Response to Question #1 of EL&IC

While reading this section of the book, you can't help but be both a little sympathetic and critical of Oskar.
Sympathetic because of everything he's been through at only 9 years old, and that he doesn't want his mom to move on so fast, he wants her to miss his dad as much as he does, Oskar wants to see his mom sad just like him. Like when Oskars mom came into his room at night to say goodnight, and he asks her how much she cries, and asks her to promise to never fall in love again. These are uncomfterble questions/promises to ask of a parent but, he's also been holding them in for quite awhile and he saw opportunity and he took it. It also doesn't help that since he's found the key in his dads closet he hasn't had any kind of lead to anything. Yes, he's meeting all sorts of interesting people but to hear "no" from everybody he's asked about the key can't be an easy thing. He counts his lies and he counts his disappointments, and counting them, can't make them any easier to get over. To no exactly how many times you've lied not only to your mother but also to complete strangers, or to know how many times you've been disappointed by people you don't even know, can be quite troubling.
But, it's also easy to be critical of Oskar. He may not be able to see it, but his mother is trying to help him. She wants Oskar to b happy, to move on with his life, yet still keep his father in his memory. Like when she asked him if he wanted to go through the New York Times and look for mistakes, of course Oskar said no because that was something he did with his dad and it wouldn't be the same with his mother. Although Oskar doesn't want to move on because he thinks moving on is forgetting when in reality moving on is remembering but not letting those memories become the only thing you see. Also, when he says "if I could have chosen, I would have chosen you" to his mom it's hard to think of a reason why somebody would say those words aloud to their parent, even though he reverted it right after he said it, you still can't help but think 'why would you say that to someone, even if you mean it, to their face?' atleast I did. I'm sure eventually he'll see what his mother is doing for him, and since he's only 9, his actions are easily forgivable.