Chapter 1

Hello Everyone,

     This post is my reflection on chapter one.  There may be some spoilers so perhaps you should pick up a copy and read along with me? Any who...

     The main character seems to be a young boy named Osker Schell.  He has some peculiar traits that may come into play more significantly later in the book.  Some of the traits I have noticed are...

- He is very intelligent
- He is extremely detail oriented
- He has an amazing ability to focus
- He only wears white
- His boots change weight (heavier or lighter) depending on situations not related to weight.
- He has a tambourine that helps calm him
- He is very straightforward

     As for the weight of his boots, let me provide you with some examples.  On page 5, he says, "...because I wanted to make him crack up, because if I could make him crack up, my boots could be a little lighter." In addition to this, he also, on page 11 he says, " A few weeks after the worst day , I started writing lots of letter. I don't know why, but it was one of the only things that made my boots lighter." The significance he puts on the weights of his boots makes me wonder if that is his way of describing how he feels or how "weighted down" he feels by what it happening around him.

     The second quote above mentions "the worst day".  I believe that this day refers to the day that his father died because most of the chapter alludes to going to his funeral and has a nostalgic feel whenever his father is mentioned.  Oskar and his father seemed to have had a very playful and honest relationship and seemed to have a really good understanding of each other.  This doesn't seem to be the case with his mother because Oskar sometimes mentions that he doesn't think she loves him but will ask her if she does, and she says that she loves him a lot.  It seems to be a complicated relationship that I hope to learn more about in the upcoming chapters. 

     In reference to the father dying, Oskar drops some hints as to the nature of his father's death.  One clue he drops is that they are going to a funeral but they are not actually burying his father, mearly and empty coffin, suggesting that something happened to his body.  In addition to this, Oskar goes into a lot of detail about tall building with elevators and focuses on the 95th floor, which makes me think there might be some significance to that particular floor.  A quote that sums a lot of this up is as follows:

     "Sometimes I think it would be weird if there were a skyscraper that moved up and down while its elevator stayed in place. so if you wanted to go to the ninety-fifth floor, you'd just press the 95 button and the ninety-fifth floor would come to you. Also, that could be extremely useful , because if you're on the ninety-fifth floor , and a plane hits below you, the building could take you to the ground, and everyone could be safe, even if you left your birdseed shirt at home that day" (Page 3).

     I believe this quote describes his father's death, which is really sad.  This quote provides a lot of detail that is reinforced at the end of the chapter when Oskar tells us that on "the worst day", he was sent home from school because of an incident and then once he gets home, there is a message on the answering machine.  The chapter ends there and I am intrigued to know more about the circumstances of his father's death.

     Thank you,
     Olivia