8/3/2019 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Essay

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EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE ESSAY- COLLIN GIULIANI

The novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Ofer is based

upon a 9-year old kid named Oskar Schell, trying to find the answer to a lock that fits

a key. This could lead to discovering answers about his father, who died in the

attacks of September 11th, 2001. The attacks on 9/11 are the outline of this story.

On Tuesday morning on September 11th, 2001, it was a crystal clear day in

New York City. But in an orchestrated terrorist attack, led by Al Qaeda, three cities

in the northeast were shocked by terrorism. These cities were Washington DC, on a

flight that attempted to hit the Pentagon (an unsuccessful attack), Shanksville,

Pennsylvania (the attack was thwarted by passengers on the flight), and New York

City. The terrorist attack on New York City was the most successful attack for Al

Qaeda, as the Twin Towers, who were etched into the New York City skyline, were

torn down as planes flew into the towers.

The leader behind this attack was Osama Bin Laden, who led Al Qaeda. After

the attacks, Osama lived in a secret, undisclosed location for ten years in Pakistan.On May 1st, 2011, nearly ten years after the devastating attacks, naval forces from

the United States tracked down his location, which happened to be a gorgeous

mansion in Pakistan, and killed him.

Thousands of people that were working in the Twin Towers that day died,

either by jumping out of the building due to the unbearable heat, directly from the

contact when the plane hit the building, trying to escape and dying then, or by dying

when the building collapsed. The latter was the case for Oskars dad in the novel,who was waiting for a helicopter to rescue him from the building, but the building

collapsed. Hundreds of firefighters died as well, trying to rescue people or by

searching through the rubble and dying by breathing in excessive amounts of ash.

The events of September 11th left the entire country in a state of shock.

Thousands of families in the New York metropolitan area and across Long Island

who had family members working in the towers that day lost a loved one. However,

following the days after September 11th, the entire country stood together united as

one. Following the attacks, the true American spirit showed, as well as strong sense

of nationalism and patriotism.

Currently, the site where the Twin Towers once stood is a memorial known

as Ground Zero. Fountains and memorials of those who died in the attacks highlight

the area. Every year on September 11th, the names of those who died in the attacksare said in a ceremony. The aftermath of 9/11 included tighter security at sporting

events and airports to ensure that nothing of this nature would ever happen again.

The days of September 11th remain scarred into the hearts of Americans who

witnessed the event and watched it live. Between the buildings coming down, the

planes colliding into the buildings and the photographs of people jumping out of the

towers, September 11th, 2001, is a day that will live in infamy for the United States of

America.

8/3/2019 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Essay

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a novel written in 2005 by Jonathan

Foer. The protagonist in this novel, Oskar Schell, is a nine-year-old boy living in New

York City whose father died in the attacks of September 11th. Oskar is determined to

discover the world around him and learn more about his father, and wants to

connect himself to his deceased father. As he is learning about the attacks in his

homemade laboratory, he finds a lock with the name Blackon the back of the lock.This leads him to go to every person in New York City with the last name Blackto

find a key that matches the lock. Oskar hopes that by pairing the two up, he can

become closer to his father and find out answers that he previously had not known.

Many references to the attacks of September 11th are stated and well

documented in this novel. For example, Foer spreads out the phone calls that

Oskars Dad left the house throughout the novel. The first stated that something

major just happened (which happened to be the plane crashing into the First Twin

Tower), but that everything was going to be okay. Throughout the book, the tone of

his phone calls gets somewhat more anxious, as this is apparent after the plane

crashes into the Second Twin Tower, which is the one that he worked in. As timeprogressed, from putting the towel on his body to keep himself warm, to crying for

help after the First Twin Tower collapsed with no help in sight, to then breaking up

the conversation when the Second Twin Tower collapsed (which ultimately was

how he died), Jonathan Foer beautifully portrays realism of the event through a

fictional novel.

While the phone calls by Oskars Dad was the most blatant reference to the

attacks of September 11th, there were other notable connections to the event

throughout the novel. These connections begin early in the novel, when Oskar is

quoted on page three writing, sometimes I think it would be weird if there were a

skyscraper that moved up and down while its elevator stayed in place. So if youwanted to go to the ninety-fifth floor, youd just press the 95 button and the ninety-

fifth floor would come to you. Also, that could be extremely useful, because if youre

on the ninety-fifth floor, and a plane hits below you, the building could take you to

go the ground, and everyone could be safe This led to the assumption that Oskars

Dad died when the building collapsed, which was later proved to be true towards

the latter portion of the book.

Other notable references occur through the work of photography placed

throughout the book. For example, pictures of Oskars searches throughout his time

in his laboratory are placed accordingly throughout the book. This ranges from

pictures of Arthur Ashe Stadium (site of the U.S. Open in Flushing, New York) to aman holding up a skull, to two turtles playing with each other. The artwork

throughout the novel ties into the context of the literature, as exemplified on page

325. Oskar is quoted saying, I ripped the pages out of the book. I reversed the

order, so the last one was first, and the first was last. When I flipped through them, it

looked like the man was floating up through the sky. The corresponding artwork

showed a man jumping from one of the Twin Towers in reverse order, which

correlates to the previous context.