Pale September
Essay Preview: Pale September
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Kim Perreault-Beauregard
Professor Jane Sandor
English 1A Section 5
September 13, 2006
“Pale September”
-Fiona Apple
As redundant as it is to relive, just five short years ago we awoke to an event that tainted our everyday “American dream” lives. “Kim!!! Turn on your TV now! A plane just crashed into the twin towers,” was my wake-up call early that Tuesday morning. As I stood nervously in front of my television, along with almost every human being in the world, I couldnt help but think to myself that just two years before that morning I had stood on a 110 story high landmark that was now merely dust and debris. As the stories unraveled throughout the day, my callous eighth grade science teacher revealed to us that our nation was “under attack.” These words were dreadfully unsettling and I can remember the only thing that calmed my anxieties was that simply, we were all in this together. That day, and the days that followed, everyones topic of discussion was the September 11 attacks. Today, although not first on every persons agenda, we cannot go more than one day without hearing something on the topic of 9/11 and the war in Iraq; especially seeing as we just glided passed the fifth anniversary of that horrifying morning. In all honesty, there are numerous different feelings about this event in his history and how our nation handled itself when it was time to test our mettle; more exhaustively how President George Bush handled the distressing times. In an article, published in The New Yorker on September 4, 2006, Hendrik Hertzberg attempts to sway his audience on his beliefs about what has come about since the 9/11 incident. In his article, entitled “Lost Love,” Hertzberg focuses his argument on persuading his readers that the events of September eleventh brought national and international solidarity, but also left the notorious United States of America with a less commendable reputation.
Hertzberg effortlessly approaches his subject by beginning with some imagery of the terrorizing morning. His first sentence introduces the morning as a “calamity that glided down upon us out of a clear blue sky,” that brought unity when “strangers connected as friends; volunteers appeared from everywhere; political and civic leaders of all parties and persuasions stood together, united in sorrow and defiance.” By painting the picture of September eleventh for his audience, the intro transported us right back to that frightful time of uncertainty and astonishment; a perfect point of view for his piece. He additionally illustrates the patriotism which developed after the wake of 9/11. Devotion to building America back up again was high and you could not miss “the Stars and Stripes sprouted from apartment windows all over town.” This brought a time in which Hendrik Hertzberg perfectly described as “pro-Americanism,” in which “we are all Americans.”
Messages of solidarity and indignation came from Libya and Syria as well as from Germany and Israel; flowers and funeral wreaths piled up in front of American Embassies from London to Beijing; flags flew at half-staff across Europe; in Iran, a candlelight vigil expressed sympathy.
Hertzberg does a fantastic job in essentially sharing how almost the whole world was coping with the destruction of the terrorism on the World Trade Centers. By appealing to our emotions on the already sensitive subject of the tragedy with pathos, in the beginning in his article, Hertzberg takes advantage of his readers when they are vulnerable.
Hertzbergs tenor takes a dramatic transformation in the third paragraph when he “gets real” and states calmly, “No one realistically expected that the mood of fellow-feeling and cooperation would long persist.” This creates a smooth transition from sorrowful language to the building of personal credibility. Rather than directly slandering the people at fault, Hertzberg takes a veiled approach by giving quotes to support his ideas. Cleverly, Hendrik begins the trying task of linking Bush to blame by using quotes directly from his 2000 campaign where he is outlined as a “compassionate conservative, one who recognized government was not the enemy, praised bi-partisanship, proclaimed his intention to change the tone in Washington and advocated foreign policy of humility and respect.” He then goes on to support that:
Nine months into his presidency, an economic policy of transferring the budget surplus to the wealthy, and social policy hewing to the demands of