I know it’s been about a week since we finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but I realized there was one major theme in the book that we didn’t spend too much time on. That theme was the loss of innocence, experienced by Oskar.
Throughout the novel, Oskar puts pictures in his book called “Things that happened to me”. The images in that scrapbook showed terrible horrendous things, both dealing with 9/11 (the falling man) and other things throughout his life (Hamlet, Stephen Hawking, etc.). Not only would it be terrible for a kid to compare himself to a tragic hero like Hamlet, but he also thinks about other sad and scary things throughout the day. A number of times in the novel Oskar points out things he knows, or things he knows but that he wishes he didn’t. Oskar is presented as a boy who knows a lot, especially things a boy his age shouldn’t know.
So this got me thinking about my own 9/11 experience and how it could’ve affected my innocence. In my case, however, I wasn’t as exposed to the violence and destruction of 9/11. At my school, we weren’t told about the attacks during the school day, even though we weren’t allowed to go outside for recess on that clear day. My parents didn’t explain much to me. Even though the TV was constantly tuned to the news channel, I didn’t pay much attention. My 9/11 education occurred much later than for Oskar. Do you think this was the right way to handle the situation, instead of being thrust into the grown-up world like Oskar? Is this how 9/11 was handled for you? What’re your thoughts on the subject, if you were a little older than I was at the time?
I would like to think that neither way is very appropriate to go about exposing somebody to the events of 9/11.
ReplyDeleteIn Oskar's case he was thrust into maturity with the loss of his father and the guilt he felt for not answering the phone when he called on that day. You are right in my opinion to say that Oskar is a little too young to know some of the things that he does and think some of the things that he does especially because of what events inspired them.
BUT I also don't agree that you should be completely kept in the dark when something historically significant, no matter how violent, happens. To shelter a child in my view would skew their view of the world
I don't think it's right to completely destroy a child's innocence or leave them sheltered enough that they might not be able to adjust to how things really happen in the world.
Reading your post I start to ask myself the same questions. I really had never thought about them. I really do not understand the reason why such things are not told directly to children who do go to school and who do have somewhat of a maturity. To me, it really is no different finding out about something at an early age or when I am in high school or college, or maybe even later?! I think it all depends on the person. The more we know and the more we are exposed to at a younger age, the more productive we will be in life, such was Oscar. His character is smart and definately shows many features of a mature person rather than a 9 year old kid. I think the more secrets are kept from us the weaker we become. Innocence is also important of course, however, I truely think, from my own personal experiences, that the more hardships and challenges we go through at a younger age the better and stronger we will be in life on the long run. I am not a big fan of "sugar coating" especially by parents because such actions do the exact opposite of what parents should do in my opinion. They prepare you for the real world ahead and when they are not honest or when they lie to "protect" you, this can result in the child getting in the habit of doing so also and lying becomes a huge part of their lives. When at a young age kids see nothing but lying especially from parents, then I think such parenthood is a bit of a failure.
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