"Also, that could be extremely useful, because if you're on the ninety-fifth floor, and a plane hits below you, the building could take you to the ground, and everyone would be safe, even if you left your birdseed shirt at home that day." (3)
I think that the main character doesn't fully understand the seriousness of the events that took place on september 11. Even though his dad is dead, I don't think it has fully sunk in for him yet, and when it does, im not sure how he will handle it. Right now, he is just coming up with alternatives to which he think would have been more useful for the people in the twin towers.
"Message one. Tuesday, 8:52 a.m. Is anybody there? Hello? It's Dad. If you're there, pick up. I just tried the office, but no one was picking up. Listen, somthing's happened. I'm OK. They're telling us to stay where we are and wait for the firemen. I'm sure it's fine. I'll give you another call when I have a better idea of what's going on. Just wanted to let you know that I'm OK, and not to worry. I'll call again soon."
"So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were all built down?"
Oskar makes several references to September 11 when he refers to "the worst day." Here is a quote from Oskar's dad's message on the worst day; "Message two. 9:12 A.M. It's me again. Are you there? Hello? Sorry if. It's getting a bit. Smokey. I was hoping you would. Be. Home. I don't know if you heard about what's happened. But. I. Just wanted you to know that I'm OK. Everything. Is. Fine. When you get this, give Grandma a call. Let her know that I'm OK. I'll call again in a few minutes. Hopefully the firemen will be. Up here by then. I'll call." (Pg.69)
"Even after a year, I still had an extremely an difficult time doing certain things, like taking showers, for some reason, and getting into elevators, obviously. There was a lot of stuff that made me panicky, like suspension bridges, germs, airplanes, fireworks, Arab people on the subway (even though I'm not racist), Arab people in restaurants and coffee shops and other public places, scaffolding, sewers and subway grates, bags without owners, shoes, people with mustaches, smoke, knots, tall buildings, turbans." Most all of the things he fears or panics when faced with are things that are somehow affiliated with September 11th, whether it be people, objects, or activities.
"I was in the guest room when it happened. I was watching the television and knitting you a white scarf. The news was on. Time was passing like a hand waving from a train that I wanted to be on. You'd only just left school, and i was already waiting for you."
"Planes going into buldings.
Bodies falling.
Planes going into buldings.
Bodies falling.
Planes going into buldings.
Planes going into buldings.
Planes going into buldings.
When I no longer had to be strong in front of you, I became very weak. I brought myself to the ground, which was where I belonged. I hit the floor with my fists. I wanted to break my hands, but when it hurt too much, I stopped. I was too Selfish to break my hands for my only child.
Bodies falling.
Staples and tape.
I didn't feel empty. I wish I'd felt empty.
People waving shirts out of high windows." (231)
"Why I'm not where you are
9/11/03" (page 262)
On page 244, Oskar is on the empire state building, and imagines an attack on them, saying "I was imagining a plane coming at the building, just below us. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop. I imagined the last second." This quote ties into the death motif as well, and maybe Oskar is trying to see what it was like in his father's shoes on 9/11.