BLOG 5

Branden Stevens
3/13/11

Dad constantly used to tell me I was too smart for retail. I told him that. "First of all," he told me, “I’m not smarter than you, I'm more knowledgeable than you, and that's only because I'm older than you.” “Parents are always more knowledgeable than their children, and children are always smarter than their parents." (Pg.7)

I found this quote to be important because it’s a direct reflection of the relationship of the main character and their father. In a way it also reveals the simplest of truths, my parents always tell me that I’m smarter than them and they look forward to seeing me do great things. Every parent wants the opportunity to see their children better off than they are. To be this quote from the book stood out the most interesting of all considering my father has always told me he never wanted me to fallow in his footsteps and has always encouraged me to go into a different direction with my career, not because he felt I was incapable but simply because he wanted me to find and chase my own dreams. So for me this made my connection with Oskar on a stronger level, I began to look at the story with more of an empathetic side so when Oskar’ father died, the emotions displayed in the book were easily imaginable.

The picture I chose also connects my emotions with that of the main character. I feel like there are certain bonds a father and son share that are almost unexplainable it’s a special feeling when your father puts you on his shoulders and he becomes someone you admire and dream of fallowing in their footsteps, a lot like Oskar and his father I too at one point wanted to fallow in my dad’s footsteps and my dad was in an extremely similar situation as Oskar considering his father passed away when he was 14. The whole idea of losing your greatest role model is really evident and I think the author does a great job of stressing the father son relationship in the novel.