INNER CIRCLE: ❖ NAMES ARE WRITTEN ON THE BOARD! ❖ Have a seat and take out EL & IC.

RULES: ❖ Wait time/note taking allowed prior to discussing each question ❖ Feel free to bring up related questions of your own. ❖ After each question has been discussed, those on the outer circle may add comments.

Hello. It’s Friday. ❖ Have a seat in the circle… ❖ NEXT MON 6/9- Humanities presentations begin! ❖ MON 6/16- Personal Narrative due ❖ FRI 6/20- Final Exam (EC & IC MC Test)

Humanities Presentations ❖ The night before you present: me any files you will need to use for your presentation (if you need copies, I will need to have the original for copy 24 hours in advance). ❖ On the day you present: ❖ be here (duh) ❖ be prepared! ❖ dress for success : ) ❖ bring a copy of your rubric

Opening Questions: ❖ What were your overall reactions to the novel? ❖ Were there any passages or scenes that you remember well or particularly liked? Favorite characters? ❖ How did the book prompt you to think about grief and loss? Did it cause you to reflect on your own experiences to any extent?

Title ❖ What is the significance of the title Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?

Loss of Words ❖ In Thomas Schell’s storyline, he loses his words. There is no medical explanation for this strange occurrence; it merely happens, a strange, matter- of-fact, yet fantastical event. Discuss the meaning of Thomas Schell's loss of words. As a metaphor, what does it express about Thomas as a person? Why do you think that the word “Anna” is the first word that he loses?

Text Structure ❖ Do you find the illustrations, scribblings, over- written texts, etc. a meaningful, integral part of the work? Or do you find them distracting and gimmicky? Why are they there? What meaning do they give to the novel?

Myth and Reality ❖ “The Sixth Borough” is one of several myths created within the narrative of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The novel itself seems to exist in an alternate world where whimsy meets hard and painful reality. What is the relationship between myth and reality in this story? What components to this story seem a little too whimsical to be true? Is it possible that Foer is creating a world in which the devastation of tragedy can be countered with an equally fantastical and whimsical response?

The Role of Destruction ❖ The chapter “Why I’m Not Where You Are 4/12/78” includes a brutal and unrelenting description of the bombing of Dresden. This is the third event described in the novel dealing with the violent, fiery deaths of thousands of people. What is the use of mass-death as a driving force in the novel? What does this novel say about mankind's relationship with killing?

Text Structure ❖ Foer intersperses full-text pages with images, blank pages, and one-phrase notes from Thomas Schell. The effect created is of a text purposely broken up using a caesura (interruption in text/narrative). What is the purpose of individual object pages within the narrative? How do they break up the story being told in the chapter? To what extent does the concurrent telling of two stories in the novel break up both narratives? How is Foer affecting the flow of the Oskar Schell narrative? Do you find these interruptions tantalizing, illuminating, or annoying? How would you describe the narrative flow of the novel as a result of these breaks?

Loss ❖ “My Feelings” tells the rich story of Grandma's life in Dresden. She does not outright discuss the way she lost that life in the World War II destruction of the city, but she says she lost everything and has to rebuild in America. ❖ Many characters in EL&IC have suffered a catastrophic loss and are rebuilding their lives. Discuss the loss one character suffers and one technique he or she is using to rebuild some form of comfort. How do people around this character react to this tactic?

The Character Oskar ❖ Do you think a child such as Oskar Schell could ever really exist? Is he a fantastical creation or an apt illustration of prepubescent child development? If the former, discuss whether this fantastical creation is a weakness to Foer's novel. Would he have been better off creating a child that is more realistic and possibly less entertaining? ❖ On a similar note, did you find Oskar sympathetic or annoying? Or both?

The Idea of Suffering ❖ Grandma's reflections on September 11, 2001, describe how caring for Oskar on the day she loses her only son brings back memories of Dresden. What is the link between hope and suffering in the novel? Choose a character in the novel that has suffered terribly through some hardship and survived. Explain how this character has suffered. Then, determine what positive growth or discovery emerges from the suffering. Does your character find some source of strength by suffering?

Oskar’s Search ❖ In “A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem”, Oskar is disappointed to learn that the key's purpose has nothing to do with his father. At the end of his search, he is deeply unsatisfied, but the reader realizes that he has found something in the searching. What is the value of Oscar's search? What do you think Oskar hoped to find in the purpose of the key? What would have satisfied him, and why is what he found so profoundly unsatisfying?Which phobias does he overcome? How does he release some of the pain caused by the messages his father left?

The Reversal Device ❖ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ends in reverse, with Oskar experiencing the pain of September 11, 2001, backwards, ending with everyone safe and happy. Grandma does the same thing earlier in the novel with the bombing of Dresden. Examine Foer's use of reverse in the novel. Review a tragedy reversed in the novel such as Grandma's reversed dream of Dresden and Oskar's reversal of the events of September 11, What is the tone of this reversal? Is it elegiac, hopeful, or angry? How does this reversing fantasy affect the characters who are formulating it in their minds?

Relationship Rules ❖ Thomas Schell, Sr. imposes the first of many rules on his marriage to Grandma. Discuss whether you think a relationship with such rules can ever work. Have you ever imposed rules on a relationship? What is the difference between being honest about expectations and setting rules? Use personal experience and the failed Schell marriage as a basis for answering these questions.

The Role of Communication ❖ Jonathan Safran Foer has said that he writes about characters and their miscommunications: some characters think they’re saying a lot but say nothing; others say nothing but end up saying a lot. Which characters fall into which category in Extremely Loud? What might Foer be saying about our ability to communicate deep-seated emotions?

Closing Questions? ❖ Would you recommend this novel to a friend? Why or why not? ❖ Is this novel a meaningful part of the 11th grade English curriculum? Should it continue to be taught in English classes?