S. Todd Atchison, a postcolonial writer from the University of North Carolina, discusses in his article "Why I Write From Where You Are Not": Absence and Presence in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer , language distortion and how people acquire an inability to understand and communicate after experiencing traumatic events. Similarly, Sascha Scheuren, an English studies student at the Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonns, used his thesis, Trauma in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, to comment on the emotional involvement and communication shift that occur when we are confronted with the chaos of trauma. As Safran Foer's novel addresses the events of 9/11, we can focus on the survivors of this type of trauma and how they are affected. Specifically, Thomas Schell is a character used to represent the chaos of trauma survivors as they attempt to deal with the past in their present and live a life that has been changed. Thomas was not prepared for what was to come in his life. He was a young man who grew up in Dresden, Germany, and his only concern was his girlfriend and their unborn son. However, disaster struck when Thomas fell victim to the Allied bombing of Dresden during World War II. He lost his two loved ones that day, as well as a large part of himself. The form of the novel, an album of documents kept by Thomas' grandson Oskar Schell, introduces grandfather Thomas Schell through a letter he wrote to his unborn son. This indicates the distinctive characteristics of a trauma victim, particularly self-pity and the inner need to repeat the traumatic event over and over in one's mind. This almost acts as a confession of the... middle of paper ...... tactile ruptures in his memory. Oskar gave Thomas a purpose for being alive, and although he can never fully recover from past memories of his traumas, he can continue to live, think, and survive. Works Cited Atchison, S. Todd1, [email protected]. ““Why I write from where you are not”: absence and presence in Extremely strong and incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer. » Journal of Postcolonial Writing 46.3/4 (2010): 359-368. Source of human sciences. Internet. April 5, 2014. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely loud and incredibly close. Boston, MA: Mariner, 2005. Print. Scheuren, Sashca. “Trauma in Jonathon Safran Foer's extremely loud and incredible close.” Thesis. Philosophische Fakultätder Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 2010. Trauma in Jonathan Safran Foers extremely strong and incredibly close. Academia, June 2010. Web. April 4. 2014.