American author Suzanne Berne, in her essay Where Nothing Says Everything, describes her visit to Ground Zero, seven months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Berne writes this essay to show her audience that Ground Zero is empty and grave, a sharp contrast to the gruesome portrayals of the media. Berne uses vivid language, comparisons, and anaphoras to convey an intricate but simple image to her readers.
Berne opens her account by vividly describing the condition of urban New York near Ground Zero. She expresses the situation by pointing out the “raw wind and spits of rain” that are making the day gloomy, and that “Germans, Italians, Japanese, … Norwegian[s], … [and] people from Ohio, California, and Maine” comprise the
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In paragraphs eight and nine, the author makes repeated use of the words “suddenly” and “flags”. The repeated use of “suddenly” gives the reader an image of his head snapping around, quickly changing focus to see everything at Ground Zero. The effect is that the reader believes that there is much to see, in contrast to the empty silence around Ground Zero. As the reader is visualizing the area around Ground Zero, Berne dedicates several sentences to informing the reader about the great number of flags around Ground Zero. She does this by using “flags” as an anaphora. Berne is alluding to the newfound solidarity amongst Americans as the result the attacks of 9/11. These sentences show the emotion of the Americans, who have put their differences aside to combat the terrorism. Berne’s American audience would likely feel a sense of patriotism when reading this paragraph, which appeals to the reader’s emotions.
Suzanne Berne, in her essay Where Nothing Says Everything, uses vivid language, comparisons, and anaphoras, and appeals to her reader’s emotions to convey her message to her audience: despite being the site of an awful terrorist attack, Ground Zero is an empty, quiet, and grave that would otherwise appear to be a normal construction