Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The chapter opens with a few pages from Grandpa’s daybook, which are phrases he had written to Oskar in the previous chapter: “I don’t speak, I’m sorry”; “My name is Thomas”; “I’m still sorry”. There’s a photograph of a doorknob in the chapter. Grandpa writes to Dad about how he is about to go meet Oskar to dig up Dad’s coffin.

Grandpa tells the story about his arrival in New York, a few days after September 11, 2001. Grandpa gives a note to Grandma’s doorman, and she stands with her palms against the window that night. He continues to send notes asking if she wants to see him again, and she continues to give ambiguous responses, such as “Don’t go away.” Grandpa throws an apple at the window, anticipating that the window will shatter, but the window is open and the apple goes into the apartment. The doorman gives Grandpa a key, but the door is open when he goes up. Grandma tells him that he can only go into the guest room.

Grandpa writes about getting off the plane soon after September 11, 2001. He writes in his daybook to the customs agent that he is there “to mourn,” then crosses out “mourn” and writes “try to live.” The guards wonder why he has so many suitcases. Grandpa opens one, and it is filled with papers; he writes that they are letters to his dead son that he was unable to send to him while the son was alive.

Grandpa calls Grandma on a pay phone, and when she answers, he tries to communicate with her by pressing the numbers on the phone. Grandma says that all she hears is beeps and hangs up. Grandpa tries spelling out words by pressing the numbers that correspond with each letter (love is “5, 6, 8, 3” for example). He then gives about two and a half pages of numbers, with exclamation points and question marks apparently dividing them into phrases, but they’re not translated into anything legible.

Grandpa was in a Dresden train station on September 11, 2001, “when I lost everything for the second time.” He passes an electronics store with a grid of televisions, all showing the same images of the buildings, except for one television showing a nature program of a lion eating a flamingo. During the following days and weeks, Grandpa follows the list of the dead; one day, he sees his son’s name, which is also his own name: Thomas Schell, with the phrase, “He leaves behind a wife and a son.” Almost without thinking, Grandpa gets on a plane and goes to Manhattan.

Grandma lets Grandpa live in the guest room. He finds his daybooks from before he had left: they are in the body of the grandfather clock. He finds many more memories and photographs. Gradually, Grandma visits him, and although the visits aren’t exactly friendly, they start to get longer. Eventually, Grandpa asks Grandma to pose so that he can sculpt her, and she agrees. He hasn’t made any sculptures for forty years, he tells her. The scene becomes erotic.

The writing throughout the chapter is getting smaller and smaller, because there will never enough pages in the book for Grandpa to tell the whole story, he writes. Grandpa asks Grandma if he can meet Oskar, but she says no; however, she shows him how he can see Oskar through the keyhole in the coat closet.

One day, Grandma tells Grandpa about Dad—who is, she says, “Not our son, my son.” Grandma gave Dad the only letter that Grandpa had ever sent and tells Grandpa that Dad had been obsessed with it. Grandpa says that Dad found him once; Dad pretended to be a journalist doing a story about Dresden survivors.

Grandpa spends most of his time walking around the city, and then he begins to follow Oskar. When Oskar starts going on his expedition, Grandpa follows him; he makes a map of where they had gone, but the map doesn’t seem to make any sense. Grandpa goes up 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 and wonders why Grandpa doesn’t know about the key.

Grandpa goes to a bookstore on the Upper West Side and sees a man whom he thinks is Simon Goldberg. The man gives him a hug and walks away. The writing is getting closer and closer together on the page, and Grandpa writes that he wants an infinitely blank book.

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 old man later grabs Grandpa by the collar, asks why he’s been following them around, and tells him to leave. Grandpa writes that he is Oskar’s grandfather, and that Oskar doesn’t know he’s following them.

Grandpa returns to the point in the story when Oskar meets Grandpa, only knowing him as “the renter.” That night, Grandma and Grandpa make love. Later, Oskar throws pebbles at the window. Grandpa goes outside, and Oskar tells Grandpa about his idea to dig up Dad’s grave. The text gets too close to read, eventually crowding into a black square.