CPT: Twenty Important Quotations
from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Chapter 1: “What The?”
1. “Isn’t
it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the earth
stays the same size, so that one day there isn’t going to be room to bury
anyone anymore? . . . So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were built
down? . . . You could bury people one hundred floors down, and a whole dead
world could be underneath the living one” (Foer 3).
Chapter 2: “Why I’m Not Where You Are 5/21/63”
2. “I
haven’t always been silent, I used to talk and talk and talk and talk, I
couldn’t keep my mouth shut, the silence overtook me like a cancer” (Foer 16).
Chapter 3: “Googolplex”
3. “If
I’d been someone else in a different world I’d’ve done something different, but
I was myself and the world was the world, so I was silent” (Foer 30).
4. “Every
time I left the apartment to go searching for the lock, I became a little
lighter, because I was getting closer to Dad. But I also became a little
heavier, because I was getting farther from Mom” (Foer 52).
Chapter 4: “My Feelings”
5. “I
did not need to know if he could love me. I needed to know if he could need me”
(Foer
84).
Chapter 5: “The Only Animal”
6. “Humans
are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses
with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are”
(Foer 99).
Chapter 6: “Why I’m Not Where You Are 5/21/63”
7. “I
can’t live, I’ve tried and I can’t. If that sounds simple, it’s simple like a
mountain is simple” (Foer 135).
Chapter 7: “Heavier Boots”
8. “I
felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to
everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first
time, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it
worth it? What’s so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling
anything, and not even dreaming? What’s so great about feeling and dreaming?”
(Foer 145)
9. “Then,
out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and
incredibly close. Maybe twenty of them. Maybe more. But they also seemed like
just one bird, because somehow they all knew exactly what to do” (Foer 168).
Chapter 8: “My Feelings”
10. “You
cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from
happiness” (Foer 180).
Chapter 9: “Happiness, Happiness”
11. “No
matter how much I feel, I’m not going to let it out. If I have to cry, I’m
gonna cry on the inside. If I have to bleed, I’ll bruise. If my heart starts
going crazy, I’m not gonna tell everyone in the world about it. It doesn’t help
anything. It just makes everyone’s life worse” (Foer 203).
Chapter 10: “Why I’m Not Where You Are 4/12/78”
12. “I’m
so afraid of losing something I love that I refuse to love anything” (Foer
216).
Chapter 11: “The Sixth Borough”
13. “There’s
nothing that could convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced. But there
is an abundance of clues that would give the wanting believer something to hold
on to” (Foer 221).
Chapter 12: “My Feelings”
14. “You
made jokes with the driver, but I could see that inside you were suffering.
Making him laugh was how you suffered” (Foer 232).
Chapter 13: “Alive and Alone”
15. “When
I woke up in the middle of the night, I was all alone. It was cold. I was
scared. I walked to the railing. Right there. I'd never felt more alone. It was
as if the building had become much taller. Or the city had become much darker.
But I'd never felt more alive, either. I'd never felt more alive or alone”
(Foer 252-254).
16. “There
are so many different ways to die, and I just need to know which was his” (Foer
257).
Chapter 14: “Why I’m Not Where You Are 9/11/03”
17. “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?” (Foer 276)
Chapter 15: “A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problems”
18. “He
needed me, and I couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t.
Are you there? He asked eleven times. I know, because I’ve counted. It’s one
more than I can count on my fingers . . . Sometimes I think he knew I was
there. Maybe he kept saying it to give me time to get brave enough to pick it
up” (Foer 301).
Chapter 16: “My Feelings”
19. “The
night before I lost everything was like any other night. Anna and I kept each
other awake very late. We laughed. Young sisters in a bed under the roof of
their childhood home. Wind on the window. How could anything less deserve to be
destroyed? . . . We assumed there would be other nights . . . I thought about
waking her. But it was unnecessary. There would be other nights. And how can
you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep
next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you,
Oskar. It's always necessary. I love you, Grandma” (Foer 313-314).
Chapter 17: “Beautiful and True”
20. “I
don’t believe in God, but I believe that things are extremely complicated, and
her
looking over me was as complicated
as anything ever could be. But it was also incredibly simple. In my only life,
she was my mom, and I was her son” (Foer 324).
CPT: Three Quotes for Literary
Analysis from Extremely Loud and
Incredibly Close
1. “Isn’t
it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the earth
stays the same size, so that one day there isn’t going to be room to bury
anyone anymore? . . . So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were built
down? . . . You could bury people one hundred floors down, and a whole dead
world could be underneath the living one” (Foer 3).
This brief
passage occurs in Chapter One—“What The?” This chapter begins with Oskar’s
introduction about several of his weird inventions, such as training his own
anus to talk, and he moves to another subject (jujitsu) very quickly; his
conversation with Sensei Mark about how to be a jujitsu master. Then he jumps to
the other topic again which is his weird idea about dead people as is revealed
in this quotation. Until now, he never mentions the death of his father that
had occurred by the 9/11 attacks. However, the death of his father is revealed
when he is on his way to his father’s funeral and he talks incessantly in the
car. This quotation indicates that Oskar likes thinking and is very determined
since he imagines the situation that most of people never think of. However, it
also reveals a major aspect of Oskar’s personality: that he is precocious.
After Oskar experiences the death of his father, who is the closest person to
him, the thing that he does to suppress his emotional impact is to focus on his
inventions. He is good at thinking outside of the box. By doing these things,
Oskar tries to prevent deep sorrow following the death of his father. On the
other hand, this passage also makes readers feel sympathy for Oskar as he tries
to do his best to avoid huge emotional change. Shortly after, he talks
incessantly to his mother and grandmother on his way to his father’s funeral.
This is one of the ways in which he shows and relieves his grief, and creates
more sympathy for him. This passage in which Oskar reveals his idea for burying
the dead creates suspense. When Oskar shows his idea or thinking about death
and how to bury people, it foreshadows that there is something bad is going to
happen to Oskar. By revealing readers to reflect on Oskar’s idea for death,
this quotation creates suspense. Moreover, this quotation uses imagery as well.
As Oskar indicates his idea about building down skyscrapers, he leads readers
to draw that awkward situation and creates a bad aspect of death for readers.
This quotation reveals the theme of growing up; as it indicates the first step
of overcoming Oskar’s grief. Oskar is only nine years old and he just loses his
closest and greatest person in his world. Instead of crying, he tries to think
about ridiculous ideas or situations—like this quotation —in order to be ready
to face a huge emotional change and overcome his grief. Even though for adults,
it is hard to face the death of one’s closest person. Oskar’s reaction is unusual
for a nine-year-old boy, and he moves one step forward to grow up; however, his
grief is increasing.
2. “I
felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to
everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first
time, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it
worth it? What’s so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling
anything, and not even dreaming? What’s so great about feeling and dreaming?”
(Foer 145)
In Chapter Seven—“Heavier
Boots”—Oskar shows his state of mind twelve months after since he starts to
meet all of the ‘Black’ in New York when his class has a performance of Hamlet; in which he plays Yorick— the
skull. Oskar says the reason why he plays Yorick is that on the date of
audition, his boots were too heavy to go to school. A lot of the ‘Black’ come
and enjoy his play for the first performance, as well as his mother and
grandmother; Oskar is really happy about this. However, there is only his
grandmother who watches his play for the last performance. When he is just
lying down under the skull he says this quotation. Shortly after the play ends,
Oskar goes back to the time that he met Abe Black. Abe helps Oskar to overcome
his fears by facing them when he rides a roller-coaster with him. This passage
reveals the personality of Oskar: that he is a weak-minded boy. He easily thinks
about committing suicide to get out of his hardship instead of thinking about
how to overcome them. The reason why Oskar considers to commit suicide is that
he suddenly realizes that it is too hard to live with his deep sorrow everyday,
since Oskar is in a same situation as Hamlet: loss of father and thinking about
committing suicide due to one’s grief. This fact indicates that Oskar is also
in conflict—Man versus Self—as well. Not only does this passage show Oskar’s
personality, but it also creates sympathy for Oskar when he thinks that life is
worthless. As Hamlet says since suicide will get rid of all pains he considers
committing suicide, Oskar says same. This makes readers to feel more sorrow for
him. This quotation creates suspense as well. Since Oskar is just nine years
old, considers committing suicide, and emotionally unstable, this passage makes
readers fall in a state of tension. This passage introduces the ‘skull’ as a
symbol of Oskar’s weak personality, as he tries to avoid his pains by committing
suicide. This quotation also reveals the theme of growing up as well; as it
indicates the hardest time of overcoming Oskar’s grief. Oskar is way too young
to face the death of his father. That is the reason why he considers to give up
his life because he feels like his life is meaningless without his father—as he
says that he is too lonely. When people face their deep sorrow, many people
think of committing suicide—which means it is too hard to overcome their grief.
Even though he is precocious, how come he overcomes his grief? Even adults
think of committing suicide. However, he passes the hardest time after he faces
the fear of accepting the death of his father. Eventually, the painfulness of
facing his grief leads him to grow up.
3. “I
don’t believe in God, but I believe that things are extremely complicated, and
her
looking
over me was as complicated as anything ever could be. But it was also
incredibly simple. In my only life, she was my mom, and I was her son” (Foer
324).
This
brief passage occurs in Chapter Seventeen—“Beautiful and True.” Oskar finds out
that Ron, who becomes his mother’s boyfriend after the death of his father,
lost his wife and daughter too. The death of his father is the centre of their
relationship because they meet at a support group. At the same time, Oskar also
realizes that his mother also suffers from the death of her husband as well.
After all, he describes his journey to his father’s gravesite again as he does
in the first chapter. Oskar wants to dig and open the coffin even though he
knows that it is empty. He digs with his grandfather and fills the coffin with
his letters. When Oskar arrives home, his mother is waiting for him and she is
not angry. Shortly after, they cry together because Oskar finds out that his
father calls his mother after the building was hit by the airplane. After they
cry together, Oskar’s state of mind appears through this quotation. This
passage reveals how Oskar’s conflict with his mother has gone after they cry
together. Since Oskar is too young, he cannot see the hardship of his mother
and thinks that his mother does not love him. However, that is totally wrong
and he realizes it now after he finds out that his mother goes to a support
group in order to overcome her grief. Through this quotation, Oskar indicates
that he resolves his conflict between his mother—as he understands her pain—and
he can overcome his grief as well. This passage also provides the denouement as
well. Oskar has been suffering due to the death of his father. Sometimes he considers
committing suicide too. However, Oskar never gives up his life, and eventually,
overcomes his grief. In this quotation, Oskar uses effective figurative
language—metaphor—in order to express his emotion powerfully. Oskar says that
his mother looks at him as complicated as she can, however, it is also
incredibly simple. He recognizes that her emotions toward him are complicated,
but it is also simple because they are family. Through this quotation, Foer
suggests that even though people face their huge fears, they can overcome them
in the name of family and their love. This passage reveals the theme of growing
up. Oskar has a hard time after the death of his father. He faces the huge
fears about the loss of the closest and greatest person in his life—his father—and
wanders around. However, his emotional journey successfully ends with
overcoming his grief. Through his journey, he learns how to see others’ pains
and this lesson leads him to overcome his grief together with them. Also, Oskar
is able to see his mother’s grief as well. By loving his mother, he can
overcome the grief following the death of his father. Ultimately, he
successfully grows up.
Work Cited
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely
Loud and Incredibly Close. Mariner Books, 2006.
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