Something from Nothing

Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, both format-wise and plot-wise, explores the meanings of empty spaces and nothingness extensively.  Whether it is the loss of certain physical senses following a tragedy, such as Thomas’ loss of speech; the creation of Nothing Spaces by the grandparents to gain a sense of privacy; or the literal spaces in much of the novel's dialogue; it seems as if the spaces within the novel hold just as much, if not more meaning than the content on either side of the space.  This nothingness is used most often as a sort of coping mechanism; characters use it as an escape, something that allows them to either hide from their grief or hide from fully processing it.  In Thomas’ case, instead of dealing with the loss of Anna, he loses the ability to talk about his feelings or the tragedy at all.  His life with Oskar’s grandmother is heavily structured and built out of rules, what is something and what is nothing.  Eventually, what was something and what was nothing became muddled and confused, “The longer your mother and I lived together, the more we took each other’s assumptions for granted, the less was said, the more misunderstood, I’d often remember having designated a space as Nothing when she was sure we had agreed that it was Something” (111).  After enough time, it is impossible for Nothing Spaces to be truly neutral; they hold immense meaning merely because they are different from Something Spaces. 

Through Oskar’s narrative the reader sees the alienation that can be felt after a loss or tragedy; many times Oskar expresses anger when someone else is upset, or when someone else is not upset enough.  Perhaps it is his immaturity coming into play, but he is extremely egocentric in his feelings of grief, contrasting with the feelings of overwhelming patriotism and unity that was felt in much of the United States following September 11^th.  Through Oskar’s isolation, he creates one huge Nothing Space for himself.  This Nothing Space is made up of the quest on which his father sends him.  By feeling alone in his quest and in his grief, Oskar is unable to process his grief and to truly cope.  By the end of the novel, Oskar has realized that he was not alone in his quest; everyone he met with had anticipated his arrival, and his mother was aware of the quest the whole time.  Once he discovered that his isolation was self-imposed, he was able to develop a more empathetic outlook on the grief of others and begin processing his own feelings.  Though the loss of senses and use of Nothing Spaces seemingly draws the characters away from coming to terms with loss and tragedy, it is through these coping mechanisms that grief can be processed.  Foer sets up these nothing spaces as an alternative to the deindividuation of unification and patriotism after a tragedy.