Existentialism In Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the story of Oskar Schell is existential as shown through Oskar’s loneliness, the absurdity of his father death, and his attempt to find meaning in the search for the what the key unlocks.
Oskar embodies the existential mantra of “I am alone” throughout the entire book. Oskar spend the first part of his journey alone and he suffers from feelings of loneliness and depression throughout the book. He says when appears in the play “Hamlet”, “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 in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it?” (145 Foer) After his …show more content…
On September 11, 2011 Oscar’s dad died in the Attack of the World Trade Center. His father did not work in the Twin Towers, but had a meeting there that morning. Because of this seemingly random act Oskar now looks at the world as a meaningless series of events. He states, “I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it's in a millisecond or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped” (245 Foer). Since he experienced the death of his father at such a young age, he struggles to understand why something like this would have happen, what the reason is. The theories of existentialism offer an answer, “Neither nature or a supreme being or another individual cannot or will not give meaning to this world there is no pattern of existence: catastrophe, starvation and inhumanity proves this. The world is essentially absurd.” After searching for month for the lock for his father’s key he find that it was not a message from his father, but rather a meaningless coincidence. When William Black explains to Oskar that the key did not belong to his father he says, “I’m so sorry. I know that you’re looking for
Oskar embodies the existential mantra of “I am alone” throughout the entire book. Oskar spend the first part of his journey alone and he suffers from feelings of loneliness and depression throughout the book. He says when appears in the play “Hamlet”, “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 in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it?” (145 Foer) After his …show more content…
On September 11, 2011 Oscar’s dad died in the Attack of the World Trade Center. His father did not work in the Twin Towers, but had a meeting there that morning. Because of this seemingly random act Oskar now looks at the world as a meaningless series of events. He states, “I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it's in a millisecond or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped” (245 Foer). Since he experienced the death of his father at such a young age, he struggles to understand why something like this would have happen, what the reason is. The theories of existentialism offer an answer, “Neither nature or a supreme being or another individual cannot or will not give meaning to this world there is no pattern of existence: catastrophe, starvation and inhumanity proves this. The world is essentially absurd.” After searching for month for the lock for his father’s key he find that it was not a message from his father, but rather a meaningless coincidence. When William Black explains to Oskar that the key did not belong to his father he says, “I’m so sorry. I know that you’re looking for