In the novel Extremely loud and incredibly close, Oskar’s grandparents went through an arduous relationship. Shortly after they married, they started to divide their apartment into “Something” and “Nothing” places. In Nothing places, one could be assured of complete privacy from the other. In these marked off zones you became invisible to the other and temporarily ceased to exist. Eventually the concept got out of hand, when their apartment was filled with more Nothing places than Something places. In the passage above, Foer demonstrates the dysfunctionality Oskar’s grandparents had within their relationship. He chooses to capitalize Nothing and Something places to personify them in Oskar’s grandfather’s letter. In this instance, the personification
