I didn't feel empty. I wished I'd felt empty. ... I wanted to be empty like an overturned pitcher. But I was full like a stone.
The quote expresses a deep sense of emotional struggle and longing. The speaker contrasts two states of being: emptiness and fullness. They yearn to feel empty, perhaps as a way to escape overwhelming emotions, but instead, they feel weighed down, much like a stone. This imagery conveys a sense of heaviness and burden, suggesting that emotional fullness can sometimes be more painful than emptiness.
In "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," Jonathan Safran Foer explores themes of grief and loss through the perspective of the protagonist. The protagonist’s desire to feel empty reflects the overwhelming nature of their experiences, indicating that sometimes, when one is filled with feelings of pain and longing, emptiness might seem like a relief. This inner turmoil illustrates the complexity of human emotions and the struggle to cope with profound loss.
