Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

In a letter to Oskar’s father, Oskar’s grandfather details the last day he saw Anna—the day of the Dresden bombing during World War II. Before the attacks began, Anna had told him she was pregnant, and Thomas felt a great sense of joy and hope for the future. That night, Thomas recalls going to a shelter as the planes began to pass overhead and bombs dropped for half an hour, which felt like forever. Afterward, he left his parents (who begged him to stay) to go find Anna, and another raid began. Thomas ran from shelter to shelter to escape the blasts and smoke, all along the way seeing bodies in all sorts of horrific conditions. He ran through the zoo and was asked to shoot the carnivores, but shot every animal he could find instead. He was eventually found and taken to a hospital, given several operations, and evacuated to a refugee camp. He never saw Anna or his parents again. When he met Oskar’s grandmother in America, he was unable to speak after burying “too much too deeply” (216), and never told her of his experiences or what he had lost. Because of his inability to open up to her and his fear of loving again, their relationship failed, and he left it.