Oskar's connection to Hamlet can be applied in a few different ways.
The first being that Oskar plays the part of Yorick in his school play. Yorick is a court jester, and as many know court jesters often acted as clowns or fools in order to provide entertainment. I think this reflects how Oskar often feels when he is around his classmates. He has a couple of friends he says, but it seems that he is usual picked on or the but of their jokes. Oskar may feel as though when he is around his peers that he is their entertainment, and he does not fully fit in with them due to his unusual nature.
The second connection i made was between Oskar and the actual character of Hamlet. Hamlet and Oskar alike both had their fathers brutally killed, Hamlet by his own uncle and Oskar by the hijackers. In both cases neither were justifiable and both characters' worlds are then from that moment on centered on the fact they lost their fathers. Both are completely obsessed with their fathers' deaths, and feel unsettled at that. Hamlet is completely consumed with the question "to be or not to be", meaning he is uncertain wether he should avenge his father and die in the process or let the fact that he was murdered go. You could argue the same for Oskar that he too is also consumed with a similar question. Oskar is so caught within the situation that he is almost not living his life therefore not being. He is stuck with his greif and he can go either way with it. Let it go and move on or hold on to the grief which is restricting him. Oskar feels like once he lets go of his greif he is forgetting his father and losing him, like his mother has done. That is what is making this tough for Oskar. He is unsure of how to cope with his lose without losing his memories of his father, but by holding on he is not living his life the way he should be as a nine-year-old child.
The significance of the Hamlet references in the novel is for the reader to further grasp the way Oskar feels and is thinking through tying in Hamlet illusions. Hamlet being a very popular play that most will recognize and be able to relate the two stories. The author wants to use Hamlet as a vehicle for the reader to more so understand his character, without having to actually state the similarties.
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3 comments:
It also seems that Oskar is struggling with the question "to be or not to be my father's son". Sounds strange, but he is constantly reaching out for more connection, some kind of closure. He searches all over NYC just to find a key that he feels may be able to bring him closer to his father.
That may indeed be true tripleaye. I still feel more so that the is questioning wether to except the death, move on, and live his life or keep it with him, thus hindering his ability to live properly.
I think that Oskar is not struggling so much with "whether" to move on but more "how" to move on. He obviously does not want to forget the memory of his father but he also doesn't want to dwell on his father's death for the rest of his life. I think the story is his quest for understanding but what he really finds is acceptance. Oskar will probably never understand the full scope of death, as most of us never will, but he realizes that he really has no choice but to accept it if he wants to move on.
I really liked your explanation of Oskar's ties to Hamlet because it is definitely true that they struggle through very similar issues. It seems that Oskar is dealing with the "how to be" after his father's death as Hamlet is dealing with the "to be or not to be".
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