A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem (285-305)

1. A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem (285-305) • Oskar goes to Mr. Black’s apartment, to find that they’re selling the place. After he retrieves Mr. Black’s card, what new card does he discover? • What does Oskar believe happened to Mr. Black? (“I was happier believing he was there than finding out for sure” [286]. Here we have the imagination/illusion versus reality dichotomy.) • The last Black Oskar visits is Peter, who lives in Harlem. What does Oskar get to do there? What does he say? • How long was Oskar on his key quest? What do we find out had been happening with all the Blacks Oskar visited? • After hearing an old message from Abby Black, Oskar returns to her place. Who was the man who had been yelling in the background on his first visit there? What is his name? Why had he been searching for the key? • “’It’s easy to be emotional. You can always make a scene. . . . Highs and lows make you feel that things matter, but they’re nothing.’ ‘So what’s something?’ ‘Being _________ is something. Being ______.’” (297). Here again we have the Something versus Nothing dichotomy. What do you think Foer is trying to say with this dichotomy throughout the novel? Do you agree with William Black’s statement? Is he right? Would you amend his statement? How does this statement relate to other characters in the novel? • What do we find out was the reason for the tuxedo being in Dad’s closet? • What does Oskar reveal to William Black? • What do you make of the lengthy letter Oskar receives from Stephen Hawking? “What’s real? What isn’t real? Maybe those aren’t the right questions to be asking. What does life depend on?” (305) What does he mean by this?

2. EL&IC---Last two chapters • My Feelings (306-314) • When Grandpa returns to Grandma, where has he been? • What does she know is going to happen when he says (writes), “I want to get you some magazines”? • Grandma continuously describes events in reverse in this chapter. What does that represent? • Where are Grandma and Grandpa now? How does that place represent “Not something or nothing” (312)? • Beautiful and True (315-326) • What does Oskar learn about Ron? • How did Ron and Oskar’s mother meet? • Who accompanies Oskar and Grandpa (“the renter”) to the cemetery to dig up Dad’s coffin? • What does Oskar learn about his mom’s last words with his dad? • “I believe that things are extremely complicated, and [Mom] looking over me was as complicated as anything ever could be. But it was also incredibly simple” (324). What does he mean by this? In what ways can you personally relate to this dichotomy of extremely complicated yet incredibly simple? • Does this book seem extremely complicated yet incredibly simple? Are there some basic, simple ideas, expressions, emotions, questions, etc. at the heart of the complicated structure?