Death

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is filled with death, because the primary narrator, precocious nine-year-old Oskar Schell, is obsessed with it since his Dad perishes in the collapse of the World Trade Center, 11 Sep. 2001. Oskar needs to know which of the many forms of death is Dad's and accepts that death is inevitable for every living creature. When he cannot sleep or is anxious, Oskar invents protective devices to ward off violent death and scrupulously avoids "obvious targets." Oskar asks Mom to bury him in a mausoleum rather than in the ground, and refuses her argument that he has a long time to live, saying Dad had not expected to die that day. He demands the right to tell the truth: Dad's cells are scattered on rooftops and being inhaled; his coffin is empty. Mom angers Oskar enough for him to declare that he wishes she had died...