Imagine walking up on the scene of that fateful day of 9/11 knowing absolutely nothing apart from the talk around you, seeing the black smoke accumulating around the World Trade Centers, hearing the blare of sirens as the police cars accelerate by. Thomas Beller knew what all those things felt like. He was a simple pedestrian riding his bike going about his everyday life when he saw the black smoke, heard the sirens, and felt the whip of the police cars speeding by. Beller had no clue what was going on when he approached the scene, but in his personal narrative “The Ashen Guy” he explains his recollection of what he experienced on that historical day. Beller uses tones such as chaotic, nervous, confused, and worry to illustrate a picture of what it was like for him to approach the World Trade Center. The tones demonstrated in the first two paragraphs present a sense of nervousness and chaos. Beller creates these tones by making the scene appear to be a normal day, but as he pedals farther down the street he can tell that this is not just a normal week day. In the distance Beller can see the black smoke rising from …show more content…
Beller is at the section in his narrative where he is introducing the man escaping the World Trade Center. In these paragraphs the crowds of onlookers still do not have a grasp on what events are occurring; This proves the confusing tone that Beller applies. Everyone in the vicinity of the World Trade Centers want to know the Ashen Guy’s story. Who is he? What is his job? What was he doing when the plane crashed? The Ashen Guy rarely speaks throughout the narrative and when he does the quote “I was almost out” catches the crowd’s attention (Beller 61). This leaves the crowd wondering how many others were left behind the Ashen Guy that were not able to make it out. Many question are wondering through the crowd’s mind which adds to the confusion already being
For a moment be any black person, anywhere, and you will feel waves of hopelessness” is a profound notion that highlights William Grier and Price Cobbs’ work in Black Rage. With astonishing information backed with real case studies, from previous black patients, they explore the terrain of the black experience in America. The unearthing critique of America they developed in the late sixties remains relevant in today’s turbulent times. Grier and Cobbs (GC) paint a very valid picture of black rage from its inception to its impact in the lives of black people.
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
While walking downtown with her girlfriend, the author describes as, “[her] heart began to skip every other beat, pounding, pounding, pounding … [as she stood] paralyzed like a frightened, little jackrabbit.” Repetition of the word “pounding” in the text develops a fast pace, indicating the urgency and panic felt by the author; terms such as paralyzed are utilized to emphasize the urgent, panicked mood. However, sanguine moods still persist throughout the narrative. For example, in the opening paragraph the author describes how she, “watch[ed] the golden dots of morning light glide across [her] ceiling, [and she] melted into a feeling of peace specific to the freedom of early summer.” Terms such as “golden,” “glide,” “peace,” and “early summer” help the reader detect a placid mood in the text, directing the reader towards the state of contentment the author feels surrounding her relationship. Mood differentiations in the text, from the urgency of the narrator’s walk downtown to the tranquil peace of the narrator’s relationship, indicate the contrasting aspects of the LGBT+ community, both in terms of the impending fear of violence, and the love that is the
Many scenes involved ironic contrasts between the tone and the surroundings. On several occasions the background music was cheerful and upbeat while the physical settings and scenery were terribly dark, dreary and depressing. One good example of this is the scene where Andy was helping the guards with their taxes. There was upbeat and cheerful music but the room and the surroundings were dark and gloomy. This hint of happiness represents how Andy’s hope ...
Wallace Stegner produces a positive outlook of adulthood in his coming of age short story “Chip Off the Old Block”. In this story, set during a flu epidemic in 1918, 12 year old Chet is left alone to attend to the family business after his family all contracted the flu. Chet confronts multiple obstacles such as managing the business and having to throw out two thieves by overcoming his childish tendencies. He hosts a party with his many neighbors to celebrate the end of World War I, when suddenly, his family returns. Instead of joining the celebration, Chet’s father immediately disapproves of his actions. Chet resents this and with the help of his new attitude and tale of his experiences is able to prove to his father and mother that he
This alarming tone is further supported when Dillard narrates, “Wordless, we split up… He chased [us] around a yellow house and up a backyard path… under a low tree, up a bank, through a hedge, down some snowy steps… We smashed through a gap… we ran across Edgerton… He chased us silently… [We] had nowhere to go… we were losing speed… He caught us…” This final use of tone reveals her intention of creating an unnerving atmosphere. She outlines the situation in a manner that will make the readers feel worried and scared for her and her friend’s life. This supports her purpose by describing what “excitement” feels like. The use of tone allows the reader to feel her anxiety and her terror. The audience feels as if her life is in danger, and the use this nerve-racking tone is how we know when we are feeling what she intends for us to feel. It shows us what excitement is
The tone is set in this chapter as Krakauer uses words to create an atmosphere of worry, fear, and happiness in McCandless’s mind. “The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that cares nothing for hope or longing”(4). McCandless is on the path of death, which creates worry and fear for the young boy. “He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited,” (6). Alex is very excited and care free, which Krakauer used to his advantage in making the tone of Alex’s mind happy. The author creates tones to make the reader feel the moment as if the readers were sitting there themselves. Krakauer uses dialogue and setting to create the mixed tones of this chapter. As one can see from the quotes and scenery the author uses tones that are blunt and are to the point to make the reader feel as though the emotions are their own. Krakauer uses plenty of figurative language in this chapter. He uses figurative language to support his ideas,to express the surroundings, and tone around the character. To start the chapter he uses a simile describing the landscape of the area, “…sprawls across the flats like a rumpled blanket on an unmade bed,” (9). This statement is used to make reader sense the area and set the mood for the chapter. The use of figurative language in this chapter is to make a visual representation in the readers mind. “It’s satellites surrender to the low Kantishna plain” (9).
When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011 rocked New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., the word “tragedy” was used on a grandiose level around the world. For the people who lived close enough to experience the events first-hand, they may not have even called it a tragedy; perhaps they called it a misfortune, retaliation, lack of a strong government, unreal, or maybe even rebirth. In the coming years after the attacks, everything between standing united as a nation to declaring a war had flourished; but how has that left us - the land that has no distinct ethnicity - feel about each other? Why is it that fear is usually missing in the affective mnemonics of memorial sites, which, after all, are signifiers of some of the most horrific violence in human history? Do memorials dedicated to these attacks bring us together in terms of understanding, or is it just continual collective grief? This paper will cover the global complexity of the 9/11 attacks, the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park, NJ, and factors and theories that memorials do influence a sense of complexity. The ground of public memory is always in motion, shifting with the tectonics of national identity. I chose the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial as my topic of observation as I, personally, visit a few times throughout the year to pay respects to people I personally knew who perished in the attacks to the World Trade Center. I was in the 5th grade when this happened, and had absolutely no clue what was going on until my father did not return home until two days later with a bandage wrapped around his head and his devastating recollection of what happened just before he arrived to his job. The emotions that I feel within myself compared to others will...
Margulies, Joseph. 2013. What Changed When Everything Changed: 9/11 and the Making of National Identity. Yale University Press.
The attack toward the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 shocked the world. Many people died, and the scar still remains in people's hearts. Was this whole thing predictable? No, but it could have been avoided says Robert Baer in his book, See No Evil. This book is a memoir of a man who joined the CIA to satisfy his curiosity he had toward what was happening in the world, and became to realize the problems the CIA faced and the never told inside story he encountered.
Just look at the quote I gave you earlier: “Brooklyn, New York, as the undefined, hard-to–remember the shape of a stain.” He sees it as nothing but a stain on the map. He goes on to talk about “…the sludge at the bottom of the canal causes it to bubble.” Giving us something we can see, something we can hear because you can just imagine being near the canal and hearing the sludge bubble make their popping noises as the gas is released. He “The train sounds different – lighter, quieter—in the open air,” when it comes from underground and the sight he sees on the rooftops. Although some are negative, such as the sagging of roofs and graffiti, his tone towards the moment seems to be admiration. In the second section, he talks about the smells of Brooklyn and the taste of food. He’d talk about how his daughter compares the tastes of pizzas with her “…stern judgments of pizza. Low end… New Hampshire pizza. … In the middle… zoo pizza. …very top… two blocks from our house,” and different it was where he’d grown up. He talks about the immense amount of “smells in Brooklyn: Coffee, fingernail polish, eucalyptus…” and how other might hate it, but he enjoys it. In the same section, he describes how he enjoys the Brooklyn accent and the noise and smells that other people make on the streets and at the park across from his house. “Charcoal smoke drifts into the
9/11. A horrible act viewed by many, where 4 ill-fated planes were hijacked and propelled into important super-structures, and pastures, is broadcasted on the news on every anniversary of this travesty, and every time, eye-witness stories show up. These stories are often talked about for a large amount of time, but with the numerous accounts of that fateful day, nobody can get all of their stories. I would like to show you some of the most obscure stories that are often overlooked by many. From people in a different country, people right in the tower, and residents of the island of Manhattan, everyone was affected on that fateful day, so what exactly are those stories?
The author is able to so descriptively express this common event by dedicating each stanza to a different perspective involved. The author begins the poem with a protruding inexplicit situation, captivating the reader’s interest and provoking curiosity to help create imagery. Much like a thesis of an essay, the author states “blurring to sheer verb” at the end of the first stanza, he restates the true simple nature of this topic. Wilbur next describes the surrounding in reaction to the fire truck, showing the reader the flamboyancy and power of the fire truck. At the end of the second stanza, the author italicizes the line “thought is degraded action!” This could be interpreted as the speaker’s thoughts, suggesting that those ringing bells remind him that thinking is but the inferior form of action. In the third stanza, the author focuses on the effects of the fire truck on the speaker, helping relate the reader to the thoughts of the speaker as he experiences this event. Corresponding to the ending of the second stanza, the speaker is reminded of the true nature of thoughts, thus letting go of his worries “I stand here purged of nuance and my mind a blank. All I was brooding upon has taken wing.”
“Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.
Finally, on that rainy April morning, we made our way down to Ground Zero. As we entered the church, the smell of stale books and soggy clothing filled our noses. It was that smell of just coming out of a fresh rain, wet hair and wet faces surrounded us. Booths displaying medical stations, sleeping areas, and food stations were set up. They were frozen statues, the ghosts of the events that took place on September 11th and the weeks after. We shuffled through the pews and lined ourselves up at the front of the church.