Oskar's mission in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ends with what we've all been waiting for: he finds the lock. Oskar receives a call from one of the first Blacks he visits, named Abby. She reveals that she had misled Oskar in order to hurt her husband, who had been looking for the key for a very long time. Oskar goes to meet her husband, William, who tells him that the key opens up a lock box that his estranged father had left to him when he died. The key was hidden in a vase that William sold to Oskar's father.
The revelation that the key has nothing to do with his dad is a giant blow to Oskar. Oskar has to face the truth: that his quest was meaningless. Truthfully, Oskar's mission to find the lock would never have offered him complete closure over his father's death. He cannot change what happened, and he is left with none of the answers he was hoping to find. However, the quest was a way for Oskar to feel close to his father, even though he was gone. Oskar realizes that after he finds the lock, he has no tangible connection to his father. Oskar is going to have to continue recovering from his father's death, but without placing his grief onto a surrogate like the key.
But is his quest truly meaningless? To Oskar it may seem that way, but as readers, we see that Oskar has progressed a lot emotionally over the course of two years. He is able to be a better son and friend, he learns how to put himself out there, and how to form relationships. Isn't that what his father wanted for him all along? To learn to be a better person? Even though Oskar does not see any incentive to his quest, maturity, growth, and self knowledge are what he attains from it. His quest, like life, is confusing and contradictory: both important and meaningless at the same time.
The revelation that the key has nothing to do with his dad is a giant blow to Oskar. Oskar has to face the truth: that his quest was meaningless. Truthfully, Oskar's mission to find the lock would never have offered him complete closure over his father's death. He cannot change what happened, and he is left with none of the answers he was hoping to find. However, the quest was a way for Oskar to feel close to his father, even though he was gone. Oskar realizes that after he finds the lock, he has no tangible connection to his father. Oskar is going to have to continue recovering from his father's death, but without placing his grief onto a surrogate like the key.
But is his quest truly meaningless? To Oskar it may seem that way, but as readers, we see that Oskar has progressed a lot emotionally over the course of two years. He is able to be a better son and friend, he learns how to put himself out there, and how to form relationships. Isn't that what his father wanted for him all along? To learn to be a better person? Even though Oskar does not see any incentive to his quest, maturity, growth, and self knowledge are what he attains from it. His quest, like life, is confusing and contradictory: both important and meaningless at the same time.
"I didn't know what to say. I found it and now I can stop looking? I found it and it had nothing to do with Dad?..."I found it and now I can't look for it."..."Looking for it let me stay close to him for a little while longer." "But won't you always be close to him?" I knew the truth. "No.""
-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, pages 303-304