Essay

Area of interest: the idea debating whether or not words are necessary or if it is the feelings that matter… not sure which side i am supporting


In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, the grandpa and father portray the idea that words are necessary even if it is the feelings that matter.


Questions:
How does he portray this idea?
Why are words not necessary?
What kind of feelings?
Who does he communicate with?
How does he communicate his feelings without words?

Support:
"If I could tell you what happened that night I could leave it behind me" (208)

The letters were never sent by the grandfather so nobody ever knew what he was feeling.

"I knew that we were sharing something with our eyes, but I didn't know what, and I didn't know if it mattered" (147)

"She was silent, I had made a fool out of myself, there's nothing wrong with not understanding yourself and she started laughing, laughing harder than I'd ever felt anyone laugh, the laughter brought on tears, and the tears brought on more tears, and then I started laughing, out of the most deep and complete shame" (117)… No words makes people think the worst is happening

I wanted to call her name, but I didn't want her to hear my voice, all of my desire was based on that one brief exchange" (116)

"We talked about nothing in particular, but it felt like we were talking about the most important thing in the world" (113)

"The more we took each others assumptions for granted, the less we said, the more misunderstood, I'd often remembered having designated space as nothing when she was sure we had agreed that it was something" (111)