Critical Analysis Of Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, 9/11, By Thomas Beller

There are certain days in history that are memorable to people everywhere. Thinking back on significant days in his life, Thomas Beller explains the way he remembers September 11th every time he is reminded of this tragedy. When anyone brings up the 9/11 attack, it means something to Beller; this was not just another average day in his life. In Beller’s fiction work “Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001” he uses details and imagery to explain his story.

Beller opens up his story with a tone of confusion and cluster. People are walking around the city all moving in the same direction and the bells of Grace Church are pealing. And as he describes the people leaving he describes all they pass on their path away from the scene. He tells of cars

Even when he exits the building he still adds direct quotes to add urgency to the confusion as he remembers the police saying: "There's a package! There's a package! Keep moving!" (61). Beller lets you get the picture in your head of how many people were at the World Trade Center that day: “There were about 230 people on the eighty-first floor and I was one of the last ones out” (61). He starts you on the eighty-first floor and then transitions into his next big detail after the first tower went down and he is laying on the ground by another man who worked in the building across the street. He grabs your attention emotionally by bringing up the timing of the events taking place. He puts you at the time the first tower is about to go down: “I watched the whole thing. I saw the second plane hit, the explosion. No one told us to evacuate, and then the building just collapsed…” (61). Laying there at this time of the attack is when Bellar shifts into a more chaotic tone and continues that tone throughout the rest of his story. Another way Beller gets you to truly understand his experience is through imagery. When he was lying on the ground by