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The titles of the chapters in the book help the reader know who is speaking. Also, it shows how the characters communicate, the chapter "My feelings", highlights the fact the grandma and grandpa don't say their feelings, they write them out to express them. They do this because they don't know any other way to express themselves. The author does this because to help the reader get more invested in the mystery part of the story. Telling the reader exactly who is talking would take away from the mystery and unknown of the text. This creates a parallel between Oskar's adventure and creates a more cohesive text. The titles "Why I'm not where you are" is very ambiguous because the Grandpa is there, just not all the time. The author creates sense of unknown because we don't know if he actually sent the letters or not.

Sydney Milovich

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The ephemera presented in this book showcases Oskar's fixations and obsessions on events and people he comes across. He overanalyzes information he learns and collects in hopes of it connecting back to his dad. His obsessions stem from his different path of thinking, but also are shown in the other generations of his family, showing he's not so different. He takes a picture of the yes and no on tattooed on the renter's hands (260, 261) not understanding this man is his grandfather. His grandfather collected pictures of his doorknobs in his house in case his house burned down he would have some part of his house. This reveals his paranoia in another thing of his life getting burnt away. The author uses ephemera to connect the two characters that originally seem so far apart, but actually have similarities that later get revealed.

-Brooklyn Roah

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The grandpa's plot arrangements are set up in a way to show the how his overall story comes together while also showing the reader how it has affected the present with Oskar. The grandpa's chapters use dates such as "9/11/03" (262) to show when he writes the letters and how his life has come to be. His letters are always to his son Thomas and Oskar to explain "why [he's] not where [he is]" (262). These chapters are a way of being able to figure out what happened in the past to figure out why or how it has affected the present. The generational trauma that has come from the grandpa's history with grandma is another way to show how these plot arrangements come to be. The grandpa's feelings are shown throughout his letter's that the reader isn't able to know since he doesn't talk. Grandpa writes "I'm still sorry" (266) and this can be interpreted in

many different ways. The reader can use all of his letter's throughout the book to have an idea of what he is sorry about. The way the chapter's are placed give us a better and complete understanding of why he is sorry and to whom he is sorry for. For uses the grandpa's chapter arrangement to help the reader figure out the story and why it is the way it is.

Enrique Padilla

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Grandma's chapters are distinguishable because of her list-like writing. She asks questions and answers them herself, she writes her life like plot summary, and writes short declarative statements. "I remember his eyebrows" "He touched his forehead" (Foer 224). The author conveys to the reader that english is not her first language with her simple sentences. The large spaces in between her words presents her reflective behavior, taking time in between her words to think about the right way to say how she feels. Foer emphasizes Grandma's pondering nature with the sentence structure, showing how with age, the broken lady had time to think about everything that has happened to her and make a life out of it. When she talks about the day Thomas died, she writes that she saw "the burning building" on the news and pauses before she writes "I wasn't even surprised". This halt in thought reveals how no one can create this event up in their head, thats how disastrous it was. The author shows her reflection because of the trauma that she faced after.

-Brooklyn Roah

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In the text the author gives us information that some of the characters might not know. The grandpa writes letter to his "unborn son" (Oskar's dad). He tittles his letters "Why I'm not where you are" (262) Oskar has no idea about this or his grandpa. When he goes into his grandma's apartment to look for her, he starts looking around. Oskar "open[s] the top drawer of the dresser" (235), he discovers a ton of letters in all of the drawers he opens. The letters were all "empty" (236), he didn't know why or even who wrote them. As a reader, we know where these letters are from and why they were written. This is helping the text all tie together. Foer does this to layer the text to create a more complex storyline that strengthen the characters relationship through the generations.

Sydney Milovich

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Throughout the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Safran Foer utilizes diverse syntax between each narrator in order to better convey their distinct personalities and create intimacy with the reader. For example, Oskar speaks his mind with no filter such as when he compliments the worker at the supply store “because she was fat” (Foer 44); however, his grandfather is simplistic and filtered. He does not speak and he writes simple, short, answers such as “‘I’m sorry’” or he simply “shrugs his shoulders” like Oskar’s father (Foer 238). In order to convey diversity and similarity of each character, Foer utilizes the length and rate of which each character thinks and talks. Oskar’s use of complex responses and questions allows the reader to understand that he is a suspecting person that relies on and responds better to facts rather than faith. Contrary, Oskar’s grandfather is portrayed as a simple man when conversing with others but is complex within his writing. Therefore, Foer utilizes this syntax in order to portray diverse personalities and characteristics between the characters presented throughout the novel.

-Kayden Clark

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Foer utilizes various images and numbers throughout the novel in order to convey Oskar's thoughts and portray the diverse communication between the family members. For example, when Oskar talks to the psychologist, a picture of a man falling from a building is implemented (Foer 205). Due to Foer's use of vague dialogue from Oskar, the images are implemented in order to exhibit his complex thoughts. In doing so, Foer puts Oskar's thoughts into images due to his inability to speak what is truly being thought. In addition, Foer implements pages of just numbers such as "'6, 9, 6, 2, 6, 3, 4, 7" (269). The numbers represent the grandfathers attempt to talk and explain himself but he is never understood. This relates to the relationship between Oskar's grandparents in the sense that they never understood each other; however, this notion takes place throughout the novel between various characters due to the family's unique method of communicating. Moreover, Foer utilizes images and numbers in order to deliver messages that cannot be put into words or actions.

-Kayden Clark

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Foer utilizes images in order to portray the world that Oskar is living in. Oskar's diversity is portrayed through images and where they are placed throughout the novel. For example, through out the novel, Foer implements images of locks and keys such as on page 53 and page 115. To the average person, locks and keys would represent no meaning; however, to Oskar, they represent a feeling of hope and recollection. Additionally, Foer implements the images of locks as a portrayal of inception and aspiration. Moreover, the locks and keys are utilized to represent Oskar's desire to move forward from his fathers death. Although, Oskar's inability to find the correct lock to open represents his inability to put his fathers death past him and move forward. In which, Oskar's inability to move on is habituated to his mother and grandmother.

-Kayden Clark