Extermely Loud and Incredibly Close

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“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 else?” (3) 2,996 people were killed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the novel “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” Oskar Schell’s father was one of them. At 9 years old he was forced to deal with the death of his favorite person in the entire world with no explanation of why and he was left to make sense of it. This quote describes how in depth Oskar thought about death after the loss of his father and how it affected him. It makes the reader think about how many people were actually killed on 9/11 but how the rest of the world stayed the same exact size. The entire story is written about death, and this quote at the beginning of the novel keeps it inside of the readers head as they continue reading. “As you know, I’m extremely brave, but I can’t spend eternity in a small underground place. I just can’t. Do you love me?” “Of course I love you.” “Then put me in one of those mausoleum-thingies.” “A mausoleum?” “Like I read about.” “Do we have to talk about this?” “Yes.” “Now?” “Yes.” “Why?” “Because what if I die tomorrow?” “You’re not going to die tomorrow.” “Dad didn’t think he was going to die the next day.” “That’s not going to happen to you.” “It wasn’t going to happen to him.” “Oskar.” “I’m sorry, but I just can’t be buried.” “Don’t you want to be with dad and me?” “Dad isn’t even there?” “Excuse me?” “His body was destroyed.” “Don’t talk like that.” “Talk like what? It’s the truth. I don’t understand why everyone pretends he’s there.” “Take it easy, Oskar.” “It’s just an empty box.” “It’s more than an empty box.” “Why would I want to spend eternity next to an empty box?” (169). After 9/11 Oskar and his mother had a proper funeral for his dad. Since his body was lost in

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