Post #3: Use of the Red Pen- Sam

Jonathan Safran Foer is writing this book in a circular formation, continually going back and touching on details that he mentioned earlier in the story, slowly revealing more about the characters. In the chapter "Why I'm Not Where You Are", Oskar's grandfather is writing a letter to his father explaining why he is not there with him.The pages are marked with red ink, with words, phrases, and punctuation circled. This indicates that his father had been reading it. Whenever his father used to read the New York Times, he would look for errors and mark them with the same pen. I noticed, though, most of the marks were indicating an error, while further into the letter, as it became more personal, the red ink was circling things that his father found untruthful. For example, on page 216, Oskar's father has the phrase, "I love you, your father", circled. There were no grammatical or spelling errors present. Oskar's father thinks this statement is incorrect because his father was absent for the entirety of his life. These small details that Foer puts into the story add something new to the reader's perception of the story as well as returning to old intricacies.