Don Delilo begins the novel with Keith outside of his law office after the towers were suddenly hit by planes. Keith is disoriented mentally and is not aware of what is really happening around him. He could see that something terrible happened but did not understand how this happened in a blank of an eye. While he continued walking around the city he felt dead because it was not possible that this scene was reality. Keith did not feel alive until he got into the electrical contractors truck and realized he was going home to Lianne and Justin.
At the end of the novel Keith is back in a similar situation except he has recollection of details. Keith is finally acknowledging what occurred the day the towers went down and explains it to the reader vividly. As the novel progressed random information was thrown at the reader and the reader was left confused because it was obvious that some information was omitted. There was not a clear way of understanding why Lianne and Keith divorced and how come Keith did not relate to Florence though they experienced the same tragic event.
The ending of Falling Man is redemption of the beginning because Keith finally opens up to the reader and gives them an insight on what happened to him personally on September 11. What makes the end redemption of the beginning is Keith is now free from guilt. Keith’s guilt comes from him having an affair while married to Lianne which is represented when he and Florence have casual sex multiple times. The most important guilt that Keith felt his having his good friend and colleague Rumsey die in his arms and he could not do anything about it. On the day of the attacks Keith was so overwhelmed that he blocked out certain traumatic events so he could make himself feel better.
The final chapter brings clarity to the entire novel because the omitted information is finally available for the reader. No one understands why Keith returns home especially Lianne and her mother Nina, since the end is redemption of the beginning Keith went home because it was a place where he could feel safe and comfortable. He knew Lianne would not force him to open up about what occurred the day the towers went down. When the man fell off the train tracks in front of Lianne this was a representation and foreshadowing event of Keith falling back into her life and needing her help to put back the pieces in his. To Keith, Lianne was his rescuer and she helped him to rid his guilt because she accepted him back into her home and her bed with no problems.
4 comments:
Your blog carefully describes the process of redemption tha Keith follows. Why do you think the first part of the process involves returning to his wife and child. How does your reading of DeLillo's article help your understanding of the novel?
(Sonya Bonnin)
I agree with your statement that the ending is a redemption of the beginning seeing as Keith finally lets go of his guilt for having failed to save his friend and having failed as a husband. Everyone in the novel coped with the incident in a different manner and in his case he chose to do so by blocking out his memories of that day. When he finally revisits his memories and understands that his friend died right in front of him and that there was nothing he could have done to save him he is able to heal and go forth with his life. You also state that Keith did not feel alive until he got into the car that drove him to Lianne’s house. I find this to be very interesting because it is as if he became a totally different person after the attack, even if for a brief period of time. Later on we find out that family life isn’t his life, and that he needs to be free. It is a statement of how traumatic experiences tend to change everyone, but with time things inevitably go back to normal.
There are a few points in your post that I have to disagree with. First is the idea that Keith did not relate to Florence. Although Keith did not maintain an extended romantic connection with Florence, I do not think that this means that he did not relate to her. He related to her on a very deep level, but realized that his relation to her was not a romantic one. I think that he wanted to feel a romantic connection to her because he was so deeply connected to her, but after having sex with her a few times realized that this was not what they needed from each other.
I also have to disagree with the idea that Keith feels guilty for the death of Rumsey. Although Rumsey's death clearly upsets him, I don't think there is much evidence in the novel that would indicate that he felt a personal guilt for his death.
I agree that Keith returned to Lianne’s house because he felt comfortable there, but I fail to see the “redemption” in this act. In my opinion, Keith is more or less using Lianne and her house as a comfortable place of residence for when he returns from his out-of-town poker tournaments. He turns there because that was his home for over 6 years, and he felt most comfortable with Lianne and Justin. My problem with Keith’s return is that he is still a horrible husband/father. He clearly knows that his son was traumatized by the attack because he now speaks in monosyllables and he is constantly starting at the sky searching for planes. Justin obviously needs his father, Lianne obviously wants him back as a full time husband, yet Keith is always selfishly away at poker tournaments.
Although Keith has returned to a semi-normal life, I still do not feel he is completely cured of his disturbing experience on 9/11. He is still very much affected, and it is well demonstrated in this dialogue between Lianne and Keith:
Lianne began, “You can’t go back to the job you had. I understand that.” Keith countered, “The job. The job wasn’t much different from the job I had before all this happened. But that was before, this is after.” Lianne started talking about Keith’s strength before the attack, and Keith responded, “I can’t talk about strength. What strength?” Lianne said, “That’s what I saw and felt. You were the one in the tower but I was the berserk. Now, damn it, I don’t know.” Keith’s only response was “I don’t know either (DeLillo 214).”
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