Analysis Of 'Leap' By Brian Doyle

"Leap" by Brian Doyle is a poem that describes the event of 9/11 focusing on a specific couple who jumped together, holding hands as if they were meant to be together at that particular moment. On the other hand, "Desperation Force a Horrific Decision" by Dennis Cauchon and Martha Moore is a newspaper article that describes the event of 9/11 in a more professional way giving more details about the event focusing on the jumpers in general and what made them make the decision of jumping from the buildings. However, they share elements such as setting, the use of witness accounts, and tone but the authors tell the event in different ways. First, Cauchon and Moore focus the setting on a broader view of the situation, not focusing on specific victims,

For example, Cauchon and Moore use witness testimonies in a more-raw way, they don't use filters to narrate the experiences of those who were around and witnessed the people falling from the buildings. The authors transmit the feeling of the people who were around the buildings also suffered, but in a different way, as the authors use their witness account, "Thompson looked the man in the face. He saw his tie flapping in the wind. He watched the man's body strike the pavement below." This gives the audience a more personal view of the situation. However, Doyle uses witness account in a softer way without going deep into detail and just focusing in a couple of jumpers, as Doyle describes in the poem, "Jennifer Brickhouse saw them falling, hand in hand." Doyle uses the witness' testimony to demonstrate the audience that even if something bad happens people can still get something good out of it, there will always be another person who will support

For example, Cauchon and Moore use a formal tone to narrate the story, but at some point, the audience can sense a sad tone when the authors describe the witness' testimonies as the authors did in their paper, "There was no human resemblance whatsoever, Thompson says." A person could easily sense the sadness in that sentence. Likewise, Doyle uses a nostalgic tone as if the couple jumping gave hope to the people who were watching them, but sometimes the tone turns into sadness, a good example of this situation in the text is when the author tells, "Their hands reaching and joining are the most powerful prayer I can imagine." The author seems happy as if knowing that they were holding hands gives the author the hope he needs it to feel better in that moment of darkness. In conclusion, both works have different purposes such as informing like "desperation Forced a horrific Decision" which has more details, has a more formal tone, and the settings are more detailed. In "Leap" the purpose of the author is to entertain, that's why they author didn't include that many details of the event, but rather focus on a specific matter and he uses the different elements to show a different perspective of the same situation, that's why the paper has a romantic side but at the same time the audience can feel the