Extremely Loud 1

Anna Lacy

Trauma in Film and Literature

Colors

         When Oskar finds a card with the word Black written in red pen, in an attempt to find the person who wrote the word he heads to an art supply store to ask the manager if they know anything. The woman who talks with Oskar simply states that she finds it interesting that the word black is written in red ink because most people write either their name or the color of the pen they are using. She then shows Oskar the sample pads where customers test the pen before purchasing them. Oskar does state, after the woman in the store mentions that the color the word is written in is odd, that he thought black was written in red because his dad always uses red pens. The combination of what Oskar had originally assumed and what the lady in the store points out about the color adds to the suggestion that black is not simply referring to a color but instead to a persons last name. The fact that someone else besides him believes that the word is a name helps Oskar on his quest to find the lock that the key goes in. With out the help of the lady at the art store he probably would have continued to be confused on his quest to figure out where the key goes and its connection to his father.