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Mr. A. Black’s first name is never given, even though he’s the Black that Oskar becomes the closest with on his quest. Mr. Black lives a few floors above Oskar, and even though he hasn’t left his apartment for twenty-four years, he decides he’s going to accompany Oskar on the rest of Oskar’s expedition. Mr. Black says that he was born on January 1, 1900, which makes him over a century old; everything he says ends in an exclamation point, because he shouts everything. Mr. Black used to be a war correspondent, and his apartment is stuffed with fascinating memorabilia. The bed in the apartment is made out of a tree—his wife kept tripping over the tree root, so Mr. Black cut it down and made it into a bed—and Mr. Black has put a nail into it every day since his wife died. There are so many nails in the tree now that the keys on Oskar’s neck float gently towards the bed, magnetically compelled. Mr. Black keeps a biographical index of “significant people”; every name has one word after it in description, and that word is usually “war” or “money.” Mr. Black becomes smitten with Ruth Black, whom he and Oskar meet on top of the Empire State Building, but after they visit her, Mr. Black quits their expedition. When Oskar returns to Mr. Black’s apartment, Mr. Black is gone, and his possessions are about to be cleared out. Oskar finds his own name in Mr. Black’s biographical index with “son” as his description.
Mr. Black Quotes in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Black or refer to Mr. Black. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7 Quotes
But still, it gave me heavy, heavy boots. Dad wasn’t a Great Man, not like Winston Churchill, whoever he was. Dad was just someone who ran a family jewelry business. Just an ordinary dad. But I wished so much, then, that he had been Great. I wished he’d been famous, famous like a movie star, which is what he deserved. I wished Mr. Black had written about him, and risked his life to tell the world about him, and had reminders of him around his apartment.
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Chapter 15 Quotes
OSKAR SCHELL: SON
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Mr. Black Character Timeline in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Black appears in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7, Heavier Boots
...and out of that apartment—just deliveries and trash. Oskar goes up to this apartment, and Mr. Black invites him in. Mr. Black speaks very loudly, and every sentence he says ends in...
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Mr. Black , who is quite talkative, tells Oskar facts about his life rapid-fire (all ending in...
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Mr. Black shows Oskar his biographical index: thousands of cards with one word and a one-word biography....
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...bathroom and surreptitiously tries the key on several keyholes in the apartment, but none work. Mr. Black has an amazing bed made out of tree parts. He made it for himself and...
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Oskar finds out that Mr. Black hasn’t left the apartment for twenty-four years, which makes him sad, because Mr. Black must...
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...close”; there’s a photograph of blurry birds spanning two pages. The hearing aids work, and Mr. Black starts to cry.
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Chapter 9, “Happiness, Happiness”
That weekend, he and Mr. Black (from the apartment upstairs) continue the search. They take the train to the Bronx, which...
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Oskar and Mr. Black leave, but Oskar makes Mr. Black turn around after three blocks to ask the Spanish...
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Chapter 13, “Alive and Alone”
After six and a half months of searching for the key together, Mr. Black tells Oskar that he is finished, which makes Oskar feel incredibly lonely. Oskar goes up...
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...of the Empire State Building. Oskar is very panicky to get on the elevator, but Mr. Black just says that that that’s okay, so Oskar has nothing to argue against, and eventually,...
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...a clipboard. He asks her for her name, and it’s Ruth. Ruth gives Oskar and Mr. Black a tour, recounting the history of the Empire State Building: she describes its architecture, gives...
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Mr. Black gets down on his knees and asks Ruth on a date. She says that she...
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When Mr. Black and Oskar return home, Mr. Black tells Oskar that he’s finished searching. Oskar screams an...
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Chapter 14, “Why I’m Not Where You Are (9/11/03)”
...to house, on Staten Island—probably Georgia Black’s house—and knocks on the door after Oskar and Mr. Black leave; the woman tells him that she’s just gotten off the phone with Oskar’s mother...
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One day, Grandpa writes, when Oskar and the old man ( Mr. Black ) go into the Empire State Building, Grandpa waits for them in the street. The...
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Chapter 15, “A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem”
The day after “the renter” (Grandpa) and Oskar dig up Dad’s grave, Oskar goes to Mr. Black’s apartment to tell him what happened, but an unfamiliar woman answers and tells him that...
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Oskar goes to the index of biographies Mr. Black kept and takes out Mr. Black’s card. He looks in the S-file—he can’t help it—and...
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