1. Ground Zero by Suzanne Berne Dinesh Kumar Thapa April 12, 2021

2. Background The World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States It was built between 1966 and 1975 It opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The North Tower was 1,368 feet (417 m) tall the South Tower was 1,362 feet (415.1 m) tall There were other many buildings in the complex; the complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m 2 ) of office space The cost was $400 million (equivalent to $2.27 billion in 2021 at present). T he World Trade Center experienced several major incidents, including a fire on February, 1975, a bombing in February 1993, a bank robbery in January 1998. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda-affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets into the Twin Towers within minutes of each other; less than two hours later, both towers collapsed. The attacks killed 2,606 people in and within the vicinity of the towers, as well as all 157 on board the two aircraft. Falling debris from the towers, combined with fires that the debris initiated in several surrounding buildings, led to the partial or complete collapse of all the buildings in the complex, and caused catastrophic damage to ten other large structures in the surrounding area. The cleanup and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months, during which the remains of the other buildings were demolished. A new World Trade Center complex is being built with six new skyscrapers and several other buildings, many of which are complete. A memorial and museum to those killed in the attacks, a new rapid transit hub, and an elevated park have been opened. During its existence, the World Trade Center was an icon of New York City. It had a major role in popular culture and was depicted in 472 films.

4. Comprehension 1.Berne says when her eyes adjust to what she is seeing, “nothing” becomes something more potent, “which is absence” Berne means that she is seeing nothing instead of the two towers has a huge impact on her and the rest of the US. Since there are supposed to be two tall towers at ground zero which have been destroyed all that is left is absence in Manhattan and an absence in our hearts. 2.How were the televised images of ground zero different from the actual experience of seeing it? It looks like a construction site to the out-of-towner. When one is there in the vicinity to see the actual damage and how bad it actually is in person one is not able to get the full effect. The actual experience of seeing it is more detailed than a picture could ever convey. 3.What scene is most crucial to the essay—where/when does she slow down and re- create the events taking place? The scene that is most crucial to the essay is when she goes to the café and looks down on ground zero. She explains how they found a body in the debris and were pulling it out. She explained how it seemed like the café and every one inside it paused for a moment. She recreated the moment taking the reader back to the destruction not just as a construction site description but a graveyard for many of our US citizens and the overall horror of that day.

5. Comprehension… 1.Berne says that ground zero at first looks like “nothing” (para. 3); “it looks like a construction site” (para.4); “a great bowl of light (para. 7); “as a pit”. Why do you think Berne describes ground zero in so many ways? I think she is trying to describe ground zero in different ways so that the reader can use their imagination to create the image of destruction and debris. I think she started out describing it as a construction site because everyone has seen a construction site and can easily relate. Then she starts to go into more detail of it being a great bowl of light and a pit to help the reader convey an image of what it looked like. 2.What intention does Berne have when she says “My Ticket to the Disaster”? “My Ticket to the Disaster” is possibly to help the reader immediately know that the essay will be able September 11. If the phrase was something other, the reader does not know for sure if she is talking about September 11 or about a different situation. 3.What does Berne mean when she says “repopulation is taking place”? She is saying that everyone is coming to see the site where so many lives were lost for many different reasons, but there is one overall reason in which they are coming. They are coming because they are Americans, and united we will stand.

6. Inquiry into absence: Contradictory images The memorial Berne visited and observed conjures up a number of contradictory images The collapsing Twin Towers shrouded in flames Little American flags fluttering in the breeze Human repopulation Sense of sound: a calamity with “the pound of jackhammers, the steady beep-beep-beep of trucks backing up, [and] the roar of heavy machinery” Crowds who, at times, view the site as more spectacle than memorial, conflict the typical expectation for a mourning site Berne wants to explore something in the absence; the absence is full of hope and wishes.

7. Contradiction Misery of commercialization of the memorial tickets to disaster Making fun of commercialization at last…got [her] ticket to the disaster Absence of humanity at the memorial

8. Purpose and audience Her purpose for appealing to this audience is to provide a new way of looking at the empty space that is Ground Zero. The secondary audience is those who have never personally experienced the sight of Ground Zero. Berne aims to explain that seeing Ground Zero in person will have a moving effect on them. The final audience is the construction workers at the site. She uses her essay to tell them that their work inspires a sense of hope in those who visit the site. Berne’s ethical appeal includes her credentials. She is a credible because she wrote “Ground Zero” from personal experience.

9. Style and structure “Ground Zero” inspires a mood of enlightenment and hope in the reader. Often times, people visit a place with only an idea of what they will experience. Upon arriving, they realize that their assumption was wrong and what lies before them is entirely different from their expectations. The diction that Suzanne Berne uses is mature and descriptive. The syntax found in the essay is composed of short sentences, long sentences, some dialogue, and some lists.

10. Style and structure … The imagery is very vivid in the reader’s mind. The most obvious examples are found in paragraph nine with her description of the cemetery. Imagery can also be found in paragraph eighteen throughout Berne’s description of the honor guard removing the dead from Ground Zero. Figurative language, specifically a simile, can be found in the first sentence of paragraph six; it is used to describe the amount of light she sees. The first sentence of paragraph seven contains a metaphor comparing Ground Zero to a bowl of light.

11. Thesis The space is filling back up, and hope exists in the vicinity. Paragraph twelve: “But it is unbelievable, to stare at so much devastation, and know it for devastation, and yet recognize that it does not look like the devastation one has imagined.” Paragraph twenty: “Soon I was outside once more, joining the tide of people washing around the site. ” Paragraph twenty: “And by the act of our visiting–whether we are motivated by curiosity or horror or reverence or grief, or by something confusing that combines them all–that space fills up again. ” She saw the empty space first hand as a tourist in Manhattan. She was greatly moved by what she saw on the day she visited. Her logical appeal is to prove that seeing the former site of the World Trade Center in person leads one to believe that it is not just an empty space. This shows that the space is truly not empty.

12. Tasks 1.Read the essay more closely. 2.Write a summary in about 200 words. 3.Find out the words and expressions that describe the collapsed site vividly. 4.Write a description of a ‘cultural heritage/ touristic site’ in about 300 words.

13. Remember Using many adjectives Many expressions appealing to the sense of sight, smell, touch, colour, space, etc. Images Simile and metaphor Factual expressions and your emotional reactions