Traumatic Experiences And How To Overcome Depression

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Extremely loud and incredibly close
June 3, 2019
Traumatic experiences and how to overcome depression.
Extremely loud and incredibly close by Jonathan Foer is a novel covering story of a nine-year old boy, Oscars, who grieves the death of his father Thomas. Thomas was killed during the attack of world trade center in late 2001. Oskar’s lives with one secret that haunts him every time. He failed to answer his father’s call before it went dead. Later, Oskar’s grandmother sends him a letter where she explains about the occurrence of firebombing of the city. Oskar finally gets convinced to get back to Square one with a series of photos of a man falling to death from the world trade center (Shmoop university. pg 1). Both Oskar’s and Grandma lives a life of regret where by past terror experiences have synced trauma in their minds (Sascha scheuren. Pg 6). This paper will discuss both Oskar’s and grandma’s attempts and fails in their efforts to communicate their individual collective traumas.
During Oskar’s quest, relationship between him and his family shifted. “..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” (Jonathan, Safran. Pg52). It is evident that in many ways Oscar prioritized his father’s memory over presence of his mother because he believed that his mother had abandoned him. Contrary, Oskar finds various reasons to protect his mother because he did not want to keep her worried. Oskar’s internal conflict is evident even though he distrusted her mother. In pursuit of dead man’s mystery, Oscar choose death over life thus exposing his internal conflict to the family. After a hard time in articulating complexity of his decision. Oskar tread a similar path to his mother in terms of both emotions and help in order to make peace with her because she facilitated to help him in his quest. Additionally, Oskar’s emotional difference with his father revealed his inability to embrace emotions. Oscar was unable to express his love for his father before he left. Also, he failed to answer his father’s call on 09/11. Later, Oskar learns to embrace his emotions as equally real to scientific fact and enjoying moments of happiness.
Grandma and grandpa wanted Oskar to reform and accept sadness as a part of his life so that he could embrace happiness without guilt. Therefore, she summarizes a number of lessons she wishes to impart into Oskar’s life. She narrated her life through a letter where she expressed self-doubt and depression that was similar to Oskar’s life experience at that time. Additionally, she needed to highlight various ways in which Oskar could do away with emotions. Grandma achieved this by narrating how she transcended those paralyzing emotions by loving her family. Oskar managed to confront his emotional state by accepting more emotional worldview. Grandma’s message was clear to Oskar because he finally understood that there was a strong relationship between happiness and sadness. Therefore, Oskar embraced both of them without dwelling...