Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Inocence of Language
Despite the massive hardship that Oskar had to endure, he still remains a child at heart. Generally when a child goes through a traumatic experience, they emrged changed, matured. There is no denying that Oskar did change, but some of him remained the same young, innocent child of the past. In elementary school, the phrase "what the" became extrememly popular. The funny thing was that we had no idea what came after "the". On page 44, as well as many others, Oskar uses this phrase when he is surprised or confused. I find this rather innocent because even though his father has just died, Oskar still is naive enough to not know what comes after "what the".
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You bring up an interesting point. What you've said makes me wonder if Oskar's curiosity and desire for adventure have been brought upon the fact that he is just still a child. I think the reason he may still be a child at heart is because he feels once he gets older, such an adventurous and fulfilling life won't be possible. To address what you said about the phrase "what the", I never thought it was that he didn't know how to finish the phrase. I just thought it was what he said to further advance his knowledge, because he has to have a question to get an answer.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the phrase, "What The," First of all, I agree completely Natalie. I also think that this phrase is his way of asking himself a question; however, when Oscar is caught observing something that he has never witnessed before and he doesn't understand what he is seeing, it frustrates him. I believe that Oscar has been trained by his mother not to curse, and this is his way of cursing without actually using foul language.
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