The way emotions are portrayed in a story is vital in allowing readers to connect with the characters and really understand the personalities they portray. Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close allows insight into the life nine-year-old Oskar Schell, who had recently lost his father to the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Oskar’s grandparents also narrate and illuminate their story in different parts of the novel, explaining a similar tragedy they suffered through when their hometown of Dresden, Germany was bombed during World War II. Not only can the extreme emotions from experiencing these events be portrayed through the characters’ own narratives, but Foer also makes stylistic decisions by …show more content…
Determined to find the lock that belongs to the key, he searches all over New York City for those with the last name Black, which happened to be the name written on the envelope. While on his journey, pictures of what Oskar passes and experiences can be seen throughout the novel. These pictures are put in Oskar’s scrapbook titled “Stuff That happened to Me” and are placed successively to make it seem like the reader is looking at Oskar’s actual scrapbook. Ironically, most of the things in his scrapbook are not things that have actually happened to him, but rather things such as people, places, and things in newspapers that have impacted him. For example, a photo Stephen Hawking, an aerial view of New York City, and a rack full of keys can be seen by the readers. These photos allow readers to see through the eyes of Oskar, a young child, and understand the world that he exists in. For example, the photo of Stephen Hawking allows readers to see the significant impact that he has on Oskar’s life. It is obvious that Oskar looks up to Stephen Hawking because of the many letters he writes to him, hoping for a response back one day. Oskar can relate to Stephen Hawking; They both are different than most people and have been through many struggles. Seeing a picture of Stephen Hawking in Oskar’s scrapbook allows readers to see what Oskar finds important in his life, allowing his …show more content…
In the chapters where Oskar’s grandfather (Thomas) is narrating, readers can find pages with only one sentence on them. These simple sentences explain the random and unknown conversations he has had with different people. For example, these pages include sentences such as “Thank you, but I’m about to burst” on page 24, “I don’t speak, I’m sorry” on page 262, “Help” on page 26, and “Please marry me” on page 32. These sentences are all from Thomas’s day books in which he uses to communicate with others. Each page, Thomas explains, only contains one sentence and can be found in books everywhere throughout his house. He uses this method of communication because of the trauma he suffered through when he was a teenager. He began to lose his voice after surviving the firebombing in his hometown of Dresden where he lost his entire family and most importantly, his pregnant girlfriend, Ana, who he was madly in love with. The portrayal of Thomas’ day book allows readers to see how difficult it is for Thomas to live his life not being able to speak and having to write down everything he wants to say. Readers can see that Thomas’ mundane way of communicating with only simple sentences must be lonely and boring. He lives a life full of dullness by not experiencing the excitement of conversation, giving the impression that he is unwilling to express his thoughts and feelings to those he communicates
One example of the emotions shared with the reader was Corrie’s internal conflict of hating the Nazis and later trying to forgive them. After the war had ended, Corrie gave a sermon in Munich, speaking about how God asks people to forgive one another. When she was done speaking, a previous SS Guard in Ravensbruck, whom she did in fact recognize, came up to shake her hand. The book states, “The man thrust out his hand to shake Corrie’s, and as he did so, hatred filled her heart. She would not and could not lift her hand to shake his…Her arm stretched out as though she had no control over it , and she shook the man’s hand. As she did so, all the hatred she felt melted away, and she knew she had forgiven him (Benge & Benge, 1998, p. 192).” This depicts the emotional conflict that Corrie was undergoing to the reader, showing a powerful story of strength and forgiveness. Another way the story’s vitality was shown was by the authors’ portrayals of the characters in such a way that the reader gets to discover many aspects of them. Descriptions of the characters appearances and actions showed many facets of their personalities. One example of a character’s personality being shown was when the text states, “These desperate Jewish people had come to them for refuge, and they would not
Tony Palmer, the author of “Break of Day”, tells a story that takes place in and out of war. The story follows a man named Murray Barrett who lives in the times of ww2. He ends up finding himself in the middle of it, down at Port Moresby. During the midst of war, Murray ends up coming across an injured Sid Archer, a childhood enemy and the man who stole Will’s (Murray’s older brother) childhood lover. Murray helps Sid instead of abandoning him, despite their childhood drama. In this book, Palmer really focuses on the themes of family, death, and bravery. He presents to us how complicated families can get, how people deal with death differently from others, and how there are many forms of bravery.
Many times readers lose interest in stories that they feel are not authentic. In addition, readers feel that fictitious novels and stories are for children and lack depth. Tim O’ Brien maintains that keeping readers of fiction entertained is a most daunting task, “The problem with unsuccessful stories is usually simple: they are boring, a consequence of the failure of imagination- to vividly imagine and to vividly render extraordinary human events, or sequences of events, is the hard-lifting, heavy-duty, day-by-day, unending labor of a fiction writer” (Tim O’ Brien 623). Tim O’ Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” examines the correlation between the real experiences of war and the art of storytelling. In O’Brien’s attempt to bridge the gap between fiction and non-fiction, the narrator of the story uses language and acts of violence that may be offensive to some.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is a non-fiction novel written by an American author. The book mostly follows the three main characters, Oskar, his grandmother, and his grandfather, Thomas Schell, Sr. Oskar is a nine-year-old boy from New York whose father died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. He is exceptionally intelligent and curious and goes on a quest through New York City’s five boroughs to find the lock which belongs to a key his father had in his closet. Between chapters, a separate story is told of his grandparents marriage and life in Dresden, Germany. His grandfather, Thomas Schell Sr. is mute and collects stacks of daybooks in which he writes what he needs to say. His first love, Anna, died in a bombing while pregnant with his child. Shortly after starting his new life in the United States, he runs into Anna’s sister, they get married, and he leaves her after he found out his wife was pregnant. His wife, Oskar’s grandmother, lives across the street from Oskar and his mother and helped raise him.
Readers develop a compassionate emotion toward the characters, although the characters are detached and impersonal, due to the tone of The Road. The characters are unidentified, generalizing the experience and making it relatable – meaning similar instances can happen to anyone, not just the characters in the novel. McCarthy combined the brutality of the post-apocalyptic world with tender love between father and son through tone.
The life and events Louis Zamperini experienced are so incredible that one cannot help but feel the adrenaline, anger, and sorrow he must have felt. As Louis battles starvation and the constant torture of his captors, readers want nothing more than to rush to his aid in times of pain, cry with him in times of anguish, and cheer him on when all hope seems lost. While in Kwajalein, an island used to torture prisoners of war, readers travel alongside Louis, cheering him on as “the guards sought to deprive [Louis] of something that had sustained [him] even as all else had been lost: dignity” (Hillenbrand 212). One of the guards’ favorite humiliation tactics was forcing each of the 200 or so prisoners “to walk down the line striking [Louis] with his fist” (Hillenbrand 158); if the punch was not hard enough, both Louis and his men would be clubbed continually on the head. As readers become emotionally invested, the story becomes less about a stranger and more about a lifelong friend. The emotional connection readers develop for Louis makes the visual that much harder to endure, for every blow and hardship Louis faces makes readers feel as if they are helplessly watching a friend in need. Such enthrallment in a novel makes for such an excellent read and an overall outstanding non-fiction action
Through war and gender, Susan Griffin interplays between private tribulation and public tragedy. The excerpt, ‘Our Secret’, from her book,‘A Chorus of Stones’, helps to set information about the first atomic bombs. Griffin alternates between the information of the first atomic bombs and the struggles in the personal lives of regular people and major figures, such as, Heinrich Himmler and her own family. While reading ‘Our Secret’, the lessons of reading, writing, and thinking are iterated throughout the work. The structure and features of her work are foreign to many such as myself, because the use of this method has not been seen before. When many read ‘Our Secret’, it is the first time that they are encountering this type of writing method. It keeps the readers interested in what was being read the entire time. The alternations between the italicized sections and her story require the re-reading of the two portions allowing for better comprehension. To better understand her method of writing looking at the connections within the text is vitally important. Without these connections, between such things as the first atomic bombs, DNA/biology, Heinrich Himmler’s life, and many other topics, the reading may make no sense at all to the readers. It would seem to the readers, through their first time of reading it, that it just jumps from one topic to the next and that may begin to confuse the reader. The reader may have seen this type of method in another text before, and they would be able to understand a lot more than the readers who haven’t seen this type of writing method used before. Students gain a deeper understanding of the text when they recognize connections. These connections connect the reader to the characters being discu...
Appealing to the reader’s emotions through stories is a commonly used technique, and Scelfo uses it beautifully. She starts the article out by introducing the reader to a young girl named Kathryn Dewitt. Whether they mean to or not, the reader develops some kind of emotional connection to this young girl. They feel as if they are a part of the story, for when something goes well, the reader feels good and vice versa.
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
It is vital for an author to warrant that his or her characters’ emotions are outwardly expressed. Therefore, William Osborne writes without constraints when conveying emotion: “Adrenaline was making Leni’s heart thud…her stomach came rushing up to her throat as the plane dropped like a stone” (Osborne 48-49). The descriptive language in the quote provides a raw perspective of a situation of great magnitude. Restricting emotion creates a bland story that prohibits the reader from comprehending the amplitude of the scenarios presented in the book. For this reason, Osborne uses his liberties as a writer to communicate the fact that a young girl is preparing to be dropped from a plane into an unfamiliar frontier. Simply stating the girl’s situation would not drive the reader to feel empathy; however, Osborne includes the girl’s sentiments, virtually insisting that the reader enter the fictional world to partake in the event. Further, Osborne’s expressions of emotion are effective because they are not simple assertions. Instead, they encompass the character’s surroundings and mental state. In addition, they even foreshadow future events: “Leni’s mind was racing, on the edge of panic. She had to do something, and fast” (Osborne 105). Superficially, this quote shows that Leni is scared. However, thorough analysis suggests that Osborne is using Leni’s
In “The Destructors”, the mood of the story is driven by a war torn town post WWII.
...acters, an unidentified apocalypse, and specks of detail, allowing readers to imagine a desolated setting on a blank canvas. Its two main characters, who symbolize the last strength for the human race, are forced onto a road that stretches to the coastal shores. The absent presence of everyday humans, plants, and wildlife generally fits the science fiction genre. Conversations between both father and son are limited to plain words that the child may only comprehend to. As a result, all responses produce disheartening lines of gloom and obscurity, though the child remains innocent during the days of darkness. He is also an icon of hope that the father holds onto, endlessly tending to the child’s living. Overall, this novel presents the terrible apocalypse in the modern times of before, to the aftermath between two characters who will soon meet their fate.
... conclusion, Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close doesn’t sugarcoat tragedy. It faces it head on and without a sensor, thus allowing it to maintain historical truth. The use of the scrapbook allows the reader to see into the mind of the narrators and reveals personality traits that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. By writing from the point of view of three different narrators, Foer has allowed the reader to see into the minds of people in three different stages of grief. He also focusing primarily on life after trauma, specifically differentiating between acceptance and attachment, and provides the reader with solid advice on how to deal with the tragic aftermath of trauma. Most importantly, the story of the Schell family shows the reader that they are not alone, and that traumatic experience do not have to define who she becomes as a person.
The two pictures, both mentioned together at the end of the novel, but taken at different points of Robert's life, display the extreme transformation that has taken place in his life. It makes you look back over all that has happened to Robert and determine what took place for him to have gone through such a change.
Everyday we observe people’s contrasting opinions. Whether it be in politics, school, or in one’s personal life, emotions are often a major factor when it comes to expressing one’s ideas. In writing, an audience must be aware this, and decide for themselves if an author is being bias or equally representing all sides to a situation. In both Into the Wild and In Cold Blood, the authors form distinct opinions about their main characters and believe family structure heavily influenced their future.