LETTERS

Just after his father's death, Oskar decides to start writing letters to people who he admires. Rather than seeing the letters that he writes, we instead see the responses that he receives. There is one such letter, that of Stephen Hawking, which appears more than once: it is the automatically-generated response sent on his behalf until the busy scientist finds the time to write back. Near the end of the book, we again see a letter from Hawking, but this time it is a personalised response in his own words. This letter is very touching for the reader.

On the other hand, other letters have a comic touch. For example, Oskar corresponds with a woman, a scientist specialising in the communication between elephants asking her to consider him as her new or future assistant. However, Oskar always receives a response not from the woman, but rather from one of her assistants. In her second letter she informs him that they may have need of another assistant and that, if he is willing to join them, he must provide them with his curriculum vitae, along with four letters of recommendation. But of course Oskar cannot do this, considering the fact that he is still in primary school. Regardless, he tries to convince another scientist to write a letter of recommendation for him, but he very politely declines saying that it would not be fair, considering he does not personally know Oskar. Again, we only see the response.

The only letter written by Oskar that we read is the one in which he pretends to be his mother: he writes to his French teacher explaining to him why he will no longer be attending his classes but why he will continue paying for them. Of course, he tries to persuade the professor to have no further contact with his mother. This is yet another comic and moving touch.

EFFECT: the fact of presenting the letters in italics, centered and with a font smaller than the rest of the page makes it much more authentic. We get the feeling that we are actually reading a letter, only we don't see the envelope! The moving elements along with the touches of irony make the letters a great device in the novel. The last letter by Stephen Hawking serves as a closing element: Oskar started writing letters to him two years before, when his father died. The moment in the story when he receives Hawkin's response comes after he has already discovered that the key does not lead anywhere, which is the point when he finally starts to accept the death of his father.