Oskar Schell Timeline & Summary

*Referring to the novel "Incredibly Loud and Incredibly Close"*

Dear Oskar,

I took the liberty of creating this timeline which sums up your epic adventure. Save it so that one day you can share it with your children. 

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Ø  A year after your father’s death you found a key in his closet. You wanted to know which lock it opened.

·      The key was in an envelope with the name “Black” scrawled on it. You decided to visit everyone in New York City, in alphabetical order, who had Black as a last name.

Ø  You met several Blacks but none of them knew what was the key for.

·      In your school, you performed as Yorick in the play Hamlet.

Ø  You met Mr. A.R Black in the building you lived and he helped you in your quest.

·      You met all the Blacks until Ruth who lived at the top of the Empire State Building.

Ø  Mr. Black stopped the search of that day and you met the mysterious old man who lived in your grandmother’s apartment. He was your grandfather but you didn’t know it yet.

·      Abby Black left you a message in which she said that her husband, William, knew what the key opened. She said that it was of a safe-deposit box that belonged to her husband’s father.

Ø  After receiving the message, you gave the key to William.

·      You finally decided to admit that your father called and left six messages, one of them being right before the tower fell. The reason you didn’t picked up the phone was because you were too scared to do so.

Ø  An idea popped into your head. You wanted to dig up your father’s empty grave and you brought your grandfather to do this.

·      Oskar, you couldn’t had the proper closure you wanted, so instead you made a flipbook of a man falling upward into the sky and pretended your father was safe.