Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close takes you on an adventure throughout New York in search of a lock that can be opened by a specific key. The main character, Oskar, develops multiple relationships on his voyages to various Black’s residencies. Some of those relationships acted as a temporary substitute of a father figure, since Oskar’s has recently passed away during the 9/11 attacks. Throughout the book, Oskar internally struggles with the lose of his dad, which is his ultimate motivation to find out what this key unlocks. Oskar found fatherly figures that acted like temporary substitutes for his father who has passed and they [Mr.Black and the grandfather] helped Oskar to distract him from his hurt, and listened to him when he needed a friend the most. There is so much suspense built throughout the plot, awaiting for Oskar to find the match to his key, but the answer to Oskar’s key question is a disappointment. The key ended up opening a certain Mr.Black’s safety deposit that had no connection to Oskar, or his family, in any way. Oskar was extremely disappointed that his ventures were for nothing. In the end, those ventures did not aid him in finding out more information about his father, but the experience set an overall positive influence on Oskar’s character. Finding no closure from the key, Oskar started inventing scenarios and fantasies in which him and his father would be together and safe. Oskar tried reversing that day his father died so Thomas, the dad, never ended up going to his meeting at the Twin Towers. Thus, Thomas wouldn’t have died. Oskar makes all these fantasies and inventions inside his head as a coping mechanism to figure out ways he still could have had his father around. For example, Oskar creates in his head an elevator that can shifts floors instead of floors being immovable; if this were true Oskar’s father would have been alive and safe in Oskar’s mind. With all of this in mind, as the reader you see Oskar struggling throughout the plot. You see the hurt he experiences with his travels to the Black’s house, his therapy sessions that have little progress, his disconnected relationship with his mother and the inner thoughts and feelings that are presented to us through the narrating style. By the end, you have been with Oskar on all his adventures and hope for some resolution for the poor boy, but there isn’t one. We learn that Oskar must find out how to cope with the loss of his father from the inside. No outside discovery or force is going to make Oskar feel better about losing his dad. The book ends with a symbolic image of a man falling up the Twin Towers, this is Oskar representing what he wished would have happened, a reversed day. Resulting in a safe father.
Finding no closure from the key, Oskar started inventing scenarios and fantasies in which him and his father would be together and safe. Oskar tried reversing that day his father died so Thomas, the dad, never ended up going to his meeting at the Twin Towers. Thus, Thomas wouldn’t have died. Oskar makes all these fantasies and inventions inside his head as a coping mechanism to figure out ways he still could have had his father around. For example, Oskar creates in his head an elevator that can shifts floors instead of floors being immovable; if this were true Oskar’s father would have been alive and safe in Oskar’s mind. With all of this in mind, as the reader you see Oskar struggling throughout the plot. You see the hurt he experiences with his travels to the Black’s house, his therapy sessions that have little progress, his disconnected relationship with his mother and the inner thoughts and feelings that are presented to us through the narrating style. By the end, you have been with Oskar on all his adventures and hope for some resolution for the poor boy, but there isn’t one. We learn that Oskar must find out how to cope with the loss of his father from the inside. No outside discovery or force is going to make Oskar feel better about losing his dad. The book ends with a symbolic image of a man falling up the Twin Towers, this is Oskar representing what he wished would have happened, a reversed day. Resulting in a safe father.