For many others and myself the detail that stands out the most is the picture of the man who is falling. The man seemed to be very calm and at peace with what is happening to him. For me it seems like he might be thinking as long as I am dying, might as well go with it and do something interesting. If I were in his place my body would definitely not be that composed. My body would be contorted, I would be panicked and I would be trying to slow down some how or trying to do something. I would not be as calm as that man and I would be trying to get my head up so I wouldn’t be looking at the spot where I am going to die in a very short amount of time.
A pattern of repetition and contrast is that every paragraph that Junod writes is a completely different topic but they all conclude with the falling man and who exactly is this man. A detail that does not fit the pattern is that the paragraphs do not seem to flow. To me the paragraphs seem to be in somewhat of a random order and hard to follow along with all the information. Also it seems like the paragraphs do not contain any transitional words or any transitional paragraphs that would make reading this article a little bit easier.
Yes, I definitely agree: the order of paragraphs is hard to follow. However, if you noticed a pattern with each section ending on the falling man, it's not *totally* a random order, right? As an anomaly, I would point to the one-sentence paragraphs. For example, "Oh, no. You have to fall" (80). I can guess he's using these lines for emphasis. But, it does contrast with most essays which include clear transitions and developed paragraphs -- not one or two sentences floating out on their own. Why might he choose to incorporate this seemingly random or fragmented style? Does it have something to do with his topic? The chaos of that September 11 morning? The fragments of memory that never get assembled in the end?
ReplyDelete