Anything Relevant
Blog on ELIC from February 2/28
I did a lot of my rewrite on Oskar. A great deal pertained to how Oskar affected the mood of the book. In this, Jonathan Safran Foer was able to make the book lighthearted and uplifting. September 11th is always a tough discussion topic due to the severity of the tragedy. But with having a nine-year-old narrator, Foer is able to manipulate the story from being sad to inspiring. From the reader’s standpoint, it makes a much lighter read and also an entertaining story due to the humor and inappropriateness of his character. Also, Foer implanted pictures to break up the reading, slow down the pace, and stimulate emotion. Obviously it is nice to have a break in the middle of a twenty page chapter, but the real importance is in that every picture holds a certain significance. Each holds a certain piece in Oskar’s life. The picture that is repeated the most is that of the falling man. In it we see a man falling from the World Trade Centers. In the back of the book their is actually a flip-book, giving life to the scene. The importance of this is that Oskar reverses the order so that instead of crashing to the ground, the man is actually floating up. This gives a happy ending and lasting visual of optimism.
