Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
My favourite book of all time is Jonathan Sanfran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which became my favourite because it made me feel the most out of all the stories I have read. This book is told primarily from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy, Oskar, who lost his father in the 9–11 terrorist attack and goes on a scavenger hunt, convinced that his late father had left a final message for him. Oskar’s innocent outlook, beliefs, and thoughts moved me as an empathetic reader, motivating me to become an engineer and solve problems.
In subconsciously processing his grief, the main character resorts to creating inventions with his imaginative mind.
“What about a device that knew everyone you knew? So when an ambulance went down the street, a big sign on the roof could flash DON’T WORRY! DON’T WORRY! if the sick person’s device didn’t detect the device of someone he knew nearby. […] And maybe you could rate the people you knew by how much you loved them, so if the person in the ambulance detected the device of the person he loved the most, or the person who loved him the most, and the person in the ambulance was really badly hurt, and might even die, the ambulance could flash GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU!” (Foer, 72–73).
When I first read Oskar’s invention for ambulances, I could almost feel the boy’s pain. In not being able to say his last goodbye and “I love you” to his own father, Oskar imagines this device that can allow others to have the closure that he never had. In trying to cope with his father’s death, Oskar steers towards ensuring that no one else will experience his pain. I found his imaginary invention admirable and inspiring, in that he is creating solutions out of his struggles and not getting lost in his pain.
But in the ideal world, I believe that nine-year-olds shouldn’t even be thinking about death at all. They could be worrying about grass-stained jeans, birthday parties, and field trips, but not death. In fact, death is so hard of a topic that it is difficult to comprehend at any age, let alone nine. Reading this book made me realize that the world we live in is not ideal and that people are suffering everywhere — mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Knowing that there are innocent children in the world who are the casualties of such unjust tragedies like terrorist attacks, I felt an obligation to protect the innocent and minimize their suffering. I don’t have the talent nor the interest in becoming a politician or doctor. Instead, I want to tackle these human issues as an engineer and create technologies that will help others. These touching moments in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close will continue to keep me grounded and serve as reminders of why I chose to pursue engineering.
Work Cited
Foyer, Jonathan Sanfran. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
