1. ELIC: Chapter 8

2. Lines from 174 and 175 (first page and a half of chapter. . . )
“That’s been my problem. I miss what I already have, and I surround myself with things that are missing”
“It’s hard to say goodbye to the place you’ve lived.”
“If anything happened they would be able to rebuild the apartment again exactly as it was. . . He could have rebuilt the apartment by taping together the pictures.”
“I never confused what I had with what I was.”
“Better safe than sorry, he wrote. At the time I thought he was right, but I am not sure anymore.”
“As if the world and its future depended on each doorknob.”
“I was his too. He never took pictures of me, and we didn’t buy life insurance.”

3. Describe the nature of how Grandma and Grandpa “tried” to make the relationship work. (Back on page 84 she says she needed to know he could “need” her, not love her – how does that fit into the context of what we learn about their relationship?) She tells Oskar they were not unhappy. She says her life story was spaces. (What he called the “nothing” spaces she called “safe” places in the apartment – why the two different terms?) What is the difference between making a “life” and making a “living”? What is the difference between love and “need”? (She says she needed a child.) She doesn’t want to tell him she’s pregnant, she says, “It was the ultimate secret. Life.” (Aha!) Ultimately she asks him: “What are we? something or nothing?” So, what do you make of all of this?

4. When she follows him to the airport, she sees what he writes about the tragedy of one life, but she doesn’t see one part of what he writes What? (page 133 for reference)
The difference between shyness and shame What do you make of that?
“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” (And then Oskar’s next chapter title!)
(page 184) “Nobody pointed at, I love you. There was no way around it. We could not climb over it, or walk until we found its edge. I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live, Oskar. Because if I were able to live my life again, I would do things differently.”
He goes home, and then still leaves the next day. Why? And why does she let all the animals go?

5. ELIC: Chapter 9

6. Why is the bombing of Hiroshima included in this novel
Why is the bombing of Hiroshima included in this novel? Why is Oskar so intrigued with it? Is this healthy? Contrast other kids’ response and his own to the details of Hiroshima (AND, why does the picture on look like it does? What about Oskar’s interactions with fellow students, generally? Why is it that this chapter starts out this way?

7. Which additional Blacks do we meet
Which additional Blacks do we meet? What do we learn/ understand / get from each of them? (Agnes/Feliz, Albert, Alice, Allen, Arnold)
Did you get the significance of that one little thing that Mr Black did after they were talking about the clotheslines?!!
And, just generally – why are the letters included when they are included, do you think?
(Just for fun: IRT – did you look it up? Mr. Black asks if that’s what they’ll take to The Bronx )

8. We go with Oskar to his appointment with Dr. Fein (note name, btw
We go with Oskar to his appointment with Dr. Fein (note name, btw!) Oskar tells him he’s too emotional – is that what we’ve gathered so far? What do you think about that? And, what’s going on with the association game? Why does Oskar react the way he does to Dr. Fein’s question about something good coming from his father’s death? Wouldn’t that be something that would make it meaningful (per Viktor Frankl, for instance)? Don’t we want “good” to win and to come from even horrific things? What do you think about this?

9. We then overhear Dr. Fein and mom
We then overhear Dr. Fein and mom we don’t get the whole conversation, but enough bits to know what they are talking about. What do we learn? Is Oskar okay?