Telephones and answering machines are a crucial form of both communication and miscommunication in the novel: though people use the telephone to connect and to relay information, often, the telephone can become a source of missed connections. Oskar hides the telephone on which Dad had left the five voice messages from September 11, 2001. Those five messages form the final link that Oskar has to his Dad’s voice. Oskar confesses that he was in the apartment when the phone rang the fifth time, and although he listened to the machine record the message, he was too afraid to pick up the phone. When Grandpa returns to America just before September 11, he cannot speak, but nevertheless calls Grandma; he tries to press the numbers on the telephone to communicate in some combination of Morse code and alphabetic transcription, but all that Grandma can hear is beeps, and on the page is a seemingly random block of numbers. Abby Black left Oskar a message that would have allowed Oskar to finish his expedition eight months before he does, but Oskar didn’t listen to the message until eight months after she left it. However, telephones also work to connect people. Mom made the connection with Abby and found out about Oskar’s whole quest because she picked up the phone halfway through Abby’s voicemail. Oskar’s missed connection allowed Mom to make a connection with Oskar’s expedition. Oskar and his grandmother speak via walkie-talkie, a rudimentary telephone. The lovers in the story of the Sixth Borough communicate through tin-can telephone for as long as possible, and the boy stores the girl’s voice in a tin can like an answering machine.
Telephones Quotes in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close quotes below all refer to the symbol of Telephones. 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 1
Quotes
There were four more messages from him: one at 9:12, one at 9:31, one at 9:46, and one at 10:04. I listened to them, and listened to them again, and then before I had time to figure out what to do, or even what to think or feel, the phone started ringing.
It was 10:26:47.
I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was him.
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Chapter 15
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He needed me, and I couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t pick up. I just couldn’t. Are you there? He asked eleven times. I know, because I’ve counted. It’s one more than I can count on my fingers….Sometimes I think he knew I was there. Maybe he kept saying it to give me time to get brave enough to pick it up.
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Telephones Symbol Timeline in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The timeline below shows where the symbol Telephones appears in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1, “What The?”
...Oskar listened to the messages on that day—that is, September 11—and then, at 10:26:47, the phone began to ring; the caller ID said that it was his Dad.
(full context)
Chapter 3, “Googolplex”
Oskar listens to Dad’s phone messages again. He keeps the phone inside his closet—he didn’t want his mother to find...
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...from him, so he can see it through the window. He radios her on his walkie-talkie and asks why she’s awake at 4:12 AM. She says that the renter is running...
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Oskar and Grandma talk for a bit over the walkie-talkies, as they do very often. Oskar tells Grandma that he misses Dad. He asks her...
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Chapter 5, “The Only Animal”
Oskar puts together a field kit, including a flash light, ChapStick, his cell phone, iodine pills, and the script of Hamlet. It takes Oskar three hours and forty-one minutes...
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...Oskar and his Mom went to Oskar’s Dad’s storage facility, where Oskar found the old walkie-talkies that they had had to monitor Oskar as a baby. Oskar gave one to his...
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Chapter 12, “My Feelings”
...and also says no when Mom asks if there had been any messages on the phone. Grandma keeps knitting the scarf longer and longer all afternoon. Mom makes posters with Dad’s...
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Chapter 13, “Alive and Alone”
Oskar, surprising himself, runs home and gets the phone with Dad’s messages on it. Oskar plays them for Grandpa. Grandpa suggests (by writing) that...
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Chapter 14, “Why I’m Not Where You Are (9/11/03)”
Grandpa calls Grandma on a pay phone, and when she answers, he tries to communicate with her by pressing the numbers on...
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...Oskar and Mr. Black leave; the woman tells him that she’s just gotten off the phone with Oskar’s mother and wonders why Grandpa doesn’t know about the key.
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Chapter 15, “A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem”
When Oskar comes home that night, he looks at the telephone (the new one, not the old one with his Dad’s messages on it). He hasn’t...
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...asks William if he forgives him for not being able to tell anyone about the phone call, and William says that he does. Oskar gives him the key.
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