Truth

The journey of finding the key is now over for Oskar. “I didn’t know what to say. I found it and now I can stop looking,” gives the reader a sense that Oskar doesn’t know what to do now that he has found the key. Now that he knows where the key goes, he has no reason to keep searching for it, nothing to look forward to or to hope and fanaticize over. (Foer 302 found it and it had nothing to do with Dad? I found it and now I’ll wear heavy boots for the rest of my life,” shows that Oskar is disappointed that the key did not have anything to do with his father other than the fact that he bought a vase which unknowingly held the key. (Foer 302) I believe that Oskar was looking for the key and had hopes to indeed find something that led to his dad. The readers also felt the same because Oskar takes us on this journey of discovery that the reader also comes along with as well. So when I found out that the key had no emotional connection to his father, I was a bit disappointed to because the readers, like Oskar were hoping for something personal. Both the reader and Oskar were let down. I believe that Oskar will “wear heavy boots” for the rest of his life because he now has to carry the burden of disappointment from now knowing where the key goes. Oskar got to meet new people and help them along the way. Perhaps he enjoyed this because he could think of his dad and hope that his dad had left something special for him after he passed on maybe like a secret message. He says,” I wish I hadn’t found it,” because now he cannot dream about what is in it because knowledge has taken all of his hope away. (Foer 302) If he hadn’t found it, he could still fanaticize about it. Everything is over so now there is nothing for him to do. It’s like reading a book with an impactful ending; you don’t know really what to do with yourself now that it is over so you have to contemplate the ending. In a conversation between Oskar and his grandfather Oskar says “I found it and now I can’t look for it.’ I could tell he didn’t understand me. ‘looking for it let me stay close to him for a little while longer,’” shows that by Oskar looking for the key, it was like his father was there watching over him and memories of his father were alive.  (Foer 304) His grandfather goes on to say “’But won’t you always be close to him?’ I knew the truth. ‘No,’” meaning that Oskar knows that as time goes on, as he gets older, he will drift away from his father becoming nonexistent in his life. (Foer 304) no doubt Oskar wants to still be connected with him. Anybody who has ever lost a loved one knows that over time, that person will become only a faded memory and so you have to keep strong and go on with your life because time does move on.