"I could invent a a teakettle that reads in Dad's voice, so I could fall asleep..." (1)-This shows how much he misses his father and what he does to remember him. Reading this, you can see how all the things that make life so happy and peaceful can be taken away and leave you crushed.
"My most impressive song that I can play on my tambourine is "The Flight of the Bumblebee," by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Which is also the ring tone I downloaded for my cell phone I got after Dad died" (3). Also, music seems to have an affect on the boy, similar to the way it affected Ishmeal's life in A Long Way Gone.
"There were four more messages from him: one at 9:12, one at 9:31, one at 9:46, and one at 10:04. I listened to them, and listened to them again, and then before I had time to figure out what to do, or even what to think or feel, the phone started ringing.
It was 10:26:47. I looked at the call ID and saw this it was him." (15)
"I loved having a dad that was smarter than The New York Times, and I loved how my cheek could feel the hairs on his chest through his T-shirt, and how he always smelled like shaving, even at the end of the day. Being with him made my brain quiet. I didn't have to invent a thing." (12) This quote is effective in displaying how much Oskar misses his father. Through this, the reader can sense the admiration that Oskar has for him and the desire for his presence.
"It isn't anymore, but for a really long time it was my dream to take over the family jewelry business. Dad constantly used to tell me I was too smart for retail. That never made sense to me, because he was smarter then me, so if I was too smart for retail, then he really must have been too smart for retail. I told him that. "First of all", he told me, "I'm not smarter than you, I'm more knowledgeable than you, and that's only because I'm older then you. Parents are always more knowledgeable than their children, and children are always smarter than their parents" (7)
"I couldn't explain to her that I missed him [Oskar's dad] more, more than she or anyone else missed him, because I couldn't tell her about what happened with the phone. That secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into." This quote shows how much Oskar misses his dad and that the memories of his father's death suck every happy aspect of his life into it.
"I converted Dad's last voice message into Morse code, and I used sky-blue beads for silence, maroon beads for breaks between letters, violet beads between breaks between words, and long and short pieces of string between the beads for long and short beeps, which are actually called blips."(35) Oskar chose to make a bracelet for his mother to tell her in his own way of the voice message, keeping the last memory and words spoken by his father alive somehow.
"...and once Dad and I spent a whole afternoon trying to design a paper airplane that we could throw from one apartment into hers."
"Even though the volume was way down, so Dad's voice wouldn't wake Mom, he still filled the room, like how a light fills the room even when it's dim." (69)
"Even though Dad's coffin was empty, his closet was full. And even after more than a year, it still smelled like shaving. I touched all of his white T-shirts. I touched his fancy watch that he never wore and the extra laces for his sneakers that would never run around the reservoir again." (36)
Phonecalls and memories of his father are connected because the last memory of his father was a phonecall.
“When Dad was tucking me in that night and we were talking about the book, I asked if he could think of a solution to that problem. “Which problem?” “The problem of how relatively insignificant we are.” He said, “Well, what would happen if a plane dropped you in the middle of the Sahara Desert and you picked up a single grain of sand with tweezers and moved it one millimeter?” I said, “I’d probable die of dehydration.” He said, “I just mean right then, when you moved that single grain of sand. What would that mean?” I said, “I dunno, what?” He said, “Think about it.” I thought about it. “I guess I would have moved a grain of sand.” “Which would mean?” “Which would mean I moved a grain of sand?” “Which would mean you changed the Sahara.” “So?” “So? So the Sahara is a vast desert. And it has existed for million of years. And you changed it!” “That’s true!” I said, sitting up. “I changed the Sahara!” “Which means?” he said. “What? Tell me.” “Well, I’m not talking about moving that one grain of sand one millimeter.” “Yeah?” “If you hadn’t done it, human history would have been one way…” “Uh-huh?” “But you did do it, so…?” I stood on the bed, pointed my fingers at the fake stars, and screamed: “I changed the course of human history!” “That’s right.” “I changed the universe!” “You did.” “I’m God!’ “You’re an atheist.” “I don’t exist!” I fell back onto the bed, into his arms, and we cracked up together." (86)
"As for the bracelet Mom wore to the funeral, what I did was I converted Dad's last voice message into Morse code, I used sky-blue beads for silence, maroon beads for breaks between letters, violet beads for breaks between words, and long and short pieces of string between the beads for long and short beepsm which are actualled called blips, I think, or something. Dad would have known." (35) <---(This quote has already been used above. It should probably be deleted, but that is at the contributor's discretion.)
"It made my boots lighter to be around his things, and to touch the stuff he touched."
"You're looking for something!" Mr. Black asked. "This key used to belong to my dad," I said, pulling it out from under my shirt again, "and I want to know what it opens." He shrugged his shoulders and hollered, "I'd want to know, too!" Then we were silent for a while." (160)
"'Dad?' 'Yeah?' 'Could you tell me a story?' 'Sure.' 'A good one?' 'As opposed to all the boring ones I tell.' 'Right.' I tucked my body incredibly close into his, so my nose pushed into his armpit. 'And you won't interrupt me?' 'I'll try not to.' 'Because it makes it hard to tell a story.' 'And it's annoying.' 'And it' annoying.'
The moment before he started was my favorite moment." (13)
"Dad always used to tuck me in, and he'd tell the greatest stories, and we'd read the New York Times together, and sometimes he'd whistle "I am the Walrus," because that was his favorite song, even though he couldn't explain what it meant, which frustrated me." (12)
" 'Is no clues a clue?' He [Oskar's dad] shrugged his shoulders, like he had no idea what I was talking about. I loved that." (8)
"'Do you take sugar?' I told her yes, because Dad always took sugar."(94) He wants to be like his dad and my drinking his coffee like his dad i guess it makes him feel closer to him.
"When she went in, I very quietly took the stethoscope from my fieldkit, got on my knees, and pressed the whatever-the-end-is-called against the door. The bulb? Dad would have known." (203)
"He shrugged his shoulders, just like dad used to." (237)
"'Dad?' 'Yeah?' 'I just thought of something. Do you think any of those things I dug up in Central park were actually from the Sixth Borough?' He shrugged his shoulders, which I loved." (223)
"I couldn't explain to her that I missed him [Oskar's dad] more, more than she or anyone else missed him, because I couldn't tell her about what happened with the phone. That secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into."
"When she went in, I very quietly took the stethoscope from my field kit, got on my knees, and pressed the whatever-the-end-is-called against the door. The bulb? Dad would have known. I couldn't hear a lot, and sometimes I wasn't sure if no one was talking or if I just wasn't hearing what they were saying." pg (203)
"The Empire State Building has been the location of dozens of movies, the reception site of foreign dignitaries, and even had a world War Two bomber crsh into the seventy-ninth floor in 1945. I concentrated on happy, safe things, like the zipper on the back of Mom's dress, and how Dad needed a drink of water whenever he whistled for too long."