{"id":828,"date":"2009-11-15T15:04:46","date_gmt":"2009-11-15T20:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/?p=828"},"modified":"2009-11-15T15:04:46","modified_gmt":"2009-11-15T20:04:46","slug":"the-yellow-submarine-wallpaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/archives\/828","title":{"rendered":"The Yellow Submarine Wallpaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been thinking about our discussion in class about whether or not Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close<\/em> is a work of magical realism sans magic. Although I think that we made a strong argument in favor of this idea in class, it occurred to me that maybe that this novel is a work of realism<\/em>, but instead saying that it is magical, I propose that it is a really good example of psychological realism.
\nThrough the combination of fantastical and revealing interior monologue, interpersonal interactions, and Foer\u2019s biographical contributions to the novel, I think that one can definitely make a case for this novel as a work of psychological realism.<\/p>\n

Intrapersonal activities throughout this novel, especially on the part of Oskar, help determine whether or not this novel is a work of psychological realism. When I look at how fantastically Oskar thinks I have to compare it to one of the classics of psychological realism, Charlotte Perkins Gilman\u2019s \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper,\u201d which, if you haven\u2019t read it already, is definitely worth skimming. In both cases, the narrator reveals a psychological state that reveals their innermost anxieties and a sense of perspective that they cannot fully express to others. The protagonist of \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper\u201d suffers from delusions that she refuses to explain to her family. Oskar, similarly, has wild thoughts of inventions that collect tears and fantasizes about things one normally could not do (i.e. beating up a bully during a class play). Both suspect the people around them, though there reasons may be implausible. Even Oskar\u2019s scrutiny of details, in a way, falls into this stream of thought; he is unable to accept that things such as the lyrics of \u201cI Am the Walrus\u201d or the mannerisms of others carry no special meaning and, as a result, becomes paranoid and OCD. Although the narrator is unable to articulate his or her feelings to other characters, the audience can string together these bizarre thoughts and perceptions of reality and attempt to understand their rationale as a result of outside factors.<\/p>\n

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close <\/em>may also be considered a work of psychological realism because of the Foer\u2019s past experience and the implications that it had on his creation of this novel. As the article that we read for last week revealed, at age eight Foer was involved in a classroom explosion that left a physical and psychological imprint on him. Many of the mannerisms that we see with Oskar– skipping school, avoiding certain situations, etc. — \u00a0could definitely stem from this Foer\u2019s experience with trauma, which is common in psychological realism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been thinking about our discussion in class about whether or not Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a work of magical realism sans magic. Although I think that we made a strong argument in favor of this idea in class, it occurred to me that maybe that this novel is a work of… Continue reading The Yellow Submarine Wallpaper<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions\/829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2009\/459\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}