After the death of his father, Oskar becomes upset with his mother. At one point he tells his mother that he wishes she had died instead of his father. He is upset with her for a few reasons. First of all, he doesn't feel like she is sad enough about his dad's death. Also, he is angry because he believes she has fallen in love with someone else and never wants her to fall in love again. In my opinion, he needed a way to let out emotion when he lashed out his mother. Though it is hard to blame him considering that he is a nine-year-old boy who lost his father to a terrorist attack.
I don't think that finding the lock was ever really important. Oskar left on a journey to find a lock, but what i think he was really looking for was his father, which he definitely did not find. The book suggested that the lock would tell Oskar something meaningful about his dad, but it didn't. What it did do was eventually help Oskar figure out how to start being happy again.
Oskar would frequently say that something "mad his boots heavy." It was his interpretation of sadness. The weight of his boots. And if you think about it, it sort of makes sense. When you are sad, sometimes when you walk it feels more difficult and as if your feet are heavy, you have less energy, no drive that pushes you forward throughout your day. Oskar needed some help figuring out how to lighten his load. He was trying to understand how he was supposed to be able to be happy again. He acted so strongly but he couldn't figure out how. At one point in the book he is crying into his mother's shoulder telling her how he was trying his hardest. for a nine year old to deal with something like that on his own is absurd. All of the things in the book were steps on the way to helping him heal. What Oskar managed to do on his own was extremely brave, and incredibly hard.
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