Parallels

After reading the latest part of ELIC I started to notice parallels in the main, Oskar chapters, and the chapters involving his grandfather Thomas. Thomas is originally involved with Anna, Oskar's great-aunt, and the book consistently implies that Anna was his first love; the one person that he could be truly intimate with. and she dies is offscreen, during the bombings of Dresden Firebombings of World War II. There isn't an exploration into the political ramifications of those bombings, only the effects it has on Thomas and Oskar's grandmother. Similarly, Oskar's father Thomas Schell Jr. was the one person who Oskar felt intimate and close in. The book makes clear if not explicit that his father was the only person who could really understand him. After Thomas dies in the 2001 World Trade Center Attacks, Oskar closes himself off. The difference being is that Thomas Sr. loses all of his words and his ability to communicate effectively, while this book is detailing how Oskar is gaining that ability. I think that Thomas is the cautionary tale of the book, the end goal of how Oskar can completely lose his ability to express himself or his thoughts.