In Extremely Strong and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer explores trauma and its impact on people. When faced with a devastating situation, it is human nature to seek answers to everything. For the characters of Oskar and his grandfather, it is clear that guilt and sadness alter their daily lives, which they spend searching for answers. On the other hand, even though she mourns the loss of her husband, Oskar's mother is able to demonstrate incredible outward stability as she heals by helping her son on his journey. Through these characters and many others, all facing similar devastating situations, Foer argues that the only way to unlock true healing from grief is to accept that sometimes there are no answers. Oskar Schell is a very unique, eccentric and conflicted 9-year-old boy from Manhattan. , who lost his father during the terrorist attacks of September 11. Naturally, this changes his life and his purpose forever. He is struck by so many new questions, about his own life and about his father's death. He is forced to lose his innocence at a young age and becomes jaded, even stating that “Nothing is beautiful and true” (43). Oskar had a very special relationship with his father, who challenged him intellectually and often led him further. extraordinary “reconnaissance expeditions”. A year after his father's death, Oskar finds a key in a vase labeled "Black" and treats it as one of those expeditions, becoming obsessed with finding any information that can help him cling to the memory of his father. There are "472 people with the name Black in New York" (51), and Oskar spends every waking moment knocking on their doors asking if they knew anything about the key and what information about his father it could unlock . But... middle of paper... let's forget the objective questions that destroy it. Oskar's mother copes by helping guide her son, the most important person in his life, on his journey. He is a complex character, who is only seen through Oskar's eyes. Their relationship is difficult, but when Oskar realizes that she is truly grieving with him, and also there for him, he acknowledges that "it was incredibly simple." In [her] one life, she was [his] mother and [he] was her son” (324). In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, all the characters struggle with grief in one form or another. Watching their reactions and how they move on in their lives proves that it is impossible to live a fulfilling life while searching for answers about a lost loved one. Sometimes there are no answers, and it is far more important to find love and comfort from those around you and begin to heal..