Cat and a Key

Casey, Psycho, My Secret Box Key, and Simba.

“As he walked out of the room, Jimmy said, “Hey, Oskar, who’s Buckminster?”. I said, “Buckminster is my pussy” (Foer 190).

“Even though I knew that there were 161,999,999 locks in New York that it didn’t open, I still felt like it opened everything. Sometimes I like to touch it just to know that it was there, like the pepper spray I kept in my pocket. Or the opposite of that. I adjusted the string so the keys – one to the apartment, one to I-didn’t-know-what- rested against my heart, which was nice, except the only thing was that it felt too cold sometimes, so I put a Band-Aid on that part of my chest, and the keys rested on that. (Foer 200).

I chose this passage because it was an odd passage in the book that I could relate to. I used to get picked on quite often when I was about Oskar’s age. I enjoyed reading and playing with paints, but the one thing that seemed to give me the most joy were my cats and the key I wore on a bracelet I made that opened my Secret Box. I had all the most valuable items that my Grandfather had given me into that box and I clung and fumbled with the key every day, especially after he was gone. I clung to them for companionship when I felt no one else in the world understood how difficult life could sometimes be. I feel that Oskar has a similar situation with his cat, Buckminster, and the key he wears around his neck from his father. But, why do we tend to cling to creatures or objects when everything seems to be going down the drain?

Maybe we cling to our animals and pretend that they understand what we are saying to help dull the pain. My pain was because I was being bullied by other kids at school and had to help my grandmother every afternoon after school. I would have to help take care of my dying grandfather who had already had the lower part of his left leg amputated due to horrible circulation. I was terrified to look at him because he looked as if his skin was hanging from his bones and he always had a face full of anguish and pain. When I went home after mom had picked me up I ran to my room and grabbed my kitty, Psycho, off the bed and just held her close. I felt that if I could be proud of anything at the time, it was her. She seemed to be the only living creature that I could count on to listen to me. When I read this passage it reminded me of this time even though I was ten years old instead of nine. I think that Oskar clings to his cat and the key that he found so that he can still believe that even though his father is gone from him, that he still carries him on his heart every day. In this way his father will always be with him. He clings to his cat because he is someone that will understand and not be judgmental or argue with you about what you think or believe. They just listen and love you without really ever understanding even though it seems like they do.