VCE English, Unit 2

 A theme is an idea or point that is central to the story.  It is usually summed up in one or a few words  It is often connected with exploring the human experience  A theme can be presented by a character’s actions or thoughts in a text  In EL&IC this also includes structural features.

 There are several themes in EL&IC that connect with the human experience:  Death  Love  Journey  Trauma  Family  Many of these themes interconnect but can be looked at on their own.

 This text centres around death, especially how people deal with loss  There are several examples of this:  The most obvious- Oskar losing his father  Oskar’s grandfather-Thomas Senior losing Anna in the Dresden Bombings  Oskar’s grandmother losing her husband and son  Oskar’s mother losing her husband  A.R Black losing his wife  William Black losing his father

 How do we deal with death in life?  Oskar tries to deal with it by looking for where the key fits, by occupying himself by working towards an impossible task, just like finding reason for why he lost his father.  Thomas Senior cannot deal with the death of Anna. He doesn’t come to terms with this loss but does he continue to live in the hope that he will?  Oskar’s grandma deals with loss and death by smothering Oskar.

 What about Oskar’s mother? How does she deal with the death of her husband?  There’s no right way to deal with death and loss  Not dealing with loss and death can lead people on a path of self preservation and self destruction (there’s a fine line!)

 Love could be argued to be the flip side of death  Also the reason why loss is hard to deal with.  Love ties in with the idea of “Raison d^etre” (reason for existence)  Oskar refers to this French phrase on numerous occasions  He even refers to the cat as not having “raison d^etre”

 The text follows a number of journeys  The obvious one is Oskar’s journey through NYC  Others include his grandmother’s experiences in WW2 and Thomas Senior dealing with Anna’s death.  Journeys are physical and emotional  It is also not the beginning or end point of the journey that is important but what happens in between.

 Oskar’s search for where the key fits forces him to overcome a range of fears he has  He also has to interact with others  Oskar’s grandmother’s journey sees her become a mother and a grandmother  Thomas Senior seems to be lost and unable to keep moving, he just exists.

 The events of 9/11 and the Bombing of Dresden during WW2 were traumatic for not just the victims but also their families and survivors.  There is an aftermath that often lasts a lifetime for these parties.  There is no mention of what followed the 9/11 attacks such as the War on Terror which includes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the text.

 This could be because Foer is not interested in the politics of these events but rather on the impact these events had on the lives of everyday people.  The bombing of Dresden gives us an idea of how Thomas Junior may have felt during his final hours.

 Being family is what ties the characters together  Oskar has two family members who are dealing with the events in Dresden  His grandmother who attempts to move on with her life by marrying Thomas Senior and making a family which leads to a grandson.  Thomas Senior deals with his loss by cutting off emotional connections especially with his family

 This is an attempt to block them out so he won’t get hurt (self preservation in his eyes but possibly also self destruction)  Through his family, Oskar can see that he has two paths he can take to deal with his loss  He will always be carrying the “heavy boots” related to his father’s loss but how he deals with it is up to him.