9/11 Literature and Film - Essay Example

9/11 Literature and Film On September 11 2001, four planes were hijacked by nineteen militants and were used for suicide attacks in U.S.A. Two of the planes crashed in World trade centre in New York, one in Pennsylvania and the other crashed in Pentagon near Washington D.C. This resulted in 3000 deaths of civilians, 400 fire fighters. Many writers have wrote in a bid to describe the after math of these day and this essay will compare and contrast two of the writers and how they described the social and political effects of the attacks on the people of America A Disorder peculiar to the country is a novel that relates to the September 11 attacks. Ken Kalfus uses satire of a couple’s divorce to reflect what was happening in the life of Americans especially in a family unit. People’s lives have been pervious of global pressures and this menace has affected the family unit. According to him, no one is safe and he brings out this theme in a historical tales and social satire to relay the message. What was happening to the September 11 is what happens in day-to-day lives. This essay will compare and contrast how "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country" and the short story "twilight of the Superheroes" portray the cultural and political atmosphere in the United States after September 11. Twilight of the superheroes is the heading of Deborah Eisenberg collection of stories. It deals with emotional turmoil that people went through after the September 11 attacks. She was able to capture what happened to people after the attack through their daily life experiences. She tells her story through the life of Nathaniel who is a young architecture and his life, through his roommates and relatives around him. He is the protagonist of the story and how the attack affects him together with those who surround him is what tells what happened on the ground after the terrorist attack Both of the stories devalue the American dream. The September 11 attacks brought forth political, social, and economic uncertainty. Moreover, in the face of terrorism the American dream is irrelevant. As for the novel, the couple has not yet achieved the American dream since they live in a cramped apartment in Brooklyn. "He stared at the bedroom ceiling in the dim evening light, looking to read something in the faint patterns that had been left by the paint rollers years ago…” (Kalfus, 54) :They are not happy in their marriage. On the other hand, the short story characters are promising. Nathaniel the main character has the potential of achieving the dream but after seeing the effects of the attack he is disoriented and his future is grim. Lucien who lost his wife no longer enjoys what he has. Despite having a dream job, a great family, and friends, he no longer enjoys those privileges after losing his wife. He is unable to move on with his life (Einsberg ,35). Innocence is a common theme in both of the stories. In the first story, the couple is struggling with their daily lives. Marshall and Joyce have realized that their marriage is not working and they hate each other with an intensity that is equal to a culture. Loathing has clouded their hearts and they both mistakenly think the other person is dead during the attack (kalfus, 67). This shows that their marriage institution has lost their innocence. They are corrupted to the level of wishing the other one died in the building or the plane crush. In the second story, there is loss of innocence as Nathaniel is a young man with a promising life who comes to New York to build a life for himself. He witnessed the attack on world trade centre and this traumatized him. He lost his innocence without carving a part of this world to himself. He is disillusioned and no longer feels safe. His ideal world was taken away from him without him reaching adulthood. "It always turns out," Nathaniel observes, "that no one is in charge of the things that really matter.... (Einsenburg, 98). These two illustrations show a similarity in themes for the two stories. The use of symbols is paramount in both stories. Kalfus uses the family symbol as a sign of strength for anyone. Family gives a support system for those involved but Joyce and Marshall are so self-centered and want to disintegrate it without thinking of their children. They return to their apartment to fight each other at the expense of their children as each has refused to leave as advised by the legal counsel. The children are the innocent victims of the marriage disagreements. In this case, the author showed how Americans were suffering due to the war on terrorism between Afghanistan and the American government. Only the ordinary citizens are being affected. Deborah uses direct symbolism as the first scene is on Nathaniel living on the 31st floor from their sublet (Einsenburg, 28). Buildings are supposed to be safe and secure and yet the terrorists attacked those buildings and created a sense of insecurity in the basic units that we believe in. The building is near the world trade centre and Nathaniel and his friends were watching as the building went down. It showed the vulnerability of the way of life for the American culture. Lucian wishes for stability that he felt when he was children, which are shown by remembering what his teacher said and her image. In true sense, the stability he enjoyed was not real but rather a fabrication. This shows innocence that was taken away by the harsh reality of the world. The two societies reacted differently to the attacks on the September 11 happenings. For Joyce and Marshall they reacted in a negative way with more antagonism being created between the two. In an event in a school play, they separate those who are in the process of the divorce and those who are divorced and place them on different sides (Kalfus, 103). They continue to instigate more separation among the people. In the Twilight of the superheroes, they have a more positive outlook on those events. Nathaniel and his uncle Lucian are shown reflecting on their lives. Nathaniel tries to interact with others although he is afraid. The attack was a realization of how fragile life is. He also made a realization that his relationship with his parents has grown much stronger than it was before. Lucien on the other hand relates what is happening to the country with his own tragedy where he lost his wife Charlie. He relates to what the rest of the Americans are going through and he is able to understand and define himself. Isaac and Rose are Nathaniel’s parents who have gone through a lot in life and as a result, they have instilled the sense of fear of authority in Nathaniel. They experienced these fears while in Europe and America. Although Nathaniel is able to overcome some of the fears when he moves to New York the September 11 events have exposed him to the reality and the fears he once had are back. Lucien on the other hand wonders what the future holds since he is alone. He sees that his situation will not change anytime soon and that other Americans will be exposed to such fears on their own. On the other hand, do not seem to face any fears of the future or present. They are portrayed as married jihadists who go on with their lives example Joyce seeks for revenge by ruining the husbands financial and personal status just to get back at him the emotions that drive the couple is not fear but rather anger unlike the characters in the novel. They care about revenge and destroying each other’s future (Kalfus, 180). A disorder peculiar to the country has compared the divorce to the geo-politics of the 21st century. The September 11 attack came after president Bush promised that the country would be free from war and international security was on top of the agenda. A war was erupting and U.S had sent its troops…” Joyce came home and took a shower. Then she read a newspaper. In the newspaper it said that the US sent their troops to Afghanistan…” (Kalfus, 89). The novel has depicted this in this in coming up with a divorce where the couple is fighting. Their endless vendetta against each other in a bid to destroy the other person is what the novel deals with. Twilight of the superheroes on the other hand does not politicize the issue but instead deals with the effect of the attack on a personal level. This is done through the life or experiences of people around Nathaniel. The story does not show the antagonism between any countries and it deals with personal effects. Each of the character has struggled with personal issues at some point and they do not symbolize any political happenings around the world. It is more of personal struggles for the ordinary affected citizens. Deborah Eisenburg writes short stories and for the past 30 years, she has been able to write four short stories, plays, and monographs. She has worn awards and criticized at the same time. She concentrates more on how life is passing rather than how the life of a person works. Her characters feel real and you can relate to what they are going through. She puts emotion in what she writes to give the stories an intense feeling when one is reading it. Some of her works include Under the 82nd Airborne which she wrote in 1992, Transactions in a foreign currency in 1986, Around Atlantis 1997 and Twilight of the superheroes which she released in 2006. She has recently compiled all these stories in a collection that will make reading an interesting hobby. Ken kalfus has written three novels and two short stories collections. These include The Commissariat of Enlightment, Equilateral and A disorder peculiar to the country. His two collection of stories include Pu-239 and other Russian fantasies and Thirst. All these are fiction stories each with a different setting and each descriptive in its own way. He makes vivid scenes of actions that shapes the lives of his characters adding dark humor to bring satire in his books. He changed what people believed about September 11 occurring. He gave them a new perspective of looking at things from a different angle than the one we are used to. Work Cited Eisenberg, Deborah. Twilight of the superheroes. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print Kalfus, Ken. A disorder peculiar to the country: a novel. New York: Ecco, 2006. Print. Read More