Monday, November 19, 2012
Just a Clarifying Question
Maybe I just missed this in the reading, but towards the beginning of the book, when Oskar's father was still alive and they played those "scavenger hunt-like" games, did Oskar ever discover what the map of Central Park was a hint for? They story moved away from that part so quickly and it's still driving me crazy for not knowing.
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It seems like the map was revealed merely to provoke Oskar into a "the journey is more important than the destination" adventure. This is hinted at by the circled "not stop looking" (p 10) as well as his father's indifference towards Oskar's frustration: "Dad shrugged his shoulders again. 'But if you don't tell me anything, how can I ever be right?' [asked Oskar.] He circled something in an article and said, 'Another way of looking at it would be, how could you ever be wrong?'" (p 9). This idea of never being wrong, of never ending the search, implies that there may not be a prize at the end - and there doesn't need to be.
ReplyDeleteI think that map was just an introduction into the game that they are playing and set up the mentality to never stop looking so when he found the key, he is determined to never stop looking for the right lock even if he is falling behind every .333 seconds.
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