Federico Fellini once said, “A different language is a different vision of life ("Federico Fellini"). Jonathan Safran Foer’s use of language is an important theme in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It is simple and easy to read the language one knows and skip over words one doesn’t understand. There are many ways to communicate ideas, language being one of the most important. Language can be reflected in pictures, words and phrases, and different languages. Through hidden language one can interpret the basic ideas of a novel or go deeper into the all-encompassing meaning of the novel. Language is powerful to communicate, but is also a way one expresses his personality. Rather than limiting the characters and plot, the use of French words and phrases, minimal use of German, and the nontraditional use of language expand the storyline and Oskar’s overall identity.
Throughout Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar goes on his Sunday Reconnaissance Expedition. The word reconnaissance is from French origin meaning to recognize. Reconnaissance is an English word, as …show more content…
Wittgenstein is right, when people do not use language in different ways to express life and emotion then the world being lived in begins to have limitations. Throughout Oskar’s journey he discovers who he is and how he is to move on after the death of his father, the person he loves more than anyone (Foer 73). Oskar is ready to embrace life and be able to love again; “‘It’s OK if you fall in love again.’” (Foer 324). As Jonathan Safran Foer uses French, minimal German, and nontraditional language in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close he develops the story, who Oskar is, and who Oskar is becoming. Through successful or failed communication in different medias of language, the world one lives in is expanded and allows for the individual to evolve and finish their life