EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
PAIR 1: TRAUMA SHARING THERAPY
Mr. Black of apartment 6A in the same building tells Oskar, "So many people enter and leave your life! You have to keep the door open, so they can come in. But it also means you have to let them go!"
---How does this help or hurt Oskar's despair? page 153
Mr. Black of apartment 6A in the same building tells Oskar, "Thinking of her (deceased) wife is the next best thing (to being with her."
---How is he teaching Oskar about a fundamental premise of Organized Innocence? How is this like Francis and Margie? page 154
Mr. Black of apartment 6A in the same building tells Oskar, "It's not a horrible world but it's full of horrible people." How is he teaching Oskar how to overcome horrors of terrorism? to be OPTIMISTIC, BUT REALISTIC to posses Organized Innocence? page 156
PAIR 2: BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX:
----Why does Oskar lament that his Dad did not make Mr. Black's list of names? page 158
---Updating his one word descriptor from "war to husband," how is Mr. Black embodying Organized Innocence? page 158
---How is Oskar's fact that the world has been at peace for 230 of 3,500 years exhibit the Experienced Perspective? page 161
PAIR 3: MAGNETIZED MEMORY AND THE SEARCH FOR THE LOCK:
----Why does Mr. Black hammer one nail each day into his bed?
----What is the significance of the bed becoming magnetized? How does this help his grief?
----How is hammmering nails and making the bed more magnetized to the memory of his wife like Oskar's search for the key and his memory of his Dad? page 162
PAIR 4: SKIN COLORS FOR MOODS AND RUSSIAN ARTISTS
---- Why does Oskar want skin colors to indicate moods? page 163
----Connect the story of the artists whose arms are broken by Stalin's thugs and how they feed each other to Oskar's connection the Blacks on his search for the lock. page 164
PAIR 5: BIRDS FLYING EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY FAST
"Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close. Maybe twenty of them. Maybe more. But they also seemed like just one bird, because somehow they all knew exactly what to do." page 165
---How does Oskar reconnect Mr. Black to sounds of flying birds? Why does Mr. Black cry? How will Oskar get him to reconnect with the world? page 168
---How does Mr. Black hear / perceive the birds from an Organized Innocent perspective? tears of joy and regret?
---How does Oskar hear / perceive them as able to be light enough for flight while he is in "heavy boots" and, therefore, from an Experienced Perspective? page 165
PAIR 6: OPTIMISTIC, BUT REALISTIC TO EXTREMELY DEPRESSED AND INCREDIBLY ALONE:
---Trace Oskar's cataloging of his emotional state: OPTIMISTIC, BUT REALISTIC TO EXTREMELY DEPRESSED TO INCREDIBLY ALONE. How is he exhibiting a movement toward organized innocence and then, in telling his Mom he wished she were dead, a return to Experience? pages 170-1
---Why does Oskar inflict bruises on his body?
---- How is he hoping his Mom will feel sorry for him more and care for him more when she sees the bruises?
----How is Oskar seeing the care, love, and support he is receiving from Abby Black, Ada Black, 6A Black (care at times he does not completely deserve) but nor perceiving it? pages 172-3
---How is Oskar like Gus in his inability to perceive the signposts, the unlooked for help, and that the source (for healing) is everywhere?