Comp Response #1: Sentimental Absence in "Ground Zero"

Berne’s essay underscores the idea of sentimental absence at ground zero. She begins in the first paragraph by describing the “cold, damp March morning” and the “raw wind and spits of rain,” creating an image of a cold, rather dismal and depressing day. She also describes all of the people, coming from all walks of life, looking “where there was nothing to see.” This depressing and lonely picture helps emphasize the feeling of absence at the site. The sentimentality comes in on the next page, as she describes how it transforms into the aftermath of the tragedy and the cemetery appears, with all the memorials to those lost in the attack. It really hits home when the elderly man says to his son “‘I watched those towers being built. I saw this place when they weren’t there.’” After the author witnesses the honor guard carrying the remains to the ambulance, she goes back down to the site, where the absence is starting to be filled by all those who come to see the site. The author’s use of description emphasizes the sentimental absence surrounding ground zero.

I liked the vivid descriptions of the people and the images; it really helped make me understand the piece. The most effective description was, in my opinion, the images from television and newspaper of “the black plume of smoke against a bright blue sky.” I remember watching the TV at home that evening and seeing those images, but not quite understanding the enormity of what happened.