The Falling Man Essay

September 11, 2001 is a day that shook the United States to its core. Millions of Americans felt the pain, the loss, and the anger that came with the attack on their nation. It was a day of mourning, and when it comes to days of mourning it is difficult putting one’s pain into words. However, Leonard Pitts Jr. was able to move past the emotion. He put into his words, not only his own feelings, but the feelings of an entire nation. Pitts conveys the emotion felt after the terror attacks in his essay “Sept. 12, 2001: We’ll go forward from this moment” through his mournful, angry, and righteous tone.

One individual named Richard Drew, a professional journalist and photographer was in New York on 9/11. While the terrorist attack occurred he sat helpless and watched from the streets but decided to begin snapping pictures. However, the article entitled, “The Falling Man” by Tom Junod showed the controversy of what he was taking pictures of. Richard was taking pictures of the “Jumpers” (Junod, 2016, para. 6). The Jumpers were the citizens trapped within the twin towers with no other exit but to jump for possible freedom, but as they fell hundreds of stories from the buildings the people on the streets knew their was no help for them and the only thing that awaited them was a quick death. Within the article it states, “He was standing between a cop and an emergency technician, and each time one of them cried, "There goes another," his camera found a falling body and followed it down for a nine- or twelve-shot sequence” (Junod, 2016, para. 3). In this statement

At first we were shocked from such a scare, then we were sad, and lastly we felt anger on September 11th, 2001. The event on that took place on September 11th, 2001 were planes getting hijacked by passengers on the plane and they crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York City. All of the circuits were busy; all you could hear through the cell phones were operators saying please try again at a later time. The American Airlines flight 11 moments earlier crashed into the North Tower. Then at 9:05am, twenty minutes after the first crash, United Airlines flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. The news stations repeatedly exhibited the buildings that plunged to the ground. In regards to figure out how anyone could ever do this terrible crime I will explain the

Throughout the novel, “102 Minutes” by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, a common tone is produced about the severity of the destruction of the World Trade Center. A neutral attitude is used when describing the events on the morning of September 11th. When narrating over the tragedies that took place, the authors use specific word choice and real-life examples to display the twin towers collapsing and the stress, fear, and panic being felt throughout Lower Manhattan. For example, Dwyer and Flynn write, “As easily as the roaring jet had knifed through the steel face of the tower, smoke now relentlessly, swiftly, seeped into the top of the building, finding paths around the concrete floors, emerging in billowing, ghastly clouds” (Dwyer and Flynn 37).

In an interview, Skot McDonald talked about his experience on the streets a few blocks from the twin towers, “We started backing away and then had to run from a tidal wave of collapsing debris rushing down the street at us as the north tower collapsed,” (Liddy). McDonald and his friend were photographers and were staying very close to the twin towers. They woke up on September 11 like a normal day. Skot’s parents called him to tell him about the attacks. On 9/11, emergency groups in Manhattan needed to evacuate an area a certain distance around towers to maintain safety for inhabitants and tourists watching in horror.

The September 11, 2001 attack has created an array of confusion, anger, anxiety, fear, and hatred among many Americans. Police officers and firefighters, who responded to the events of 9/11, experienced delayed emotional reactions so they can accomplish their tasks and many loss their lives in saving others. Video images of two hijacked U.S. commercial airliners plowing into the twin towers were continuously replayed for days on local and national news outlets. The United States was

September 11th was a tragic event that the majority of the world knows about. Thousands of people were affected, whether directly or indirectly. Fear had spread worldwide, and two well known men in particular stepped up to speak about this incident. President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke on two different occasions referencing the attacks. Throughout each speech, one can see the sense of ceremony for those who died and a tone of hopefulness, in that the United States could recuperate from their tragic loss.

The almost too vivid depiction of the men, with the forced perspective of the column, set in the washed-out landscape gave the whole piece a sense of motion that grabbed my attention. The effect reminded me of motion blur. It was like a still grabbed from the middle of an action scene in a movie, and I found myself imagining the moments before and after this piece which gave it the sense of a snapshot taken from a larger narrative. I found myself wondering what was about to happen. The sharp detail of the skull, and the way the shapes of the men draw the eye to it seemed to be an answer of sorts, as the detail it was rendered in compared to the rest of the landscape elements seemed to be

When the two planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the world paused in awe because the most majestic monument came crashing down at an uncanny speed, creating the thickest impenetrable cloud of smoke filling the streets of New York City. Every millisecond the towers were descending millions of people were slowly beginning to grasp the incomprehensible and unforgettable disaster that would change the lives of millions of Americans. Every smell, sound, sight, taste, touch from that fateful day produced a tragedy beyond our words; however all of the events leading up to the actual act of violence and the affairs after the violence sustain this tragedy, foster future tragedies, and further our development of the human experience.

To the public eye, the 9/11 attacks were unprecedented and the overwhelming fear swarmed the nation. Across the nation families, businessmen, students, as well as every other member of society witnessed the emergency news broadcasting the video of the planes flying into the Twin Towers. This attack had especially affected those with loved ones living in New York and this fear manifested itself into our daily lives and those living in metropolitan areas feared a second terrorist attack. However, hope had reappeared in the form of unified forces including first-responders, medical teams, as well as local and international groups working together to provide aid and comfort to the victims and their families. Despite staring at the face of danger,

These emotions fueled the United States and these emotions are still present in individuals all over the world as the day is remembered. Along with the emotions, individuals have stopped believing in many things such as the government. Some even can’t stand the sight of researched evidence that supports the fact that the Twin Towers fell just like a controlled collapse. Also in this video it breaks down the moments right before the planes struck the Twin Towers. The researcher saw things that cannot be explained easily.

Fourteen years ago, America suffered a major tragedy. On September eleventh two thousand and one, commercial airliners were hijacked and sent through the offices of the World Trade Center, as well as a path towards the White House, but failed and caused mass destruction at the Pentagon instead. Lives were lost, but were not forgotten as the former towers that had once dominated the New York skyline, are now memorials for those who went to early due to one's animosity towards the United States.

A bright, yellow sun smiled down from a picturesque blue sky, as a slight breeze made its way through the maze of skyscrapers in New York City on a cool Tuesday morning. Who could have guessed a morning as benevolent as this could be a source of such inexplicable cruelty? This particular day in September of 2001 would change the world forever. Without warning, an explosion rang out. A puff of black smoke bellowed upward from the north tower of the World Trade Centers. An unpleasant silence ensued. As the bystanders below tried to make sense of what they had just seen, a woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, then another did the same, and then another, until the sounds of the individuals blended together to create one indistinguishable cry of fear.

Although, I think it is infact staged. Many of Ebbet’s photos were taken to falsely justify obvious dangers. This image represents this by the men looking happy, relaxed, carefree, unfrightened, smoking, and at ease with their surroundings. Who in the right mind would be relaxed that high up? This goes along with why I believe this was staged. On the other hand, there is a man to the far right who looks anxious, and out of place. It looks as if he’s waiting for the photo to be taken so he can get out of the situation. He is the only one looking at the camera, the rest are acting natural. I feel as if he was uncomfortable and was trying to hurry and get the photo taken. He has fear in his eyes, and looks to be grasping a bottle of alcohol. Is the alcohol a key-factor as to why the others are so relaxed and at ease with being on the skyscraper hundreds of feet up in the air? Many workers did fall to their death while building skyscrapers in Manhattan, New York as a result does infact show Ebbet's intentions of getting rid of the common belief that this task of building skyscrapers was too dangerous and

September 11th, 2001 is known as the day in which Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City. 9/11 is also recognized as the day in which immense devastation spread throughout the United States. A photographer, Richard Drew captured a photograph of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:41 a.m. during the attacks. The man, who appears in the image and eventually is notorious as The Falling Man identity remains unknown. Although, he is known to be one of the people who was trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who had two options, either to fall searching for safety or jump to escape the massive amounts of fire and smoke. This photo has become a horrific phenomenon because of how it represents what photography does for history. Furthermore, it accurately depicts the desperateness that was spread across America during a time of true tragedy. In order to truely understand the horror of September 11th, 2001 it is pertinent to include the kind of imagery that the image of The Falling Man displays.