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Seber 11 2001 Leonard Pitt Analysis

Decent Essays

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. Pitts used specific words and phrases throughout his essay to convey a mournful tone. This tone is expressed at the start of the essay with …show more content…

For example, he makes the statement “You’ve bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before .” This statement may not use words that directly says that he is angry, but the tone can still be felt by understanding why Pitts includes this statement in his essay. He is addressing a group of people who had inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering onto the American people. He acknowledges that their actions have left a wound that may never heal, and he is not happy about it. This anger led to a desire for retribution, and this resulted in an additional tone that was expressed in this essay. Righteous is the final tone that is clearly expressed in Pitts essay, and it is conveyed through his specific choice of words and phrases. This tone is expressed throughout the essay; however, it is most easily identified in the middle and end parts of this essay. This is because in the first part of his essay, Pitts is leading up to the righteous tone. The line where this tone starts to become prevalent is “You’re mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.” In this line Pitts makes it clear that the American people are strong, and they are not going to be intimidated or beaten by a group of terrorists. This tone becomes even more prevalent as the essay goes on. Pitts says things such as “we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice” and “we will rise in defense of all that

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