Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Discussion Questions
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Discussion Questions
The Book
- What is the significance of the title? Where does the title originate in the text of the book?
- What is your opinion on the writing style of the author? How would you describe the style to a friend who was interested in reading the book?
- What did you think about the way the author used words on the page? Some pages, for example, had nothing more than a single line of text. Others had the text crowded and overlapping. Did this add to the meaning of the book for you? Distract you? Why?
- What did the various photographs in the book mean:
- Pictures of doorknobs. Is there a pattern?
- The falling man in the book? The flip-book at the end?
- The writing samples from the pen store?
- The cover of the book of the hand with writing on it?
- The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center are a source for strong emotions. How did you feel when reading this book? What 9/11 related scenes or images are most important to you?
Oskar and his Quest
- What did you think about the main character, Oskar? How would you describe Oskar to a friend? Could you imagine meeting him in real life and, if so, what would you expect him to say or do?
- How did you relate to him as he pursued his quest?
- What was the effect of Oskar on the people he met on his quest? How did the people change as a result of meeting Oskar?
- How was Oskar’s mother involved in his quest?
The Grandparents
- How did the storyline of the grandparents compliment the story of Oskar and his quest?
- Describe how you felt about each of the grandparents. How did you feel about their relationship?
- Compare Oskar and his reaction to tragedy to the reaction of each grandparent to tragedy. How did each character react to the terrible and violent loss in their lives?
- Why do you think the author introduced the Dresden plotline of the grandparents into a book that involves the attack on the World Trade Center?
- What is the meaning of Oskar’s various inventions? Is there a pattern to them?
- What makes the key such a powerful symbol in the book? What does the key open, besides the obvious physical lock we learn about near the end of the book? Is there meaning to the fact that we never learn what the key protects in reality?
- Writing is a powerful image that appears in many forms in the book. Letters, letter writing, journals, writing samples and even tattoos make appearances. Why is writing such a powerful thing in the world the author created? What does each instance of the writing do for/to the characters?
- What do you think the ‘something’ and ‘nothing’ of the grandparents’ apartment is meant to represent? How does this fit into the larger storyline of the book, of dealing with loss, of dealing with grief?
- Are there any common themes that run through the storyline and the symbols found in this book? Grief and loss have been mentioned here already. What about the ability of people to connect with each other? The ability to heal? The ability to make meaning from tragedy? Maybe none of these?
{ 48 comments }
All recommendations to improve these questions are welcome. Please let me know what I can do to improve them…
Pictures of doorknobs. Is there a pattern?
There isn’t a pattern, they’re there because before Oskars grandpa left their house, he took pictures of all the doorknobs.
The writing samples from the pen store?
They show that “Thomas Shell”, the grandfather, had been there and tested all the things in the store
“thomas Schell” is actually the father of Oskar. (refer to page 50)
I believe that “Thomas Schell” is the name of both the father and grandfather…thus the reason why Oskar is confused when he sees it (he’s never known his grandfather, so the only “Thomas” he knew was his dad…so it turns the entire quest into a mystery).
In the discussion group I joined after reading this book, one of the people said that the locks below the door knobs might have a pattern — locked, unlocked, no lock, a keyhole. The first three seem to be a pattern, but the last one? I suppose it could be a psychological ‘statement’ about Oskar as he copes with his father’s death, some symbolism related to the mystery key he has…like any symbol, I’m sure it can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways.
i think Oskar is like most of the people who lost their loves at the worst day, they are just trying to find a way to deal with that tragedy
…moved from an unrelated page to this one, as I suspect this is where it was intended to be entered. (matt)
What about the number pages? Do they add any real meaning to the book?
I really want to know if there is any meaning at all in those pages… If anyone knows, please tell me.
That’s a question I’ve also asked, but I haven’t found a translation anyplace yet. I think I’ll probably have to start translating it and see what comes out.
…hmm…The easiest might be to write a program that takes a numeric word and spits out alphabetical combinations.
I’m incresingly skeptical that the numeric code is (a) worth the time to translate and (b) meaningful. I’ve used a few software tools to try to do the translation and it’s just coming out as nonsense.
Many of the ‘sentences’ in the passage are too long to try to brute force translate by running through all the combinations. A 10-digit sentence on the first page didn’t translate to anything at all, either.
I’ve also tried to do some translation by hand, but nothing is popping out as I think it should.
So I’m starting to think that the whole numeric string is junk. I could be wrong, but I’m not very hopeful and the value of this is quickly diminishing.
hi all, the numbers page…translates to letter on the telephone
#1 being nothing
#2 being a,b,c
#3 being d,e,f and so forth
Haven’t translated all of them yet, will take a while.
I’m getting ahead of myself, but I finshed a post about what I’ve found that will be up tomorrow. the numbers “1″ and “0″ do not appear anyplace, as you’d expect. I’m still very skeptical that the numbers are meaningful and not just a random string.
haha, you don’t have to be skeptical, they DO mean something.
Are the page numbers all the prime numbers…or am I confusing this with another book? If Prime numbers, is this a connection to the Stephen Hawking thread?
Ruth, the book you are talking about is “The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time” where Mark Haddon, the Author used Prime numbers to divide the chapters. However, the numbers here coincide with letter on the telephone. #2 being a, b or c and #3 d,e or f and so forth.
That’s right…I forgot. I do remember thinking that there were a number of similarities between Oskar and the boy in “The Curious Incident…”. While I think there is a certain ‘boy-ness’ captured in each story, there’s also an element in each that makes me doubt that a real boy would act or react the way that the main characters of each of these stories…
I’ll try to answer every question, in order, as insightfully and coherently as I can:
The Book
One–The title is ironic, given the dominant issue of impersonal death. It sounds cheesy and romantic. It sounds like a coffee commercial. It’s also literal, denoting the intimacy of the disaster. Given that the thematic event is “extremely loud” and “incredibly close” and that the author obviously had that idea in mind, you should change your question accordingly.
Two–No. No. Generally speaking, you shouldn’t ask yes or no questions.
Three–The author isn’t one much for precision. He said he didn’t want to constrain himself at all. He didn’t conform to any kind of structure. The words and their carefree kind of distortion remind me of a big goopy gunky colorful glob of Play-Doh, with Kool-Aid spilled on it, with maybe a couple of door knobs poking out of the side, and an American Flag stuck on top. Aristotle said that amorphous composition is the sign of an amateur. Foer’s style honestly declares that he was very confused. He’s more interested in playing with pretty colors than painting a clear picture. That’s all it basically meant.
Four–More pretty colors. The symbols, though meaningful, are haphazardly connected, as if he knew they meant something, but he didn’t care enough to establish anything but a loose, artificial, connection, revealing that he didn’t understand the meaning of his own work, but did it merely because it felt right.
Dot One–No pattern. Door knob means door means possibility. Lots of door knobs means lots of possibilities.
Dot Two–He turned back time. Impossible.
Dot Three–A metaphor of creativity, the same thing, different colors. Like the knobs.
Dot Four–Foer writes on himself.
Five–Yes. Yes. Yes. And remember what I said about yes or no questions.
Characters and The Plot
Oskar and his Quest
One–No.
Two–Free but frustrated. Oskar’s method was very inefficient and his reasoning was poor. The message seems to be that it is the pursuance of an object that is more satisfying than the attainment. But the literal symbolic translation is to attempt ridiculously arduous and irrational tasks. His behavior is thus rewarded with convenient plot development. I couldn’t relate to his poor calculations, however the message that the means justify the ends is consistent with sentimentality.
Three–Oskar made people happy. You’re asking the same question twice, but with different words.
Four–She knew he was wandering around, which is dangerous. She maintained some level of omniscience. Mothers don’t like it when their children die.
The Grandparents
One–The grandparents‚Äô story was boring. By contrast, it made Oskar‚Äôs quest seem much more interesting.
Two–I didn‚Äôt think the grandmother was really that pretty, or else she would have been hit on by other men. The grandfather was also inefficient. The nothing/something paradox caricaturizes the uncertainty of their happiness.
Three–They all got sad. It must be genetic or something.
Four–Because there aren’t enough disasters to choose from.
Symbolism and So On
One–The invention of the talking anus is a warning to the reader. Like saying, “Don’t take me seriously! I’m talking out of my ass!” The rest is wishful thinking on the part of the author.
Two–The key has opened my heart. No.
Three–Writing controls the universe and the characters are controlled by writing.
Four–Why are you asking me? I already answered this.
Five–Yes. And, so, what about that ability of people to connect with each other? I don’t know. You tell me. “The ability to heal?” isn’t even a question. It’s a question fragment. And what about the ability to make meaning of tragedy? Maybe none of these, what? Clarify.
sirscreamsalot@gmail.com
Thanks for the reply…I plan to read over your response later today and then go back to the original list of questions. I know that they can be improved and it helps to get some feedback.
Sorry if it sounds rude and undignified at some points. I’m still experimenting with voices.
Also, it may be unwise to change the questions now, because then my comment will make no sense to anybody who reads it. Sorry about that, too.
You make a number of good points, so I’ll certainly be updating the questions. This isn’t meant to be a static document…so as I get feedback, I plan to wrap it into the questions. I’ll make a note on your original comment (and future comments) that the questions have changed. Thanks again!
The title is a direct quote from Oskar’s description of birds that appear at the window just as Mr. (Abe, was it?) Black has allowed his hearing aid to be turned on for the first time in decades. Given numerous other references to things that are loud and things/people that are close throughout the book, I believe it relates to Oskar’s feelings of connectedness to the world. Speech, eyesight, hearing: each is compromised for some character at some time, but these are the senses or abilities that allow people to interact. Nothing spaces. No children. Words locked in a can or on a machine in a closet. Humans can tune out when traumatized or hurt. Tuning back in probably makes things seem extremely loud and incredibly close, maybe frightening, thrilling, but it’s how to move on.
I work with beads as a hobby and when making something random a teacher said that the eye seeks a pattern. It seems people are looking for that in the book with the knobs. Also, I noticed that the mother and the grandmother never have their names mentioned. Do they? If so where? What do you think the reason for this is? Karen
how far have you got with your translation of the numered pages???
With regard to #1 of “THe Book”
The title is, in fact, a direct quote from an event in the book. Oskar says that the flock of birds (the first thing Mr. Black hears in howevermany years) flies by the window “extremely loud and incredibly close.”
Considering the book with that (very beautiful) scene in mind leads a reader to a very different conclusion than simply the words themselves.
;]
the numbers actually do translate into words. open up a text messsage on your cell phone, and if it’s like mine, it will suggest words. this makes it a lot easier to translate. i didn’t get through the majority of it, but what i remember it saying was “hello. is it really you? this is not a joke.” it repeated that stuff some at the beginning. i don’t really remember what else it said, but it’s defintley something to look in to.
69 6263 47 354 32586 263 4 5878 2774833
My name is Eli Dalto and I just arrived
28 843 2477678 4 6333 86 3463 67 3465357!
at the airport I need to find Ms Finkels!
I’m e-mailing Safran-Foer to see if this is right before I go any further.
Hi! I’m so curious to find out what the numbers mean. Did Safran-Foer reply, Jason?
one of the easiest ways to help with the numbers is to use predictive text on cell phones, like the previous comment:
e.g:
43556
HELLO
4357
HELP
5683
LOVE
8447 47 668 2 5653
THIS IS NOT A JOKE
but I can’t figure out the one he repeats:
4748732559968 (top of p 272)
4,3,5,7,6,3!
thanks!
ps, was anyone else moved by the ‘i heart ny’ man?
4748732559968 = is it really you
Hi.
I teach this novel, and my students were obsessed with translating the number pages. Finally, I wrote to Foer’s editor and received this reply from the author himself. I received his permission to post it at imdb, and I assume it will be fine here as well:
Oh. Well. You have to be a member of imdbPro to access the comments now. But basically, he wrote that the number patterns were meaningless. He tied that to the theme of people trying to communicate and failing. He also hoped that we didn’t find the time spent trying to translate the numbers as wasted, but he said it was time to move on. It was a gracious letter in which he named each of students, and the generosity of spirit outweighed any disappointment we felt that the numbers were random.
About the title: as Oskar and Mr. Black are talking to the woman who lives at the top of the Empire State Building you could find the words “extremely loud” and “incredibly close” at a little distance.
They are actually talking about alarms for birds to avoid to die smashing windows. Maybe it could be another invention related to the “worst day”. Had it been there such alarm, people would have known about the approaching airplanes.
Why would the numbers be there, and in the beginning, are able to be read if, in fact they mean nothing? That really doesnt make any sense to me at all…also, if you read through all of it, you can repeatedly find 5,6,8,3 which means love… Is that there so we THINK he might actually be communicating or is that there just to fill up the pages?
Does anyone know the significance of the colour white in this novel? I’m using the book for my English class at the moment, and my students and I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to Oskar only wearing white, so I’m hoping someone here can help us out…
oskar uses the words “incredibly” and “extremely” very often throughout the book, too. i’ve been wondering what that tells us about him…
the reason why oskar wears white throughout the book is because (as he told his peers in his presentation on nuclear bombs) damaging rays of nuclear energy will not be able to go through it – ot at least, that is what he is telling his classmates. It was in the book.
I believe that that is one reason, but I saw a connection with his father as well. When Oskar is searching through his father’s bedroom (right before he breaks the blue vase), Oskar mentions his father’s white shirts (there are a number of them, which suggests that Oskar’s father wore them frequently); therefore, white may also be tied to Oskar’s search/desire for a father-son relationship.
I think the Dresden connection was a perfect segue to Oskar’s worst day. Horror and the pain of great loss can be experienced and resolved in different ways. Some people stall for their entire lives–waiting for resolution, forgiveness, absolution…whatever. The grandmother’s line..”When I was a girl, my life was never that was always getting louder.” “Louder” that is the life around us…the life in us, and the joy of life is loud. If we become cold or apathetic or turn off our emotions, we “learn to feel less” (the grandfather). Oskar talks about many people becoming incredibly close, and that is the connections–Radfordian pinpointed that. I think the title is about overcoming the worst day–the birds, the flight, the birdseed shirt–the birds could lift you up and you would be OK. Love and forgiveness are huge themes throughout–in the patterned numbers and in the grandmother’s last message, in the mother’s last message, in the grandfather’s day book and letters–the kisses, the touches, the hugs. Pain and grief can isolate you and things will be silent and still and very distant or through love and forgiveness the joy of life can come back (hearing aid for Mr. Black) and you can bring everyone very close.
There are a few pages in which the lines getting increasingly closer and closer until they overlap eachother.
What was the symbolism in doing this?
Is it a reference to “Incredibly Close?”
@caroline
Thats no symbol.
His grandfather writes that he has not enough space in his book to write everything down he want to:
“There won’t be enough pages in this book for me to tell you what I need to tell you, I could write smaller, I could slice the pages down their edges to make two pages, I could write over my own writing, but then what?”
My thought was that the numbered page probably translates into a different language, since after just a few numbers, it’s clear that an English translation isn’t forthcoming.
My best guess is that it’s German, (or perhaps French, as the author does play around in french a little in the book), unless it’s a transliterated Yiddish (since yiddish uses Hebrew characters).
The above points are refuted by the fact that he clearly used English for the examples (hello, is it really you, love, death) Probably a dead end, but truly, if the author wrote this as a code and had some fun with it, he probably doesn’t want to just tell people what it says.
And like everything else in life, we can draw meaning from it, even if it wasn’t imbued with a specific meaning.
It’s definitely not German.
But I think it’s just random numbers
I figured out that 47 48 732559 968? (asked by sam) translates as
“is it really you?”
can’t translate any more though…
oh damm….just re-read the thread and saw someone already translated the “4748732559968?” straight afterwards….my bad!
this book confuses me. if someone could help me with understanding the symbolism of the key that would be great. i understand it connects with opening things but i’m having a hard time connecting it with the entire story and how it focuses on … everything!
if any one could post some quotes the show the inability of the characters to communicate that would be great thanks!
What is the theme of this book?
same as laura, any examples would be greatly appreciated!
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