The last name Schell is fitting for many of the characters in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for various reasons.
Lets start with Oskar. Oskar is clearly struggling with depression following the tragic death of his father. Oskar does not fit in well with other kids his age; for example, the interactions between Jimmy Snyder and himself backstage during the production of Hamlet. Oskar’s knowledge of information that is not typical for his age group, combined with his inventing, both indications of a possible mental disorder, separate him from children his age. Oskar even references zipping himself into a sleeping bag, as if it were a cocoon. While Oskar has lost some of his innocence as a result of the tragedy, he attempts to comfort himself by ignoring the truth as much as possible. Oskar carries a tambourine with him as he visits the Blacks. The tambourine is comforting and shows how Oskar tries to remain as innocent as possible. Oskar also tries to protect his mother by hiding the messages that his father left on the answering machine. In this sense, he is bringing others into his shell for protection.
In a different sense, Schell is a fitting and significant name because Oskar’s journey to all the Blacks because Oskar is breaking out of his shell. Oskar is going out of his comfort zone trying to find information about his father. This is a large task for Oskar because in the back of his mind he knows that the information he receives can finalize his father’s death which he has been attempting to hide from.
The name Schell is also significant in discussing Oskar’s mother. Like Oskar, she hides the fact that she received a phone call from her husband to protect Oskar. She also could have been protecting herself by ignoring the fact that she received the phone call, Oskar’s mother is not making her husband’s death final.
Schell is a fitting name for Oskar’s grandparents as well. Both people have a lot of bottled emotion that they keep from one another. Oskar’s grandmother knows that Thomas truly was in love with Anna; yet she continues a relationship with him for many years hoping that he will love her, when she is really hiding from the truth. Thomas has trouble expressing his emotions towards his son; for example, all the unsent letters he wrote to him. All the bottled emotion Thomas has could be considered a shell that he unable to break through.
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5 comments:
I think you did an excellent job with your blog. You provided many examples as to how you think the last name Schell is very fitting to Oskar and his family. Names are a very important thing to consider in a story. I don't know if you read "A Prayer for Owen Meany", but the names of the characters were very important in that as well. If I can offer a little bit of constructive criticism, the example about Oskar's grandparents could have been a little more thorough, or you could have provided a bit more information to back up your statements. All in all, I enjoyed reading your post and look forward to reading more in the future. [tell ms. h. that i might become the new 'theteach', she'll know what I mean. haha]
I like how you, in some way, connected every character to the name Schell. I just want to throw something out there for you to consider. In paragraph 1 you said that Oskar was trying to protect his mother by hiding the answering machine messages left by his father. I totally agree. But, could he also be protecting himself? I think Oskar unfairly blames himself for not answering the phone that day. I think he is afraid that if he shows his mother the tapes, she may be just as upset with him as he is with himself. Although I personally don't think his mother would be that upset, a nine year old boy may. To prevent her from thinking poorly of him, I think Oskar is hiding the tapes. I know this isn't the main focus of your blog but it's just something to consider :)
Wow. I'm not even going to lie, during the ENTIRE book I read 'Schell' as 'Schnell' with an 'N'.................this is the first time I'm realizing it. In German schnell means fast, quick, or hurry up, so when I first saw the question about the significance of it, I kept wondering how anyone could possibly make any sense of it. haha I need to pay more attention...clearly.
BUT ANYWAY. You made really great connections. I like how you looked at it also as him breaking out of his shell during his journey in addition to the more obvious relationships with him being locked in his shell. I also like how you drew parallels with the name to the mother and grandparents. I would have been so overwhelmed with making connections with Oskar that I would have probably overlooked the fact that other crucial characters possessed the same last name. Now that I actually know the correct last name, it's really interesting how it applies to all of them in some way.
I'd just like to say that I an with cacophony on this one, I kept putting the 'n' into Oskar's last name, so you're not alone there.
To lil ray of sunshine, I have not read "A Prayer to Owen Meany", but I feel that names are often symbolic in a lot of literature. Even typical first names can be symbolic of the person's personality through their meaning. I would agreee that I did under analyze how the name Schell is fitting for Oskar's grandparents. That is probably because it wasn't as obvious for them. There were a lot of connections between Oskar and his grandparents, but Oskar was more obviously hiding from things, I think, because he was dealing with the tragedy and trying to grow up at the same time.
To emar,
I agree with your opinion that Oskar was trying to protect himself, but I don't feel that it is because he thinks his mom would be angry with him because throughout most of the novel he feels like his mom doesn't even care. For example, Oskar thinks that his mother's relationship with Ron is disrespecting his father, and Oskar also thinks for a long time that his mom is just letting him roam around NYC because she doesn't care. Oskar clearly loves his mom, but he has a lot of misdirected animosity towards her because he has to be mad at someone. I do agree though that Oskar is protecting himself because he feels guilty for not answering the phone. It is as if he could have saved his father by answering the phone.
To cacophany, thanks.
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