A familiar stylistic approach to describing how characters interact with their PTSD has been to have them travel, in the mind's eye, through a flashback into the trauma as previously discussed. The journey is not a foreign theme to literature if we consider Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2008), but both in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Foer, 2005) and Chasing Cacciato (O'Brien, 1978) neither protagonists is depicted as a typical hero and the journeys they undertake suggest more of their mental well-being within the trauma and acceptance of what they have experienced. This idea is echoed to the extent that the characters remain in fantasy or reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Foer's book describes Oskar, both consciously and unconsciously, as he deals with his trauma throughout his journey. Consciously when he participates in therapy sessions and unconsciously in the search to understand what the key opens. Meeting all these new people who share the same last name, Black, Oskar decides that he must tell his story and be “as honest as possible about it outside of the house, because that's what was needed” (Foer, 2005, p.87). His decision to do so makes his search a subconscious cathartic experience as he explains how his father died to every new black man he meets. Although Oskar is trying to reconnect with his father, he is actually moving forward with his grief and therefore his trauma, while being unknowingly supported as mentioned earlier in this essay. Oskar tells his secret, to the Black who recognizes the key, of not answering the phone to his father that fateful morning, which represents a significant step for Oskar in letting go (Foer, 2005, p.300). Oskar is experiencing both a physical and mental journey and is aware of the things that make him uncomfortable. Even after a year, it was still extremely difficult for me to do certain things, like take a shower, for some reason, and get into elevators, of course. There were a lot of things that made me panic, like suspension bridges, germs, airplanes, fireworks, Arabs in the subway (even though I'm not racist), Arabs in restaurants, bars and in other public places, scaffolding, sewer and subway grates, ownerless bags, shoes, people with moustaches, smoke, knots, tall buildings, turbans (Foer, 2005, p.36) Paul Berlin's journey on the other hand is alone in his imagination as he is actually at the Seaside Observatory in Vietnam, with Cacciato's accompanying trip to Paris taking place during his night patrol. Cacciato is absent and it is as Berlin follows him on the road to Paris that the reader receives fragments of what Berlin has experienced. His mind wanders from the observatory, to travel and back to the past. The journey becomes his way of avoiding what is distressing to him and, as such, prevents any progression in dealing with his PTSD (n.d.). Berlin creates a complex journey to keep his mind occupied and continues to see Cacciato everywhere (O'Brien, 1978, p.119). The journey ends when he finds Cacciato in Paris, who is in Vietnam at dawn. Earlier in the book he states that “the time spent in Delhi was a great time. Cacciato did not show up” (O'Brien, 1978, p.164). Which seems like an odd statement until the end of the book, when it's revealed that Berlin killed Cacciato and tried to erase him from his memory. Berlin denies what he experienced and is trying to invent a different ending for.