Thomas Beller is an author who collected many personal narratives in a book called,”Before & After: Stories from New York. He later on wrote “The Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001,” which is an after story of his previous short story. Beller pulls on the heartstrings of many by describing things that could and did happen during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. His short stories use a variety of techniques to make them come alive. In “The Ashen Guy:Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001,” Thomas Beller uses sentence structure and language to express the chaotic tone of his short story.
One technique Beller used was sentence structure. Beller’s sentence structure starts out as long sentences.These sentences have a lot of commas and very little quotation marks. An example of a lot of commas is “Everyone was moving in the same direction, orderly, but with an element of panic and, beneath that a nervous energy”(line 1).
Later in the story, Beller uses sentence structures differently. He goes from very proper, long, and with a substantial amount of commas to very short choppy sentences. …show more content…
He uses different types of language to show the change in events. In the beginning of the story his language is formal. The language in this part of the short story is formal because of the lack of change to the everyday life of the big city. In the beginning of Bellers writing he is also describing things that happen everyday and is very observant of what is around the city, “Their clothes were crisp and unrumpled, their hair freshly combed. Below Houston Street, a fleet of black shiny SUVs with sirens spread south, toward the smoky horizon somewhere south of Canal Street”(Line 1). As the story progresses the language becomes jargon,an example of this is, “It fell straight down!” someone said.”(Line 15), “Because we live on block away and... does anyone know which way the building fell?”(Line
One technique Beller used was sentence structure. Beller’s sentence structure starts out as long sentences.These sentences have a lot of commas and very little quotation marks. An example of a lot of commas is “Everyone was moving in the same direction, orderly, but with an element of panic and, beneath that a nervous energy”(line 1).
Later in the story, Beller uses sentence structures differently. He goes from very proper, long, and with a substantial amount of commas to very short choppy sentences. …show more content…
He uses different types of language to show the change in events. In the beginning of the story his language is formal. The language in this part of the short story is formal because of the lack of change to the everyday life of the big city. In the beginning of Bellers writing he is also describing things that happen everyday and is very observant of what is around the city, “Their clothes were crisp and unrumpled, their hair freshly combed. Below Houston Street, a fleet of black shiny SUVs with sirens spread south, toward the smoky horizon somewhere south of Canal Street”(Line 1). As the story progresses the language becomes jargon,an example of this is, “It fell straight down!” someone said.”(Line 15), “Because we live on block away and... does anyone know which way the building fell?”(Line