An artist named DJ Sammy wrote a song called heaven, and after the horrific occurences of 9/11 the song was remixed to involve a theme of 911 by having a young girl talk about how much she misses her father who was killed in 911. This year, eleven years later there was another song made that reuses some of the old monolouge of the little girl but then also includes her talking as she has aged through adolescense into high school still without a father. This song is very poignant and is very relatable for thousands of kids in the same situation.
In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the main charecter Oskar lost his father at a very young age because of 911. Oskar was very close to his father, and expresses constantly that his father was the person he loved the most in the world and always tells stories that show how much his father related to him and understood him, and he always says that he has "heavy boots" over the death of his father and all of the aftermath he has had to face at such a young age, and handles it very maturely by taking it into his own hands by trying to find his own closure.
Man, Meghan, that was heartbreaking! I have heard that song before many times but never connected to 9/11 like that with the little girl's voice in the background. It makes me think about, just as Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close does, all the things that would be different in my life had my father died on that awful day. There are a lot of things I think we take for granted. In that sense, reading Oskar's story is not just an assignment but also an experience because it is changing the way I think about 9/11.
Posted by: Caroline C. | 09/18/2012 at 09:53 PM
Oh my gosh Meghan, this song is so sad. I literally started to cry while I was listening to it. It makes me think about what if I was a little girl who lost my father on 9/11. It would be extremely difficult to get through, just like what Caroline said. This relates to Oskar because of what happened to him as well. Oskar suffered severally inside of him and handling it in his own way with finishing his dad’s scavenger hunt.
Posted by: Natalie C. | 09/20/2012 at 06:46 PM
This is one of the saddest things that I have ever seen. It seems that the artist that made this actually got a real emotion from this. Almost everything else that is related to 9/11 is so angry and that eventually turns into racism and prejudice, this is a good reminder that people still have to deal with something this sad everyday.
Posted by: Liam M. | 09/20/2012 at 07:47 PM