Self forgiveness in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

In Extremely loud and incredibly close, which I just finished reading this week, Oskar has brought his quest to some sort of a resolution. He found the owner of the key, and was able to forgive himself for not picking up the phone the last time his dad called. He realized that there was nothing wrong with being scared. Mr. Black forgave him in the place of his father and they had a really strong connection even though they were complete strangers. I think that it took a lot of courage for Oskar to forgive himself. Oskar was very courageous in forgiving himself because in order to do it he had to face what he feared most, which was that he had let his father down.

Ever since his dad died, Oskar has been conflicted because he felt like he should have picked up the phone, and that he was letting his dad down by not doing so. I think that he was so scared that he was in denial of the danger his dad was in, he just couldn't face it. It took Mr. Black forgiving him to get him to realize that it was ok that he was afraid.