Can a child like Oskar actually exist in the real world? It’s hard to believe, given not only his personality, but his lifestyle.
Oskar, a nine year old boy, travels around alone in New York City to pursue the answer to the last “mystery” his father left him. Now, what mother in the right mind would let such a young child wander out alone in the city such Oskar does, despite the fact that he is extremely intelligent for his age?
Although Oskar is intelligent, he still has that lack of wisdom that any other child has. I believe that his intelligence doesn’t change the fact that he’s a child, because although he is very smart, he still doesn’t have that personality that someone mature has, and much less the age and body of someone mature. This leads back to the point that no mother would let their child wander aimlessly about without supervision (that is, assuming that the mother is a good mother). No matter how smart a child was, I believe that in the real world, a nine year old could not be seen walking around the city by him or herself.
The idea of such a child existing is ludicrous. In my opinion, I believe that Oskar’s character has a bit of fantasy to him, unless the author is using his character as a means to portray a symbol or theme throughout the story, which I am still unsure of at the moment.
