The Main Themes and Symbolism in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Guilt connects everyone, even though people may not be able to help themselves directly, they can help each other and receive help in return. Tragedies can be extremely hard to bear alone, but can be better managed with others help to lessen their pain and guilt.

The author, Foers, shows Okar feeling incredibly guilty about the phone messages his dad left the morning of his death. This guilt is shown by hiding the answering machine tapes from 9/11 because he is too ashamed to admit to his mom that he didn't pick up the phone. It is a shock when Oskar shares the hidden tapes with Grandpa, considering he barely knows him and hasn't shared them with anyone, but is later understood by showing their connection from both feeling guilt from Dad's passing. Neither Grandpa nor Oskar gave Dad a proper goodbye. Both of those characters are guilty for that, as well as for simply living and breathing after Dad's last breath was taken, which connected them in a way and when they dug up Dads empty coffin, they both finally felt a little closure.This is one of the many ways Foers shows how guilt and trauma connects each individual throughout the novel. Oskar begins a quest to figure out who “Black” is, which becomes his way of coping with his trauma and guilt from losing his Dad.

Oskars Grandpa is also overtaken by guilt when the death of his pregnant wife, Anna, occurs from the Dresden firebombing. The “survivors guilt”, shown within those chapters, leads to the daily loss of words, which eventually led to complete loss of speech. Though he could not talk, Grandpa wrote letters. In Grandpas chapters, he writes long letters, specifically to Oskars dad, but never sent them. Though the guilt of not sending those letters and the guilt of abandoning his son became overwhelming, Grandpa is able to connect with his family when he moves in with Grandma and find peace in unity.

Guilt connects Grandpa and Oskar, as well as every other character in this novel. Tragedies hardly ever have a direct solution, but may have many indirect routes if you don't give up. The author conveys that the help of others is presented as a way to deal with the trauma and guilt that is heavily weighing on each character in the novel.

The unique narrative style in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is chosen to further develop many themes throughout the novel. One of the unique styles in this novel is the abundance of symbolic pages, such as the blank pages, which are a strong way to express the themes and thoroughly indicat points being made by the author throughout the novel. For example, the blank pages are representing emptiness caused by the suffering from loss, guilt, and trauma. Grandma pours her heart out onto blank pages and doesn't even realize due to her eyesight. Grandpa notices this, but chose to keep to himself and tell her that her story is wonderful. Those blank pages were meant to express her whole life, but at the end, show nothing except a blak, white piece of paper.

Another example of symbolic pages are the images of doorknobs. The images are scattered throughout the novel, conveying another important big message. One door closes, another one opens. Being too attached to the past and what you are familiar with may lead to missed opportunities that stand right in front of you. The author is showing that opening new doors can have a positive connotation. A locked door could be an indication of prevention of possibilities. And a doorknob on fire, as shown in chapter 8, represents hopelessness.

In addition to the symbolic pages, the author uses unique structures in each of the characters chapters. Such as Oskars scattered writing, showing his sporadic thoughts. Grandmas chapters, which are all titled “In My Feelings” and are all letters to Oskar from the airport, are written with very short sentences. This could be for many reasons. In grandpas chapters, his run on sentences indicate his jumbled thoughts that he cannot verbally express. Eventually, those thoughts overtook him as shown on pages 281 to 283, where the author shows Grandpa slowly running out of space by the sentences becoming closer and closer together until the page became completely covered in black ink from overlapped words. The way each narrators writing is structured shows the reader character development from the beginning to the end of the novel. This novel is structured to make the novel appear as a puzzle, putting each piece together- chapter by chapter until the final message is revealed. Foer uses evidence, such as explained above, and details to help develop many themes, along with guilt and trauma, throughout the novel by the structure of each chapter in which gives the reader a window into each character's thoughts.