Ground Zero Response Answers

1.       What do you think Berne means when she says that as her eyes adjust to what she is seeing, “nothing” becomes something more potent, “which is absence”?

I think Berne means that the fact 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.       According to Berne, how were the televised images of ground zero different from the actual experience of seeing it?

She states how it looks like a construction site to the out-of-towner.  Once you are there in the vicinity to see the actual damage and how bad it actually is in person you aren’t 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.

4.       In paragraph 3, Berne says that ground zero at first looks like “nothing”; in paragraph 4, she says it looks like a construction site. Then, in paragraph 7, she describes ground zero as “a great bowl of light.” And finally, in her conclusion, she refers to it 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.

5.       This piece is sometimes printed under the title “My Ticket to the Disaster”; how do these very different titles affect your understanding of Berne’s reason for writing? How would your perception of her purpose for writing this essay change if it were called “My Ticket to the Disaster”?

I think by having the title of “Ground Zero” the reader immediately knows the essay will be able 9/11.  If the title is “My Ticket to the Disaster” the reader doesn’t know for sure if it’s talking about 9/11 or if it’s talking about different situation.  I think the title “Ground Zero” is the best title for the essay because I know what she will be talking about whereas the other title I wouldn’t be as sure.

6.       What do you think Berne means in her conclusion when she says that with so many visitors coming to see ground zero, a form of “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.