Outside Reading #2

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Piccoult relates in many ways to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. First of all, Delia, just like Oskar loses her father. The two lose them in different ways, however. Oskar's father died in a terrorist attack, while Delia's father was discovered to be a wanted fugitive for kidnapping his own daughter and he was put in jail. Delia feels like she has lost her father and that she no longer knows him like she thought she did. You can see this when she says exactly that while talking to her best friend Fitz, "And I thought I knew my father...but it turns out that was the biggest lie of all"(Piccoult 60). Delia, just like Oskar, is now not sure who her father was. She just wants things to be back the way that they were. She even says to Fitz, " I wish I had never found out"(60). She loved her old life and she loved her dad and she doesn't want to question her love or move on with her life. Oskar is similar in that sense because he couldn't just simply move on from his father's death, he had to complete his own journey to heal, as Delia will have to as well.

Not only had Delia lost her father she feels like she has lost herself. Oskar feels similarly because he, just like Delia, had always defined himself in terms of his Dad. Now that they have lost their dads they are confused and lost about who they are. This becomes apparent when Delia says, "I have a mother, but I have no idea who I am"(60). Part of this is also because she was kidnapped and has no memory or knowledge of her old life, but I also believe that part of it is because she always relied so much on her father to help her through and see who she really is, just like Oskar's dad did for him. And both Oskar and Delia are still so painfully in love with their fathers, and they really don't want to question or forget that. Delia even says when talking about her mental idea of a mother says, "Someone who would give up her life if it meant I couldn't be apart of it. Someone my father had always been"(76). Her father had always been one of the most important things in her life, and now he has been ripped away and Delia has to learn to deal with that, just as Oskar had to learn to deal with the pain of his father's death.