What did you make of the way this chapter was started?
What is different about this door knob?
Why does Oskar's grandmother allow Thomas back into her
life?
The code using telephone pad numbers may have thrown you.
Here is a comment I found on the internet concerning this code:
“On behalf of my English classes, I wrote to Mr. Foer’s
agent several years ago, asking about the number code in ELIC. He was kind
enough to respond personally; regretting the time my students had spent
decoding, and admitting that the numbers can’t be deciphered. He did say that
in a way, this is consistent with the theme of people trying to communicate and
failing, but the numbers themselves are more or less random, with a few
exceptions. I hope this helps.”
If you do a search for this decoding, you will find that
many have tried and have only been able to decode bits and pieces. I think the
explanation above will suffice, so don't kill yourself trying to decode it. If,
however, you do find a way to decode it, by all means share what you decoded.
What do you find interesting/confusing/disturbing about
Oskar's grandmother's behavior towards "the renter"?
It makes sense that Thomas (Oskar's father) wanted to meet
his own father...but why did he see him only once after he had found him? And
why is Thomas' father still writing letters to him?
If it was Simon Goldberg in the bookstore, why would he
simply hug Oskar's grandfather and then run away?
Why do you think Mr. Black never told Oskar about his
grandfather?
What do you think about those last few pages that get more
and more dense with typing?
22 comments:
I’ve been looking at the number code and trying to decode some of it. One thing that I keep seeing is the code for love, 5683. I found it as questions, in the middle of sentences, and as a sentence itself. I understand that this is the grandfather’s way of speaking over the phone, but there are a few things that I’m not entirely sure about. First, why would Thomas ask Oskar’s grandmother so much about love? It doesn’t seem like he has much of it in his life. Plus, he left years ago, so why would he care? Second, why would he press the buttons? Oskar’s grandmother would have no way of knowing what he was saying. Third, why did she stay on the phone for so long? Thomas was able to get through a couple pages of numbers, and it would have taken quite a few minutes to press all the buttons. This code seems to raise more questions than it answers.
In the first part of the letter that Thomas wrote he said that,"there is just so much to tell you in such little space, ill have to write over my own writing." That's paraphrasing a bit though. Typically when people have a small space to write, they write big in the start of the writing and get smaller and smaller, hence the smaller writing. He also is writing this letter to his deceased son, so he knows that he can never actually read the letters. He is writing this so he can "tell" his son why he was not where he was. Thomas wants to make sure that understand the circumstances on the reason he left and it was not because he didn't love him.
* I am sorry I meant Oscars grandfather not Thomas.
I think Oskar's grandmother let Oskar's grandfather back into her life because they can both connect on what happened in Dresden. They both lost people very important to them and they lost things later in life. Maybe she allowed him back in for perhaps a second chance at redemption but then realized it is not possible.
The pages get more and more filled typing because Oskar's grandfather has run out of room to write, but still has much to say. Instead of getting more paper, Thomas writes over what he has already written. He doesn't start at the beginning. He start writing over things at the end of the page, like he's trying to cover something up or make one thing more important than another by writing over it- to the point where it is illegible. It gets so severe that nearly the entire page is black, and it looks like the night sky with only a few stars shining. I think this could represent the dark times that Thomas is writing about to his son- and it takes for as night.
Like Branden said, Oskar's grandfather had run out of room to write, so he simply wrote over what he had written. However, I don't think that he really wanted to do such a thing. Playing into what Branden said about Oskar's grandfather's dark times he was going through, I believe that he didn't fully realize what he was doing. In my opinion, one of the reasons the last pages of this chapter are so dense with writing is because Oskar's grandfather wasn't in the right state of mind while he was journaling. Right before the writing becomes illegible, the focus of Oskar's grandfather's story shifts from talking about Thomas, to reminiscing in a memory, and ends with Oskar, all in one page. In that same page, Oskar's grandfather realizes that he's running out of room and tries to make every space on the page count. Because of this, Oskar's grandfather, so engrossed in his own memories and emotions, ends up writing over everything he had just written. To him, what he had to say was so important that he couldn't spare the time of getting more paper. In his sudden tidal wave of thoughts, he couldn't stand to not write something down. He was getting increasingly panicked, and because of that he acts somewhat irrationally in those last few pages of the chapter, resulting in the jumbled and indecipherable words.
The thing that is different about this door knob is on the bottom. All the other pictures of door knobs were on top half of the metal plate that is screwed into the door. Oskar's grandmother allows Thomas back into her life to be with him. After losing him then her son, she doesn't want to lose anyone else. When Thomas shows up, she wants to try to glue the family back together. Oskar's grandmother also wants some day for Oskar to meet him and say that this is your grandfather.
The doorknob pictured in this chapter is different from the rest because of the keyhole. You can tell it takes a key that looks more like it would fit a house key. One of the other doorknobs didn't even have a keyhole and another picture made it look like the door was locked. I think the pictures sort of play the hot or cold game. It's like throughout the novel the pictures of the doorknobs get "hotter" or more accustomed to what fits his key. Also this picture has a different lock compared to the rest where the other ones are either locked or would fit more of an old-fashioned key and the keyhole at the end has something that looks normal to us.
I agree with Rebecca that this doorknob looks more likely than the others to be for a front door, and considering that this chapter is about Thomas trying to return to where he left off at, it's fitting that the picture seems to express the idea of home. Although he spent so much time trying to find himself in his homeland, I don't think it appealed to him on the level he required it to. There was, after all, nothing particularly familiar for Thomas there--the people he knew on a personal level were either dead or, in Oskar's grandmother's case, elsewhere. And although he still can't help but see her as if she were Anna, I do believe that with Oskar's grandmother is where he feels most at home. They grew up together and exist as the only two left for each other from that time and place. I don't think they'll ever have the relationship either of them want, but as complicated as that is, I don't think it's a bad thing--at least for the sake of having someone who understands how broken the other feels.
I tried to decode some of the first page before I came here, and when I looked it up online, I found that same explanation, that the numbers are random. I gave up pretty quickly, but as Abby said, "LOVE", or "5,6,8,3" is in the code around 15-20 times. I started from the beginning, and his grandfather dials "MY NAME IS-" but that's where the numbers stop making sense. I went through and looked for more repeated numbers, and besides laughing at some offensive words thrown in, I didn't see anything else significant. It was a little disappointing that even most of the short, five-letter number phrases that my eyes were drawn to didn't have any meaning. "2,6,5,4,5?" is nothing.
Mr. Black never told Oskar about his grandfather because he respected Oskar’s grandfather’s wishes. He also knew that his place wasn’t to tell Oskar about his grandfather because his grandfather has to take that important step himself in order to create the bond between Grandfather and Grandson. If Mr. Black would of told Oskar himself it would not be the same if it said by a non-family member.
Oscars grandmother let Thomas back into her life because she still loves him. She never will stop caring about him. It depressed her so much when he left her that she was happy too see him again. You can't just stop loving someone even if they hurt you as badly as Thomas hurt her. Maybe another part of why she let him back in was because deep down she wanted Oscar to have his grandfather in his life because Oscar already lost his father. Maybe she thought Thomas could fill the gap in Oscar's life that his father left after he passed.
A question I have about is on page 281, when Thomas writes that Oskar asked him to drive up the grave. That was on the very first night. But then he write, "my hands are so sore from digging, your mother feeds me. I know I won't be in his life." I didn't understand if that was written at the moment when he was writing the top portion? But what got me was that it sounded like he was writing it later. Oskar said later in the book that they have only planned before they actually dug up the grave. I believe that because if they had practiced digging, they would've been a lot faster when it came time to dig. They also needed Gerald's help, so either they aren't good at practicing or they haven't practiced at all and I believe the latter. My point is that I'm pretty sure it was written later so it would represent that those were his very last words and he has such a hard time explaining himself that it ends up meaning nothing and that he could never do enough, therefore he is nothing.
The words at the end of the chapter become more dense because Oskars grandfather is running out of pages to write. He becomes more excited about what he has to say and tries to start writing smaller and smaller. When that method failed he just simply writes over what he had already written. His grandfather often talks about how much he has to say and express, but his day book just does not have enough pages to hold all of his words. Mr. Black never told Oskar about his grandfather because the grandfather had begged Mr. Black to not tell Oskar. So Mr.Black ended his missions with Oskar because he felt that it should be the grandfather traveling with him.
Oskar’s grandmother allows Thomas back into her life because she never wanted him to be gone. I find Oskar’s grandmother’s sexual desire toward “the renter” very concerning…especially because of her age and the past. I think that Mr. Black never told Oskar about his grandfather to protect him, since he has not been there thus far.
When you truly love someone you don't just forget about someone or refuse to be with them when you have the chance. Proof of that was Oskar's grandfather with Anna he never stopped loving her even if he couldn't be with her. That's why I think Oskar's grandmother let him back into her life. She never stopped loving him. Their relationship when he comes back obviously isn't how it was, they've been separated for so many years without contact. So them restarting again is awkward and confusing. She wanted him to sculpt her in his mind while she was away. Proving that she still cares for him and wants to figure out if he still really did care for her even if he did leave.
I agree that when you love someone it is easy to go back to them, thus why Oskar's grandmother allows Thomas to come back. But that "love" had been dormant for 40 years, so then the real question is IF she should have let him back in. Thomas reveals letters that he had written, but also claims that he could not send them until it was too late and that his son was gone.. (I found that to be very unfortunate).
I believe the last few pages were dense because there was so much that he had to say. So many thoughts that he had to put on the page and he couldn't stop and think of getting another page. Those pages are the physical example of a racing and stressful mind.
When Thomas first left Oskar's grandmother she was obviously devastated. She repainted the walls, trying to erase the memory of Thomas and move on with her life. Even in the beginning of their relationship she knew he was really sculpting Anna even though she was the model. She knew that Thomas was truly in love with Anna. I think over the years she realized that she could overcome their differences and let Thomas back into her life. I think Mr. Black never told Oskar about his grandfather because it wasn't his secret to tell.
One part of this book that I did find a bit odd was the part about the grandfather possibly seeing Simon Goldberg. I read it, then had to read it again because I didn't quite understand. So bear with me as I try to talk about it. I feel that the hug was obviously compassionate, however if the person was not Simon Goldberg, then hugging a strange old man wouldn't make sense. So for the purposes of this post let's say that it was Simon. I think that he ran away because there was no way that he would even attempt to have a normal conversation with someone that shared the same awful memories. For that reason I feel that no words could be exchanged.
Towards the end, as the text got closer and closer together, I got really excited. It was something cool that I had never seen in a book before. I think that it really represented a lot of what was going on in Oskar's grandfather's head. Many times he repeats that he wishes he had a blank book. This meaning a book that he write all of his thoughts in. It obvious that there is so much racing through his head, and this whole time he is mute. It really struck a chord with me. As the words got more jumbled together, so did his thoughts.
I agree with Brenden on the fact that I was extremely excited and fascinated by this chapter because of the text becoming smaller and closer together. This book is full of small things like this (pictures, spacing, etc.) that seem minute but happen to convey so much emotion, which is amazing because I've never read a book like this before. Regardless, I think that this particular instance of the text becoming closer and smaller is a symbol of Oskar's grandfather's mood. It almost implied a frantic and angry state of mind. To me, this represented his regrets, and how he felt that he could almost make up for everything he regretted and wished he could've done by writing them down in this daybook.
The Grandpa has so much to say, and is so frantic to say it that he runs out of space in the day book and starts writing over his own writing. The grandparents have both matured / come to terms with themselves and are trying again.
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