After reading John Updike's essay, I was left in a heartbroken mood. I had already lived through this awful tragedy, heard the horrific stories, and saw the unbearable photos, when I was just in second grade, but I had never heard someone describe it with such incredible word choice and vivid details like Updike did. He made me see war in a different way because he focused on this issue with a personal view-his family's story. Not only were the people in the towers and their family members hurt, but even the bystanders were scarred for life because of what they had to watch right above them. I never realized how affected people still are because of the events that occurred on September 9th, 2011. The connection between American Freedom and the nightmare America faced really opened my eyes. The sentence that really got my attention and ended the essay beautifully was, "The fresh sun shone on the eastward facades, a few boats tentatively moved in the river, the ruins were still sending out smoke, but New York look glorious." He describes the aftermath of a terrible, life changing event with a impeccable, beautiful picture. He was able to look over the faults New York now had and still see the pride in all the freedom we still have.
Then, I read Susan Sontag's essay, and I gained a more angry mood rather than a gloomy one. I wasn't too thrilled with her pessimistic attitude, which I felt she provided while reading her essay. She clarified in her essay that our leaders, our citizens, and our country is not perfect, but I didn't feel like she had much hope for us either. Another aspect of her essay that made me feel uncomfortable was the fact that she said the perpetrators of 9/11 were not cowards. I believe that whenever you cannot sit down and calmly talk out a conflict you are as cowardly as you can be. Bombing a country you do not get along with, only shows that you have no courage to face them as humane human beings. Kind, brave heroes fight as civil people, and they complete their actions to better their country; they don't act as uncontrollable animals and act solely to harm others. I think Sontag gave up on our country after this event, when really I believe that it only made us stronger. Clearly, any country, even the United States, has room for improvement, but one downfall doesn't mean that our country is no longer the confident, strong country it was before this terrible event happened...it shows America is strong, and we can get through any grief or hardship that passes by along the way.
Hi Eva!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the mood that the essays set. I was reading them on a beautiful summer day, the sun was shining and I should have been in a terrific mood but the essays really brought me to a more sober level. The authors really did a great job of getting their point across and leaving you with enough information to get you to think about their essays long after you have stopped reading them.
The sentence that caught you eye "The fresh sun shone on the eastward facades, a few boats tentatively moved in the river, the ruins were still sending out smoke, but New York look glorious." really struck me. I thought it was interesting how the author could describe this terrible event in a more positive light. Thousands of people had just died but he was calling it glorious? That seemed a bit morbid to me.
I was also wary of Susan Sontag's essay, I sort of agree that the men who did it were not cowards because they were willing to die for what they believe in... not in any way saying what they did was right but.... I didn't like that I agree with her on that, in fact I wanted to not agree but I couldn't help agreeing... just a tiny bit. I was glad when she ended with the message that even thought America isn't perfect it is still strong.
Hope you are enjoying your last days of summer!