Analysis Of Thomas Beller's 'The Ashen Guy'

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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

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