The novel Falling Man written by Don Delillo, opens up with the main character Keith Neudecker, a survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. Keith was a lawyer that worked in the World Trade Center and who was in the tower at the time of he attack. Fortunately he was able to escape with hardly any injuries. Even though Keith was hardly hurt physically, he was emotionally and mentally torn. After escaping the attack he was in a state of denial, not grasping what had just occurred. While walking to his apartment that he previously shared with his son Justin and wife Lianne, he was in a disarray. His mind was puzzled and his thoughts were scattered. Keith experienced redemption in the opening and closing of the novel.While still trying to cope what has just taken place, he was offered a ride by an electrical contractor, it was at that moment that he felt a bit of life. He went back to his wife who he had been separated from for about a year and a half. He continues his life as if nothing ever occurred. Before the 9/11 attack, Keith sort of lived a sheltered life. He lived close to his job and didn't venture off much from his family and job. He found a new hobby in traveling to Las Vegas to play poker. He grew very happy and loved being a professional poker player. I saw poker to make him more happy than his marriage did. He never spoke to his wife about the attack instead he developed a sexual relationship with a woman named Florence. He met her after the attack after he mistakenly picked up her briefcase while escaping the tower. Maybe he had redemption in the end because of his guilt for having an affair.
Keith may have also experienced redemption in the end when he talks about his friend whom he played poker with and also worked with. His friend was also in the tower at the time of the attack but unfortunately wasn't ale to escape. Keith attempted to help him but he just couldn't get him free from all the debris that had fell on him. He returns to his hobby of traveling to play poker, where he feels a since of freedom and solace.
3 comments:
Your last paragraph is the most important. The fact that Keith finally remembers what happened in the Towers on 9/11 redeems him. He did try to save his friend. That makes him a member of the community of suffering. That is what redemption is all about.
I am a little confused by the second paragraph of this post, which seems to mix up the time before and after the attacks. Keith takes up professional poker years after the attacks, before he only plays with his friends and lives away from Lianne and Justin.
Most of this post has to do with the facts of the book, which all of us read, but in examining Keith's redemption, one must delve deeper into the emotions of the characters and read into their actions rather than take them at face value. I think that although his relationship with Lianne was complicated, he did get something important out of it and did love her in his own way. I think that his feelings about poker and his marriage are very separate, and he wants both to enjoy his life as a cardplayer in Vegas as well as his marriage, although he knows it cannot happen.
I agree with your views on Keith actually finding redemption when he can’t save his friend from the debris and he feels helpless. The redemption comes in at the moment he begins to let himself remember. I also like how you showed that his life turned into a routine that was much like his life pre-attack. It is significant that he only goes to work then home and occasionally Las Vegas. I also think that He went to Vegas to feel alive again just the way he fell back into the routine he had known with his wife and son. He wasn’t the best man but managed to stumble his way back a state of redemption. He becomes more comfortable in his life and that is why I think he is able to share what really happened and how it effected him.
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