Why 9/11 Can Never Be Forgotten
“The same picture over and over. Planes going into buildings. Bodies falling. People waving shirts out of high windows. Planes going into buildings. Bodies falling. Planes going into buildings. People covered in gray dust…” (Foer 203). This excerpt from the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, provides Oskar’s Grandmother’s first-hand account on the September 11th terrorist attacks. Although the passage is daunting, it does not do the horrific incident justice. It is one thing to hear about these events, but it is another thing to personally witness it. Mark Twain once said, “Actions speak louder than words,” which still stands true today. Nothing provides proper credibility and awareness to someone,
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Although the buildings are falling and the planes are crashing, there are no images of ever seeing anyone die, besides “The Falling Man” and other jumpers. With a first look at the image, the audience immediately puts themselves in his shoes; trapped in a building full of smoke and fire with very few ways out, knowing this is the end. With this in mind, the viewer contemplates what choice they would make. Would they join “The Falling Man?” This, unlike the other photos of 9/11, provides a personal connection that the many other images lacked. In Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar examines the image of “The Falling Man” and contemplates these similar ideas; assuring himself that falling would be a lot less painful then burning to death (Foer 256-257). When looking at the photo, the man seems to be at peace before his time of death. His clothes are on him properly, his body is not flailing, and he seems to be almost …show more content…
Excluding events that happen through a disaster, leads to a falsification of the disaster and allows the viewer to continue to ignore the severity, as discussed earlier. In Chris Vanderwees’s article, Photographs of Falling Bodies and the Ethics of Vulnerability in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, he states, “censorship is never a viable suggestion and only leads to ignorance and repression, ultimately obscuring the historical record of any given event” (Vanderwees 179). Through the repression of images like “The Falling Man,” and others that are considered too graphic, the realistic aspect of the disaster is tainted and is not expressed to the truest form. This continues to provide viewers with Kaplan’s idea of “empty empathy” (Kaplan 93-95). However the exposure of these “taboo” images forces viewers to comprehend the reality of the attacks at a more personal level. Vanderwees continues in his article, stating that although the images of falling bodies is contextualized differently among individuals, they collectively bring what had been repressed back into the reader/viewer’s consciousness (Vanderwees 181). Through the use of these images, viewers are more capable and inclined to stop repressing the reality of what occurred. Rather then looking at the September 11th attacks as an attack on The World Trade Center, the
The World Trade Center (WTC) held fairly high regard throughout New York as a structurally sound building, but the authors of 102 Minutes beg to differ on this opinion. They use various diagrams and statistics of the incredible impact and destruction the planes caused to the building, arguments against the poor architectural design and support of the towers, and periodic timestamps to make claims and factual statements about the events that occurred. The timestamps serve as a means of the authors building suspense in their audience, deepening uncertainty in the audience which intends to move them to read further and discover the office laborers’ fates. Moments like “At 9:19… we’re trapped… there’s smoke coming in. I don’t know what’s happening”(102 Minutes 186) and when Assistant Chief Callan“stood
September 11, 2001 is a day that shook the United States to its core. Millions of Americans felt the pain, the loss, and the anger that came with the attack on their nation. It was a day of mourning, and when it comes to days of mourning it is difficult putting one’s pain into words. However, Leonard Pitts Jr. was able to move past the emotion. He put into his words, not only his own feelings, but the feelings of an entire nation. Pitts conveys the emotion felt after the terror attacks in his essay “Sept. 12, 2001: We’ll go forward from this moment” through his mournful, angry, and righteous tone.
Imagery, initially, supports Burke’s use of narrative in his piece. Burke forces the audience to picture the traumatic events that occurred that day and how they felt watching it unfold. Burke uses descriptive words and phrases such as: “bodies charred,” “bodies rained down,” “and they exploded” (4). These words help emphasize the horrible scene that was happening right in front of their eyes. Citizens watched as workers jump out of the towers, choosing to commit suicide instead of being crushed by falling the debris. These short phrases brings them to the images of bodies, dead and destroyed, laying on the street. Additionally, he uses short one sentence lines to show what the first responders sacrificed on 9/11.
Throughout the documentary, Avery appeals to pathos by incorporating photographs and recordings to illustrate the magnitude of the tragedy while supporting his claims. He examines how the buildings collapse by showing eyewitness videos and computer simulations. The film repeatedly shows footage of the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings. It shows the airplanes flying into the towers, the sudden collapse, and the solemn aftermath. Because of the potent imagery, Avery appeals to the audience’s grief, fears, and doubts.
While the two other pieces assigned for this class both touched upon certain elements of the attacks that Hara does not discuss, as a fourth-generation New Yorker who experienced the events of September 11th first hand, I was particularly struck with his portrayal of the ways in which the survivors of widespread disasters are often victims themselves. Much of the language used in the piece recalls New York City in the wake of the attacks: constant physical and emotional reminders of death, silent acknowledgment of shared suffering, and a larger desire to rationalize such irrational tragedy. In this course, we have examined many instances of the physical victims of the attacks, yet it is equally as important to consider the hibakusha, the survivors of the attacks whose lives metaphorically ended (or at least fundamentally changed)on that day as well. The tragedy and destruction of the attacks does not exist only in death tolls and collateral damage; it exists in the lives of those who were lucky enough to survive but not lucky enough to be
Feller’s comparison of the Paris bombings to the September 11 attacks is included to caution the audience about possible repercussions following the French
In Ground Zero Berne uses many examples of imagery and metaphors to paint a descriptive picture of her surroundings and what she saw to enhance her reader’s experience. She uses the imagery to make her readers feel as if they were there and make them feel the same feelings of awareness, and sadness she did. Suzanne achieves this by recalling back to the horrid memories of 9/ll when “the skyscraper shrouded in black plastic, the boarded windows, the steel skeleton of the shattered Winter Garden.” (Berne 176), By using these extremely explicit and descriptive details Suzanne allows her readers to experience the rude awakening she had when she saw nothing in Ground Zero, but was able to recall the chaos that went on that day. Suzanne lets her readers understand what was going on in her mind , and clearly experience what she was feeling that day
Connect/Relate with the Audience: Many of us were around the age of 9 or 10 when these attacks occurred and didn't have a clue of what was going on. We just knew it wasn't normal.
One individual named Richard Drew, a professional journalist and photographer was in New York on 9/11. While the terrorist attack occurred he sat helpless and watched from the streets but decided to begin snapping pictures. However, the article entitled, “The Falling Man” by Tom Junod showed the controversy of what he was taking pictures of. Richard was taking pictures of the “Jumpers” (Junod, 2016, para. 6). The Jumpers were the citizens trapped within the twin towers with no other exit but to jump for possible freedom, but as they fell hundreds of stories from the buildings the people on the streets knew their was no help for them and the only thing that awaited them was a quick death. Within the article it states, “He was standing between a cop and an emergency technician, and each time one of them cried, "There goes another," his camera found a falling body and followed it down for a nine- or twelve-shot sequence” (Junod, 2016, para. 3). In this statement
In Ground Zero, readers can feel as Berne did by imagery and illustrative language. Her sharing experiences makes them have a visualization what happened on that day. Different from seeing Ground Zero on television, those observing directly not only deeply feel the miserable tragedy but also can image the pain
In this photo, it shows a man falling from the World Trade Center. He is called “The Falling Man”. This photo sent pins and needles straight to my heart. Seeing this photo, sends a great amount of sadness and sorrow into my soul. I believe this is one of the most powerful images of 9/11 because it takes a great amount of strength to make a decision like The Falling Man and many others did. This man, along with many others, chose to fall instead of being taken down by the flames and smoke. The Falling Man and many others like him, didn’t have a choice to live or die. They only had the choice in which way they died. Can you imagine making that decision?
Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once stated, “Silence is a source of great strength”. The lack of words or action can be particularly meaningful, especially when the breadth of the event is so astonishing that it cannot be put into words, such an event being the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The horrors endured by the global community on this day is a common experience that, frankly, can easily be characterized by silence and nothingness when thought about closely. With that, texts centered around 9/11 employ the juxtaposition of something and nothing to create the feelings felt by those impacted by the events. This common theme is seen in Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, the French-American documentary
The terrorist attacks in London Thursday served as a jarring reminder that in today's world, you never know what you might see when you pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV. Disturbing images of terror can trigger a visceral response no matter how close or far away from home the event happened.
September 11th, 2001 is known as the day in which Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City. 9/11 is also recognized as the day in which immense devastation spread throughout the United States. A photographer, Richard Drew captured a photograph of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41 a.m. during the attacks. The man, who appears in the image and eventually is notorious as The Falling Man identity remains unknown. Although, he is known to be one of the people who was trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who had two options, either to fall searching for safety or jump to escape the massive amounts of fire and smoke. This photo has become a horrific phenomenon because of how it represents what photography does for history. Furthermore, it accurately depicts the desperateness that was spread across America during a time of true tragedy. In order to truely understand the horror of September 11th, 2001 it is pertinent to include the kind of imagery that the image of The Falling Man displays.
The constant media coverage of 9/11 is what has helped individuals to connect their individual memories with the factual, collective memories of 9/11. Brian Monahan the author of The shock of the news: media coverage and the making of 9/11 discussed the media covered on September 11th and how the audiences reacted to it. It helps explain and understand some of the ways the media processed and portrayed this day. The article discuses the initial audience responses and the moral shock. The September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftershock generated an exceptional level of media coverage. As the word traveled of the attack on that day, people immediately turned on the news for more information. The only topic covered on the news for weeks was 9/11 related issues. “Thousands of hours of television, radio programming, and an immeasurable amount of print-based reportage and commentary in newspapers and magazines and on the internet were devoted to the attacks” (Monahan pg 11). People were relying on the news to stay updated with what was happening post 9/11. “A long history of scholarship in sociology, media studies, and other academic disciplines has taught us that the news we consume influences the way we process events, asses issues, and assigns meaning to our personal experiences”(Monohan, pg XI). In other words, what we interpret from the news affects how we live our lives. “A wealth of research suggest that the manner in which news is packaged and presented is a key