Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

• Born: January 1, 1977
• Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

First published: 2005

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Narrative

Time of plot: World War II through 2003

Locale: New York City, New York; Dresden, Germany

Principal Characters

Oskar Schell, a precocious nine-year-old

Mom, his mother

Thomas Schell Jr., "Dad," his father

Thomas Schell Sr., "Grandpa," his grandfather, the renter

Grandma, his grandmother, Anna’s sister

Anna, his grandfather’s lover

The Story

Oskar Schell is a brilliant nine-year-old, struggling with depression following the death of his father during the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Oskar was very close to his father but feels distant from his mother, who works long hours. He recalls the funeral and that he and his father used to play games in which he would solve a mystery. The day his father died, Oskar returned home from school to hear messages from him on their answering machine, calling from the collapsing towers.

In a letter from 1963, Thomas Schell Sr., Oskar’s grandfather, writes to Thomas Schell Jr., Oskar’s father, describing his past. He moves from Germany to America and slowly loses his ability to speak, beginning first with "Anna," the name of the woman he loved in Germany. He then tattoos YES and NO onto his hands and writes in notebooks. One day, Thomas Sr. is approached by Anna’s sister in a bakery and she asks him to marry her.

Oskar comes up with fantastic inventions to distract himself from his dad’s absence and his mother’s choice to date a new man. When looking through his dad’s closet, he finds a vase, inside of which are an envelope labeled "Black" and a key. He begins to skip school in order to investigate the key. He decides he must interview everyone surnamed Black in New York City, a total of 472 people.

In a letter from Grandma to Oskar, she describes growing up in Germany. She also describes moving to New York and eventually meeting Thomas Sr., who asks to sculpt her. He actually sculpts a version of Anna, but they agree to marry anyway, promising not to have children.

Scared of terrorist attacks on public transit, Oskar walks to Queens in order to talk to Aaron Black. The second person he talks to, Abby Black, cries about having argued with her husband. Neither Black offers any clues. Oscar then visits Grandma, who is briefly in another room talking to her renter, a man Oskar has never seen.

In a letter to Thomas Jr., Thomas Sr. explains his unhappy marriage. He and his wife divide their home into places where they can speak to each other and places where they cannot. He also explains how much he was in love with Anna in Germany. He gives his wife a typewriter, but having poor vision, she does not realize it is missing a ribbon and only fills blank pages. He prepares himself to leave her.

Oskar performs a silent role in the school’s production of Hamlet, and some of the people he has met on his quest are in the audience. He meets Ada Black, a wealthy woman. He also meets Mr. Black, an old man who lives in his building. Oskar fixes his hearing aid, inspiring Mr. Black to want to leave his apartment. That night, Oskar and his mother argue about whether his father’s spirit is in his empty grave.

In her letter to Oskar, Grandma writes about knowing that her husband did not love her, including her knowledge that she was typing blank pages. She eventually becomes pregnant and tells her husband, knowing that he will leave her. When he does leave, she sets their many pets free in the city.

Oskar interviews a survivor of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima for a school project. Mr. Black agrees to help Oskar, and they meet a number of new people, learning that Agnes Black died in the World Trade Center. Later, his mother brings him to a therapy session, which upsets him.

In another letter to Thomas Jr., Thomas Sr. describes losing Anna (who was pregnant with his child) during the bombing of Dresden.

Oskar again recalls the night before his father died. That night, Thomas Jr. had told Oskar a story about a sixth borough to New York City, which drifted away.

Grandma writes to Oskar about finding him at home and terrified the day of the terrorist attacks. She also describes receiving a letter from her husband, apologizing for his actions.

Oskar and Mr. Black meet Georgia Black and Ruth Black. After these visits, Mr. Black says goodbye to Oskar. Oskar later meets the silent renter in his grandmother’s building. Oskar quickly opens up to the man, sharing the answering machine messages he had secretly kept and talking about his depression. Oskar decides he wants to dig up his father’s empty coffin. The renter says that he will help Oskar but asks him to keep their meeting a secret from Oskar’s grandmother. Oskar does not realize that the renter is his grandfather.

A letter from Thomas Sr. in 2003 describes his return to New York City and learning of his son’s death. He moves into the building of his former wife, and she allows him to watch Oskar through the keyhole in her door. Before he goes with Oskar to dig up his son’s coffin, he makes love with his wife.

Although Oskar is losing interest in the quest, realizing his father is as gone as ever, he gets a call one day from Abby Black, saying she has more information. She takes Oskar to her former husband, William Black, who explains that the key was left to him by his own deceased father, but accidentally sold in the vase. Oskar then tells him about the final message on the answering machine, in which his father simply asks "Are you there" as the tower falls. He then goes to the renter and the two agree to dig up the grave.

Going forward in time, Grandma writes to Oskar to say that she has joined his grandfather at the airport. She asks him to tell his mother he loves her.

In the present, Oskar and the renter head to the cemetery and dig up the grave. Oskar is sad at seeing it empty. The renter then places into the coffin all the letters he wrote Thomas Jr. but never sent. Oskar returns home at four in the morning, his mother still waiting up for him. He tells her that he wants to get better, and she tells him that his father also called her also on the day that he died. Oskar tells her that he hopes she falls in love again and then heads to his room, where he reverses the images in his scrapbook to make it seem as though time is going backwards and his father is returning to him.

Bibliography

Atchison, S. Todd. "‘Why I Am Writing from Where You Are Not’: Absence and Presence in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." Journal of Postcolonial Writing 46.3/4 (2010): 359–68. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=51981749&site=ehost-live>.

Mullins, Matthew. "Boroughs and Neighbors: Traumatic Solidarity in Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.’" Papers on Language & Literature 45.3 (2009): 298–324. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=43930841&site=ehost-live>.

Uytterschout, Sien. "An Extremely Loud Tin Drum: A Comparative Study of Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ And Günter Grass’s ‘The Tin Drum.’" Comparative Literature Studies 47.2 (2010): 185–199. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=53542771&site=ehost-live>.

Uytterschout, Sien, and Kristiaan Versluys. "Melancholy and Mourning in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." Orbis Litterarum 63.3 (2008): 216–36. Literary Reference Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=32032973&site=ehost-live>.