The Falling Man by Don Delilo is a novel about the life of a 9/11 terrorist attack survivor named Keith Neudecker. Keith left the scene of the attack in a shocked state, which leads him directly to his path of redemption. In relation to the novel redemption appears in several ways. They are not necessarily the most conventional or typical forms of redemption, but rather small ways Keith wins back his sense of self, identity, and purpose.
On Keith's path to redemption, he goes back to his estranged wife's home shortly after the attacks where there is less chaos and despair than the scene of the attack. He starts a journey that brings him back to the things that he has separated himself from. I think he realizes he doesn't want to be the same man he was before his life was shaken by the terrorist attacks. He knows going to Lianne's will be a safe haven because that is all he has ever knew it to be. At the beginning of the novel Keith seems to not even be in touch with reality as he leaves the towers, then later we find out what actually happened and how Keith actually felt about the attacks. He seemed to be in denial until he explains that his friend died right next to him during the attacks and Keith couldn't save him. These feelings of sadness and helplessness finally surface at this point in the novel. His affairs and the mistreatment of his wife may seem very selfish, but at the end of the day it seems he goes back to Lianne and his son Justin because he knows it is where he belongs.
The author connects the beginning and the end of the novel with the attack and their effects. The person the Keith sees falling in the beginning of the novel is something he denies until the end. The author shows that Keith has redeemed his mind and sense of self by accepting that the 'shirt' he saw falling was a real person falling to their death. The redemption that Keith experiences is not a glorious but one that brings back his sense of reality and life.
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