Extremely Close By Jonathan Safran Foer

Guidance is an important factor in growing up and maturing. Kids and young adults must have a person who they trust and feel understands them, a person who will help guide them through life and teach them lessons they need to know. Without guidance, children will never learn right from wrong, nor be able to find meaning in life. What happens when a child has that source of guidance, but loses it? The book Extremely loud and incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer tells the story of a young boy named Oskar who loses the most important person in his life: his father. Oskar loses not only his father, but the only person he trusts to guide him through life. This significant loss of guidance is shown numerous times throughout the novel as Oskar

Oskar was depressed and didn't know how to get on with his life, all he was capable of was mourning his father. He tried to reminisce and keep his dad's things; finding closure in material possessions that were once owned by his dad. Oskar thinks back to a time where his mom and him were clearing his dad's storage unit, and he wanted to keep everything that his mom was throwing out. He narrates, “‘So it will be okay if I throw away all your things and forget about you after you die?’ (102). This shows that Oskar is trying to find value and closure in something as meaningless as a razor. This becomes a bigger issue as he lets meaningless objects become the centerpiece of his life. Oskar finds a key in a envelope in his dad's bedroom closet with the word “Black” written on it, so he goes on a mission to find the lock it opens. The issue with this is the meaning he puts behind something as simple as a key. He decided to find and track every person with the last name Black, and ask them if they knew about they key. He states, “That night I decided that finding the look was my ultimate raison d'etre- the raison that was the master over all raisons - I really need to hear him (69). He tries to make the key an answer to his answers death, but in reality it's just a key that most likely will lead to nothing. He searches the entire city and drives

One of the Blacks oskar meets is Mr. Black, an old man who tells Oscar all the fascinating things he's been through in his life. Oscar enjoys listening to his stories and they get pretty close quickly. Almost instantly, Mr. Black gives Oscar fatherly advice such as “So many people enter and leave your life! Hundreds of thousands of people! You have to keep the door open so they can come in! But it also means you have to let them go!” (153). Him and Oscar form a strong bond, and this is comforting to Oscar to hear especially after losing his dad. Oskar convinces Mr. Black to join him on his journey of finding the lock. Over their journey together they develop more of a deeper bond and Mr. Black becomes more and more of a father figure to Oskar. Eventually, Mr. Black decides to back out of the mission. “we had been searching together for 6 and a half months, when Mr. Black told me he was finished, and then I was all alone again” (234). During their time together Oskar was less lost and depressed because he had Mr. Black, but when Mr. Black disappeared he was right back to the state he was in when his dad passed away. This proves the importance of having a fatherly figure to guide a young boy through