced and excessive degree and incredible- too extraordinary and improbable to believe. Maybe Jonathan Safran Foer was using these words metaphorically. “Extremely loud” is opposite of Oskar because he never spoke up unless it was to his family and his grandfather was a mute. But he made very bold actions that made up for what he couldn’t say. But I think Foer uses “incredible close “also as an opposite. Oskar was so close to where his father died and he could have answered the phone when his father called before he died but he couldn’t, so close but yet so far away. Foer may also have used these words to describe the accident, it was such an extreme move and so incredible, not in the good way, that people didn’t know how to describe it or react to it.
When Olivia H. stated that "Extremely Loud" is opposite of Oskar because he never spoke up unless it was to his family and his grandfather was a mute," it really made me think. Isn't the fact that Oskar's personality is so timid that it makes him stand out?
Oskar's handles the death of his father a little bit differently than the rest of his family. He does act very quiet and reserved about the situation. However, the idea of Oskar acting so strange and differently leads me to believe that the words "Extremely Loud" and "Incredibly Close" are written to describe Oskar. His srange and out of place actions make him "Extremely Loud," while his photo album and personal touches make him "Incredibly Close."
I think that as Foer was writing this novel he wanted the reader to have these "loud" and "close" impressions of Oskar Shell.
When i read the title i thought, if something is extremely loud then it is close. Like thunder storms, the louder they are the closer they are. But throughout the book i felt as though the words were used in the oppisite way like Olivia H W mentioned. When his father died, it was an accident that was "extremely loud" or shocking to Oskar. On the inside he was crying out for answers to his fathers death, but on the outside, he hardly spoke of it at all. Oskar says,"I tried to invent optimistic inventions. But the pessimistic ones were extremely loud."(235) He wanted answers so bad to where all of the worst possible solutions to his fathers death were "extremely louder" than the not so bad ones. Also him and his father were incredibly close, when he died his father stayed close to him but in reality his father was gone so he wasn't physically close. I feel like his way of staying close to his father was going to talk to all the Blacks because he felt like they had the answer to his fathers death.
This has been by far the most difficult blog for me. Searching through all those paragraphs was extremely tedious work. I did, find an instance in which I read something deeper. When Oskar says "I tucked by body in incredibly close to his," this opened my eyes to a possible meaning. Maybe these are all instances to symbolize his relationship wit his father. We all know that the two of them were like two peas in a pod. Maybe these are just another way of professing the anguish inside Oskar. I hope to see later blogs commenting on my ideas.
Brook does bring up a good point when she says “His strange and out of place actions make him ‘Extremely Loud,’ while his photo album and personal touches make him ‘Incredibly Close.’” His unusual actions make up for the words that he cannot speak. Which make him both extremely loud and not extremely loud, if that makes since. Foer is trying to make Oskar’s actions speak louder than his words. Like Brook said he uses the photo book to stay close with everything that has happened to him because he feels so alone and away from every one that he has to use those memories to keep him attached. I believe that he has this book so that if he ever lost someone that he cared for he could always have a piece of them still with him. Like when he took a picture of the elephant at Abby Black’s house, if she ever left him he could refer back to that picture so that he would never forget her. He didn’t have anything like that for his dad. I think that is why he has the key. It is his proof of his dad and the memories they had.
"Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close."(p165) This flurry of feathers is the first thing Mr, Black hears in a very long time. In this context, the title is like an awakening, or a rebirth into a new life. To me, it is the start of his adventures with Oskar , the start of his escapades outside his apartment, for right before Oskar turns his hearing aid on, Mr. Black agrees to come outside of the apartment he never leaves to help Oskar look for the lock to his key.
I disagree with Olivia H W when she says 'I think that is why he has the key. It is his proof of his dad and the memories they had.' The key has nothing to do with Oskar's dad, Oskar just thinks it does. Oskar's whole search for the lock was completely fruitless if you only count what connected him to his dad. In fact, it actually did a better job of connecting Oskar to his grandfather. I say that because Oskar found his grandfather's name on all of the test sheets in the art supply store.
The title is slightly ironic, in a way, to the way that we see Oskar. Parker C pointed out an interesting quote; “I tucked my body in incredibly close to his”. This caught my attention as well and it shows the irony that Oskar is no longer as incredibly close to his father. On the other hand, this is only meant in a physical way. Oskar’s search for the key he believes is bringing his closer to his father, although it really is getting him nowhere except for giving him something to do. Olivia H also pointed out that “his unusual actions make up for the words that he cannot speak, which make him both extremely loud and not extremely loud”. This shows the irony in the physical aspect of Oskar’s personality.
Although Oskar is farther away from his father than ever in a physical context, mentally Oskar is becoming closer to him.
I disagree with Jacklyn S when she says “The key has nothing to do with Oskar's dad, Oskar just thinks it does. Oskar's whole search for the lock was completely fruitless if you only count what connected him to his dad”. Even though it did not directly relate to his dad, Oskar does think it does, which brings him closer to his father, if that makes sense. Oskar felt like his search was “fruitless” when he is in the office with Mr. Black, but the entire search gave him something to do and look forward to since he thought it would tell him about his father (295).
For the most part I think the title represents Oskar's journey throughout the story. When Oskar started out his whole journey he was closer to where the key belonged to then he really thought. The title could very well fit with many aspects of the book. It could be that 9-11 was something extremely loud and so close to both his house and his heart. Because that was how his father died. And the whole time Oskar was keeping his father close to his heart in his search for the lock.
Also the rightful place for the key was William Black. The first time Oskar saw him was when he went to talk to Abby. At that momment Oskar was unawhare that William was extremely loud and incredibly close, he was exactly the person he was looking for.
I think all the components together are what really made the title what it is. Oskar's journey, the way Foer used extremely and incredibly as adjectives to describe everything. Everything in the novel is just ironic to that of the title. That was Foer's technique. To be able to describe what need to be with the same adjectives throughtout the whole novel.
When Krystle W points out that, “For the most part I think the title represents Oskar’s journey throughout the story,” I have to fully agree with that. Before Oskar’s father had died, he was an “extremely loud” part of his life. He was very involved and just always there.
As the story progresses however, his father becomes less loud, but in a way closure. Oskar thinks that by losing his father he will become less attached in a way. But I think that he almost learns to be closer to his father in different, even though he is not a part of his life anymore. Oskar now realizes that just because his father isn’t there physically, he still finds one way or another to be there.
That might be a little bit of a cliché, but I really think that Oskar becomes more mature and realizes that he did not lose his father completely, and he also gained another very important person in his life which would be his grandfather. He become incredibly close to people to his father, but also to other people as well.
Thinking of the title "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," I thought of the title "To Kill a Mockingbird."
The phrase 'To Kill a Mockingbird' means 'Sin' as Atticus had said that it's a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing for us.
In a way, the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is indirectly titled "Sin."
I thought the same about this book. To Oskar, Oskar's dad is extremely loud in his thoughts and incredibly close in his heart. So in a way, this book is indirectly titled "Dad." Or something along the subject of Oskar's father.
I have read so many different thoughts about the title. James P P says, "To Oskar, Oskar's dad is extremely loud in his thoughts and incredibly close in his heart. So in a way, this book is indirectly titled Dad." I completely agree with him. This book could have easily been titled dad but with the strong words "extremely" and "incredibly" it makes the reader think more about what was "extremely loud" and what was "incredibly close". Many things were loud, Oskars thoughts and inventions were loud and disturbing sometimes. 9/11 happened "incredibly" close to him. The grandparents relationship was close in a different way, and Mr. Black was "extremely" loud until Oskar helped him out with his hearing aids. But this book was about a key that he found in his fathers closet, and it just so happened that everything that seemed loud and close revolved around his father. So this title is about "dad", a journey, a lost young boy that wants answers, "extremely" loud thoughts for an "incredibly" close father.
I also agree with Krystle W’s statement “For the most part I think the title represents Oskar’s journey throughout the story”. Rachel pointed out that “Before Oskar’s father had died, he was an “extremely loud” part of his life. He was very involved and just always there”. This is a good point because his father’s death was not only extremely loud shown by all of the background noise of “people in the background screaming and crying…glass breaking” (301) but also an extremely “loud”, not meaning strongly audible, but very emphatic in Oskar’s life.
I would also like to highlight what Rachel H said, “This title is about ‘dad’, a journey, a lost young boy that wants answers, ‘extremely’ loud thoughts for an ‘incredibly’ close father.” This sentence is a perfect sum of the title, and I completely agree with her statement.
The title of this novel has had many explanations throughout this blog, but i really like the way that Rachel H summed up the explanations. "Many things were loud, Oskars thoughts and inventions were loud and disturbing sometimes. 9/11 happened "incredibly" close to him. So this title is about "dad", a journey, a lost young boy that wants answers, "extremely" loud thoughts for an "incredibly" close father." This sums up what the title means. The author just took two main elements in the story, loud and close, and put it into a creative title. One last point I would like to say is that because of the title, it catches your eye whenever you see one of these words. This usually means that you should mark that page and remember it. The title helps us do that.
I love all the explanations of the title to the book that I read throughout the posts on this topic. I noticed the words in the title sprinkled in the book in many many places for many different reasons. They can represent many things, it just depends on how you look at it. I noticed that you could even connect the title to some of the characters in some ways. Oskar never wants to become incredibly close to anyone after what happens to his dad, he's afraid he'll get hurt. Also, there are scenes with Oskars Grandma and Grandpa where they are incredibly close together.
corrie s p said, "I noticed the words in the title sprinkled in the book in many many places for many different reasons. They can represent many things, it just depends on how you look at it." This statement is true because the words "extremely loud and encredibly close" can mean many different things. The full title appears on page 165. Oskar says, "Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window extremely loud and incerdibly close." That is followed by a picture of flying birds on the next page. I believe that there is a significance with the pictures Oskar uses in the novel because it gives the reader a picture of exactly what he sees. The picture of the birds symbolize how loud and close his father is to him at all times. Oskar's father is like a bird in this novel because he has the ability to follow Oskar from up above. I believe Foer chose to use the full title of the novel when he meets Mr. Black, who lives in his apartment building upstairs, because he becomes a father-figure to Oskar since he does not have a grandfather or a father to look after him.
To be honest, after reading this novel I have found myself using the words "incredibly" and "extremely" a lot more frequently than ever before. It has had a real effect on me.
The story does use the words in a variety of ways throughout the book to describe different things. Everytime they are used it can give the description a new meaning. I think that Foer used these words specifically because he knew how much of an effect they can have on someone. When you hear either of these two words it automatically makes whatever is being described seem much more important. It emphasizes it, and makes the meaning so much more stronger. I think it was meant to make a statement about the story itself. It makes it seem stronger and its enticing. When I saw the title I knew I wanted to read the story, based solely on the title. I was intrigued by the mere thought of something that seemed so important
Just like Taylor R ive been useing the words incredibly and extremly much more frequently than i used to. Those words can as Taylor said can make anything "seem more important". Chances are if you use either of those two words as an adjective to something your trying to say more people will listen and probably even agree more just because they think it is important.
The author could have given this book lots of different titles like "Oskars Quest for the Lock" or "The Key to His Fathers Life"(both of those should be underlined but i dont know how to do that on this computer) or anything but I think the author chose the title he didi to catch more readers attention by making them think its about something really important or exciting, not that the book wasnt just not in the way the title makes it sound.
I like the quote that Parker C found "I tucked by body in incredibly close to his," because for me this explains the second part of the title. While there might be many different explanations to the title I believe that this quote shows an important part of this book.
When your mom or dad tucked you in as a child for some it was almost a "special time" and to Oskar it seemed this way because one of the first stories he told was about his dad tucking him into bed and them talking about all sorts of different things and then the quote that Parker found comes in. He feels incredibly close to his dad. If you just read the text you would see it as him being physically close, but once you start reading and exploring the relationship between Oskar and his dad you can see that him and his dad had a connection that was incredibly close.
Robert G W says, "I think the author chose the title he did to catch more readers attention by making them think its about something really important or exciting." I think this is very true. Those two words catches peoples eyes because they are very strong words. Like Taylor R W said, those words seem much more important when used. The key and his father were "extremely" important to Oskar, but on page 302, Oskar says, " I found it and it had nothing to do with dad." So this whole time we, as readers, were lead on by the author that this key had to do with his father who was "incredibly" close to Oskar. The author made us believe that the key was something really important when it belonged to someone else in the end. It was heart breaking for me to read that the key belonged to someone else. But i don't think i would have felt that way if "extremely" and "incredibly" were not used because those words stood out so well. Those words made me believe that the answers were just waiting at the lock. But eventhough the key didn't turn out how i wanted it to, using those words made the book that much better and more interesting. It kept me at the edge of my seat!
Okay so first, when the flock of birds fly by the window, it says they were extremely FAST and incredibly close. This is interesting because it's exactly like the title like some early blogs thought, but one word is changed. i think it's fast instead of loud because that might give the reader the wrong idea of why Mr. Black starts crying, not becase they were too loud, but becasue he hasn't heard that in so long.
I agree with Taylor R that i definitly use exteremly and incredibly more, mostly when i annotate the book actually. I haven't decided exactly what i think the title means yet only because there are so many things in the book that it relates to. extremely and incredibly can emphasize anything, it just depends on the word that is placed after it. it could be something bad or good or depend on the person reading it.
maybe the title is just describing Oskar. He can be loud and he is very friendly so he can be close to others. extremely and incredibly could just be there to kind of show how extreme he can be. he over exaggerates and he acts older than he is. there are alot of other things in the book that the title is for, mostly the realtionships or events.
I'd like to point out something different. Earlier I claimed that the title of this book indirectly titles it "Dad." In a way, it also titles it "Grandpa."
Set to book down and look at it from where you sit. The first thing you see (and the first thing a reader browsing a bookstore sees) is a red hand. This hand is significant, because that was Oskar's grandpa's easiest means of communication. This hand sticks out, and makes readers want to know its significance, so in a way the hand also draws readers in to reading this book.
This hand holds together all the words. The title, the author, another book the author wrote, even the random words "A NOVEL." All this information is held in one hand. When I looked at that I wanted to find some connection with Oskar's grandfather, but all I can say is the hand makes me think of his grandpa and the simplicities of communication in the words 'yes' and 'no'. What do you think?
The words from the tittle "extremely, and Incredibly" are both powerful words that are used to assert an event or statement as being important or emphasized. Both of these words are used frequently by the main character Oskar to describe events with emphasis such as when he is talking with Abby Black and he asks "Would you like to kiss" he mentions her as being incredibly close to his face which is interesting because this describes events that Oskar went through and ideas that Oskar has such as the limousine being incredibly long, and although Oskar is the only one that uses these words it seems that they are not used together or at once by Oskar.
After reading through this novel it seems as though Foer choose these words for his tittle because it leaves the reader to believe that this is an intense story and simply describes a complicated thing in four easy words.
I agree with Kitty W that “The title is a direct reference to 911, because those five words ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ describe the essence of that day, and how it affected the public so dramatically and permanently.” The event (in connection to the title) does have a figurative interpretation that has been addressed several times. But to add to that, in a literal sense Oskar’s father was incredibly close to him for they were both in the same city and the actual attacks were extremely loud, as Will J stated: “What the title said to me at first was that when the plane hit the towers it was extremely loud and incredibly close to Oskar's home.” There are other instances where this literal interpretation is true as in when Oskar first visits the wife of the man who owned the key. When Oskar is in the house the man is shouting in the background (extremely loud) and he is in the next room (incredibly close) as Cassandra W said. The man is the answer to Oskar’s entire key dilemma but is still not noticed (93). Another instance is of Mr. Black being in the apartment above Oskar (incredibly close) and having a loud voice due to his bad hearing (extremely loud) as Bri S mentioned. This man helps Oskar with his quest (152). Yet another time is when his grandmother is in the audience of the play cheering him on (143). The people who are literally “extremely loud and incredibly close” are the people who are significant to Oskar. These people who fit the title of the book are the ones who help him the most throughout his quest.
To add to that, James P states, “So in a way, this book is indirectly titled ‘Dad.’” As I elaborated before, the people in the story that correspond to the title of the book are the ones who help Oskar. In helping him on his quest they are also bringing him closer to his father and therefore I agree that “dad” is what the title does loosely translate into.
Another thing I noticed was with the grandparents. Although they could be figuratively extremely loud and incredibly close, literally, they were the opposite. The grandfather is a mute and communication between the grandparents is very subtle. They are not close to one another at all as they have to instill the “nothing” and “something” areas in the house.
I also agree with Merrilyn K on the usage of the words extremely and incredibly. These words are so much stronger than any other word pair that Foer could have chosen. They place an enormous amount of emphasis on “loud” and “close”. If the title was merely “Loud and Close” the effect would not be there.
Nicole C brings up a valid point that the words easily relate to 9/11 because it happened incredibly close to Oskar not only in a sense of distance but more importantly it affected his family and him directly thusly being incredibly close to his life.The title also seems to be a direct reference to anyone because this novel not only talks about 9/11 but also tragedy in general, one of which in the novel being war which affects his grandfather in a way that he has no reason to speak and in direct correlation to the title is ironic because his grandfather had loss do to something extremely loud (bombs) and it made him silent which is ironic in his situation.
In another light it can be seen that the title offers four words that seem to go together but in the novel are not said at the same time but apart.Which is also interesting because the title to the book is written on fingers on a hand which means they are close but also individual.When used by the character the words are almost characteristic of children in general describing events more exciting than they really are which Oskar does a lot in a sense of exaggerating with his ideas and statements.
After reading through the comments I found many ways that the title connects to the novel. Although, I started to wonder if it was truely describing one thing. Even though many things symbolize "extremly loud" and "incredibly close" could Thomas Shell's death be the main reason for this title?
When Oskar's father died, it was very sudden and unforgetable. I think that his death was "extremely loud" for Oskar because it made such a dramatic impact on his life. It was something that transformed him and he could never get it out of his mind. His death was also "close" in a variety of ways. One example, like Jason C brought up, is that Oskar was "incredibly close" to the terrible tragedy due to the fact that he only lived a few blocks from the buildings. Not only does distance make his death close, but so does Oskar's feelings towards his father. Oskar looked up to his dad for everything he learned. I think that Foer introduces the word "close" to give the reader a better understanding of how close Oskar and his father really were. I believe the author wanted the reader to grasp some of what Oskar was feeling towards his dad. Oskar also demonstrates this closeness when he relives many memories from his father. In the end Oskar remembers the last bedtime story his father told him and wonders how he can get him back. He thought, "He would have told me the story of the sixth borough, from the voice in the can at the end to the beginning, from 'I love you' to'Once upon a time . . .'" This passage proves how much Oskar would do anything to get his dad back and bring him in close, even though he already is.
Brook W points out that the title could be pointing to more than one thing. The symbol could connect to more thoughts or actions than just Oskar and his mind. I think that Foer is bringing out many connections than just one, but maybe those all connect into fewer, yet bigger symbols. I don't think the title is directed at just one thing though, because the book is way to busy for the title to mean one thing.
Also, Brook says that Oskar would do anything to bring his dad back. You can tell that Oskar's dad means the world to him, and the fact that he is now gone, crushes him. Oskar feels like he didn't show himself well enough to his dad, and could of always done better. Oskar doesn't want to accept the fact that his father is dead, and can't come back. Therefore, he will do everything in his power to reconnect with his dad.
Like Demitra A and Will J, I did not start underlining until midway in the book. I did not think it was important, but then it got me thinking. Did these words mean something or is the book just named after them because he used them a lot.
I believe that everything has a deep meaning and everything has no meaning at all. If I wrote down something and people thought it had a deep meaning than they found a meaning for it, even if it had no meaning. Sometimes you think a deep meaning does not really mean something and you think its crap. I figured out that everything does have a meaning depending on the way you see it. It might not mean anything, but you can always find a meaning for it. There are so many good meanings to the words “incredibly” and “extremely” and I believe nobody is wrong at this.
I do not know what the author intended these words to mean, but this is what I think… it could mean that when he uses incredibly close he keeps remembering how close he was with his father. Then he could think that he was not close enough to his father as would have hoped. He also uses extremely loud, this could be an expression to characterize him b self. He is a loud person. His grandmother was also extremely loud at his play. This could mean that they share something. He would love the idea of being similar to his grandmother just like his father was like Oskar’s grandfather.
The grandparents were the opposite of the title Extremely loud & Incredibly Close. They were both fairly quite individuals. When they were together they would hardly talk to each other. They were always in their nothing places and this would mean that you are incredibly far from each other. Even in their relationship they were not incredibly close, I would even call it incredibly far. This is showing how incredibly far Thomas was to his son and the younger Thomas was incredibly close contrasting each other.
The words are introduced in a way that you do not notice them. Then you start to see them more often and that gets you thinking. They are linked by extremely depressed, incredibly alone, and many others. It is not only Oskar who says them but also they appear in the letters. The letters are older than Oskar’s writing. Maybe he found a meaning that connected him to his grandparents and decided to use those words in his writing. To Oskar and his grandparents I believe these words mean the opposite to each of them.
The title of this book is very interesting. Most titles have a direct correlation with the novel or a line that it comes from. For instance, the book Gone With the Wind there is a line that says that something was “Gone with the wind that swept through Georgia” (Margaret Mitchell). I’ve never really understood the title of this novel or where it comes from much at all. The main connection I found was page 272-284. This was where the text was being printed smaller and smaller and becoming increasingly close together. To me, this text could be explained as extremely loud (busy) and incredibly close (together). Another thing I thought this title could easily refer to is that Oskar’s brain is constantly working. He never really stops thinking and inventing. His mental path is very crowded. The voices in his head are extremely loud.
I also think the title is a representative of the rest of the novel because the novel is a mystery. I mentioned in my post on the non-verbal elements thread that I thought the novel was a scavenger hunt for the reader. This further proves my point by showing that there are many mysteries throughout the novel and even on the cover.
The title could have so many meanings. There are so many connections to the letters and to Foer’s writing. They were all so incredibly close that they did not even know it. For one they are all on the same planet. They were incredibly close to each other at one point in their lives. Thomas Shell and his son are incredibly close in a way that is unexplainable father to son. They were not close in a relationship but close like the way they thought and a genetic way.
The grandparents were not incredibly close they were incredibly far apart. She wanted to experience love, and the only love he saw was her sister Anna. They were not really close in their relationship or in any other way. They just got along. They had to create spaces where they do not exist to be incredibly close, and yet they were so far away if one does not exist.
Oskar and his father were incredibly close. In all ways they were as close as they could get to each other. There relationship must have been so great that he could not let go. Even after his father died they must have been incredibly closer than they were.
Everyone that was once incredibly close was incredibly close to each other.
Now on extremely loud I believe that it means that exactly what it says. They are all yelling in their minds they are extremely loud in their emotions. You can obviously tell what they all want. The grandfather wants to have his Anna back. The grandmother wants the relationship her sister had. Oskar wants his father back in his world. The mother wants to move on so that she will not always feel guilty.
It is also obvious that they all love each other so much and it is screaming in their emotions. “ Here is the point of everything I have been tying to tell you, Oskar. It’s always necessary. I love you, Grandma”(314). Then finally Oskar shows that he really loves her enough to move on. “It’s OK to fall in love again”(324).
Oskar is always extremely loud in the way his ideas come out. He is always inventing. He also says that his pessimistic thought always come out of his head. His mind is extremely loud a least to himself. Every one has an extremely loud mind to them.
This is what this whole book is about moving on. It took him on this journey and the journey was a bust, but the idea of the journey was to get closer to his father. He did he did get closer to his father.
In this book the title says it all Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
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