I chose to analyze the Newsweek article written by Anna Quindlen, “One Day, Now Broken in Two.” She writes a very personal editorial about what the date September 11th now means to American’s, and how she feels day should be thought of one year later. The role Quindlen constructs and the ideal audience she is addressing is clear by her continual use of the pronoun “We”. She begins almost every paragraph by either asking, “Who are we know?” or answering that very question starting with the word “We.” This sets up a Hemingway-like relationship of intimacy and shared experience up with the reader. She feels no need to describe the 9-ll attacks in detail, because she assumes “we” already now the facts. Instead, again like Hemingway she refers to the events very vaguely and expects that we know what she is referring to; “the plane, the flames, the fire.” The “We” she is constructing and addressing are obviously American’s, but more specifically American peers who were old enough in 2001 to be affected by the attacks in the same way she was. It’s fair to assume that because this article appeared in Newsweek, that she might have also been speaking to a liberal open-minded audience.
Now lets say Quindlen was asked by Teen People to write a similar piece for their magazine. She would obviously have to rethink some of the assumptions she makes in the former piece. She addresses the date 9-11 as the day “America’s mind reeled, its spine stiffened, and its heart broke.” For someone older than 18, or someone who felt the side affects of the events first hand, these would be apt characterizations of the day. But for an age demographic younger, and farther removed from the attacks, these might seem like foreign descriptions, justifiable only because they’ve been told what a big deal the attacks were. From personal experience, I can testify that 9-11 didn’t seem like that big a deal when I was thirteen, just a building that got crashed into onto TV. Quindlen would have to do a lot less of reminding the her audience of what they had collectively felt, and a lot more informing the audience of what the attacks meant and telling them how most people felt. Instead of asking “Who are we know?” she might ask, “What did it mean?” The latter question is already assumed to be known by the older group, but that might be the perfect question to answer for a teenage group.
I definitely think the frame of the essay, the fact that 9-11 is also her son’s birthday is something that a teenage audience would be able to relate to. The main argument the story seems to be making is that we must go on living as we did before the attacks, but also never forget that they happened. She must go on celebrating her son’s birthday and enjoy it, and all Americans must go on with their lives every day and enjoy every other day as well. I think the birthday reference is pretty clear and believe that a teenage girl audience would even more easilly be able to understand the gravity that the day by reading that a mother has to remind herself recognize the date as her sons birthday, and not as the date of the terrorist attacks.
This is a very good reflection of Anna Quindlen's article. I did my short assignment on this article as well, and I never really thought about it being written for a specific book or magazine. Writing for Teen People would definitely give the whole writing a different feel. The age group of the people reading this magazine may not remember what they were doing when the planes struck, or how they felt when it happened. You say that you were only 13, and 9-11 really didn't seem like a big deal to you. I was a freshman in high school when it happened, and I definitely remember it being a big deal, but even at that age--I don't feel like I really understood the magnitude of the whole situation.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you brought up the fact that the author's son's birthday is September 11th. I can relate to this as well because my nephew was born on September 11th as well (after the attacks). However, unlike the author, I am easily able to differentiate between the memorial of 9-11, and my nephew's birthday.
Good job. I did not do my short assignment on this particular article but you did a good job explaining the authors arguments. I also liked your observation on the author's use of "We." I agree, using that word does set up her audience. Overall, you did a great job but I would have liked for you to use Kinneavy or Ong's text to further anaylze this article. Using their articles would have helped yo anaylze how and what ways the author could have written to a younger audience about the September 11th attacks.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your analysis. I, too, noticed how often she referred to her audience as "we" but chose to focus on a different aspect of the article. The use of "we" gives the article a much more personal tone, almost as if to put herself in the audience she is writing to. Contrary to assuming her audience is just a general American audience, I think her use of "we" pertains to the Newsweek audience and she realizes this, which you touched on. Her implied audience may be the general American public, but her intended audience are, as you wrote, "a liberal open-minded audience."
ReplyDeleteI hadn't considered how she might have written the article had it been in another publication, but your comments on the changes that would have to be made made a lot of sense. A younger audience would definitely require less use of "we", since adolescents tend not to identify with adults, which Quindlen obviously is.
To add on to your comment on believing a teen girl audience would be well-suited, I think mothers would be just as much, if not more, suited. Quindlen appeals to mothers, being one herself, and I think they could very easily identify with her situation.
I agree with your analysis as well. Quindlen uses the Hemingway "we" to not only achieve a level of intimacy with the reader and the shared tragedy, but to go even further, she makes them feel included in her own opinion. They go from outside the article to directly into it, as if they were writing it themselves.
ReplyDeleteAs for what would change if she published it in Teen People, I agree and disagree with your changes. The tragedy of September 11th is so ingrained into the public mind that I think that teens would have no trouble knowing what she meant and also how it affected the mindset of the American people. We may not have lived through JFK's assassination, but we know the affect it had on the American people as a whole.
I also agree with Tim above in saying that her article could be well-suited to mothers, but also I would like to go further and say it's well-suited to anyone who's birthday, anniversary, etc. falls on 9/11.
What an interesting take on the "we" she collectively refers to. I can say that each experience with 9/11 was individual and there was no general consensus on emotion. The author assumes too much about her audience and constructs a false audience. Although this article appeals to patriotism the shared emotion is not as uniform as the author thinks.
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