What Is The Theme Of Love In Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close?

“It’s a shame….that life is so precious.”(Foer 281). This is one of the memorable lines of grandma in the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Through the novel Jonathan Safran Foer depicts three important things of life which are the power of love, venerableness of life, and connection with people. The first essence of life is that although love is complicated and shatters people’s hearts, it gives people purposes to live. Foer’s unique writing style of unfolding the story with different points of view shows the complexity of love. Grandma and grandpa are juxtaposed to each other in the following parts. Unlike the dark story told from grandpa’s perspective, it does not seem as desperate as from grandma’s. Situations that each of them

This indicates that love has such strong effects on people that it makes them vulnerable. Grandma reveals her vulnerability in fear of losing people she loves by pretending she is blind and clinging on to Thomas. On the other hand, Thomas does not confide his weakness which made their hearts grow apart. If they accepted each other’s vulnerable parts, they did not have to compromise rules. They did so in favor of ignoring and getting away from their conflicts. Because of the differences in perspectives, couples often have difficulties understanding each other, leading either or both of them to hurt their feelings. Also, grandma explains the negative sides of love as “I wished I’d felt empty.” after she loses her beloved sister and only son(231). It reveals her intense grief caused by her love. Of course in these cases, love has pessimistic meanings, but it does not always grieve people. It can motivate people to live, too. Oskar uses the French word “raison d’etre” to describe his purpose to live a world without dad(7). It clearly shows that a love towards someone produces a meaning of life. Moreover, even though it sounds paradoxical, grief provides people with

The historical context of this book and the use of allusions connect to the author’s opinion on wars and terrorisms. Since it is written four years after 9.11, it can be interpreted that he wanted readers to reconfirm the preciousness of life. Such inhumane actions, he believes, should not be allowed. His varieties of allusion used throughout the book support his idea. As he references the bombing in Dresden and Hiroshima which both happened in the real world, it lets readers have a sense of familiarity and recall the horror of them. Though both allusions are from quite a long time ago, he makes a point that those bombing should be taken as life lessons rather than just as a part of our history. Furthermore, grandma and grandpa express their regrets in their lives. He wails that he hasn’t valued his each day enough(281). Grandma left an impressive saying on page 313, “The night before I lost everything was like any other night.”(313). Using a simile in this sentence demonstrates how sudden life could be taken away. In fact, no one expected that terrorism would happen on crystal clear Tuesday morning in 2001. It signifies the importance of living each day to the fullest, at the same time, expressing love to lovers as tomorrow may not