"'Mabye they died together.' I know he didn't know what to say to that, because of course they died together" I think this qoute is very powerful because it actually draws us to his father's death.
"BECAUSE MY SHIRT WAS OVER MY HEAD COVERING MY FACE LIKE A POCKET, OR A SKULL." (173)
"She died in my arms, saying, "I don't want to die." That is what death is like." (189)
"As you know, I'm extremely brave, but I can't spend eternity in a small underground place. I just can't." (169). I find it very odd, but not surprising the Oskar already knows how he wants to spend eternity after his death. I think it's sad that he feels he must have this planned out, even though he's only ten. I also found it interesting that he didn't want to be buried underground, and thought this may be because he doesn't want to be trapped like the people under the wreckage of the Twin Towers were.
"That is what death is like. It doesn't matter was uniforms the soilders are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore." (189)
"I wondered, for the first time in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it? What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?" (145)
I knew it shouldn't matter, because once your dead you don't feel anything. So why did it feel like it mattered? (320)
"Isn't it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the earth stays the same size, so that one day there isn't going to be room to bury anyone anymore?"(3) I found this quote to be particularly striking when reading, this young boy is talking about death, after experiencing a tragic point when his father had passed away, and he is making such a true and interesting point when saying this.
Oskar is explaining what he believed in when he was an atheist. "I believed that once you're dead, you're dead forever and you don't feel anything, and you don't even dream."(4)
"So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were built down? They could be underneath skyscrapers for living people that are built up. You could bury people one hundred floors down, and a whole dead world could be underneath the living one."(3) I found this quotation relates to his father. He talks about skyscrapers and links them to death, when his dad died in the World Trade Center.
Oskar starts to make ideas about building skyscrapers down because one reason why his father died was because the skyscraper he was in was very large.
"I read in National Geographic that there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn't, because there aren't enough skulls!"
"And also, there are so many times when you need to make a quick escape, but humans don't have their own wings, or not yet." (pg. 2) Oskar may be referring to the belief that when people die they become angels and earn their wings. But this also conflicts with the statements about Oskar being an atheist.
“That is what death is like. It doesn’t matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn’t matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore.” (189)
"GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU!
One thing that's nice to think about is someone who was the first person on lots of people's lists, so that when he was dying, and his ambulance went down the streets to the hospital; the whole time it would flash GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU!" (72-73)
"And also, there are so many times when you need to make a quick escape, but humans don't have their own wings, or not yet." <--(This quote is used above.)
" I know I'm not alone in this disease, you hear the old people in the street and some of them are moaning, 'Ay yay yay,' but some of them are clinging to their last word, 'I,' they're saying, because they're desperate, it's not a complaint it's a prayer, and then I lost 'I' and my silence was complete."
"So many people enter and leave your life! Hundreds of thousands of people! You have to keep the door open so they can come in! But it also means you gave to let them go!" (153)
This is the view of death from Mr. Black who lives on the floor above Oskar. He seems to have a very positive outlook on death.
"I felt... increadibly close to everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first time in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live... What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?" (145) This depressing quote seems as if Oskar does not care if he dies, right then and there.
The three main themes in Foer's novel are death, loss, and emotional trauma. There are several deaths alluded to: Oskar's father; Oskar's grandmother's sister, Anna; Ron's wife and daughter; as well as the families of Oskar's grandmother and grandfather during World War II
Death plays an interesting role in this book because it comes in so many forms. Throughout all of the book Oskar is searching for the answer to a task his dead father left him. This makes the reader feel sorry for Oskar and allows whoever is reading to relate to him. Death is a main central purpose because this book explores death as a way of finding answers and dealing with loss.
"Yes. I held her in my arms. She said, "I don't want to die." I told her, "You're not going to die." She said, "I promise I won't die before we get home." But she was in pain and she kept crying, "Mother." pg. 189
-I'm not sure were this would fit, but i figured here would be good-
"...but they, too, failed. Harnesses failed, magnets failed, even prayer failed." (219)
"...I screamed, "What do you want from me?" I shot it again, where I thought its heart was, it looked at me, in its eeys I was sure I saw some form of understanding, but I didn't see forgiveness..." pg. 213
Wondering where his grandmother has went, Oskar begins to invent ways she might have died. "She'd been hit by a cab while she was crossing Broadway, and the cab zoomed away, and everybody looked at her from the sidewalk, but no one helped her, because everyone was afraid to do CPR the wrong way." (235)
Oskar is traumatized by the thought of his father perishing in the 9/11 attack. He demands the right to tell the truth of what happened: his father's cells were scattered all over the rooftops and through New York City, being inhaled by other people.
I feel like some of the things that Oskar says are just ways to cope with the death of his father since he can't deal with it head on.
"BECAUSE MY SHIRT WAS OVER MY HEAD COVERING MY FACE LIKE A POCKET, OR A SKULL." (173)
"He wrote, "Why would you want to do that?" I told him, "Because it's the truth, and Dad loved the truth." "What truth?" "That he's dead." pg. 321
Oskar inflicting bruises on himself could be an escape to the emotional baggage hes carrying inside him. Its as if he needs a visual to see for the pain hes enduring.