When the 9/11 attacks took place, I was very young. Being 5 or 6, I didn’t really understand what had happened or the sheer devastation of the attacks. Obviously now I know everything that went down on that day. I have heard stories about the pain and loss that it caused. I have heard all of the conspiracy theories and other “crazy” thoughts about how it happened.
I really enjoyed the first part of the article written by John Updike. I really admired his storytelling ability and he just had me engrossed in every single word that I read. I thought that everything he said captured the thoughts and feelings of a person who actually witnessed the attacks. I really liked the way he dragged the reader into his own world about the catastrophe. The whole thing was great, but what really inspired me was the way that he ended it. “New York looked glorious.” These few words, so full of hope and forward thinking really summed up that yes this was a great disaster, but in the future, we can always find hope.
The second part of the article was completely different from the first, and not in a good way. To be completely honest, I absolutely detested most of the things that were said in the essay. I felt that it was really disconnected from the reader. Susan Sontag used language that was not only hard to understand, but seemed to make the issue at hand even more complicated and scary. The article lacked emotion or feeling for the actual attacks, and even seemed to me to honor the attackers. The only part that gave the article any glimpse of redemption was the final sentences. “Who doubts that America is strong? But that’s not all America has to be.” These sentences really spoke to me. It is a very good point. Does America always have to be only a world super power? Can we not also be a nation who is hurting and is not afraid to show it?
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