“Ground Zero” Response Questions

1. What do you think Berne means when she says that as her eyes adjust to what she is seeing,

“nothing” becomes something more potent, “which is absence”?

I think she means that it looks like nothing to somebody who knows nothing about the situation but to everyone who does understand what happened the nothing space actually has a lot of meaning.

2. According to Berne, how were the televised images of ground zero different from the actual

experience of seeing it?

According to Berne, they were probably trying to superimpose those terrible images onto the

industrious emptiness right in front of them. The difficulty of this kind of mental revision is measured.

3. What scene is most crucial to the essay—where/when does she slow down and re-create the

events taking place?

4. In paragraph 3, Berne says that ground zero at first looks like “nothing”; in paragraph 4, she

says it looks like a construction site. Then, in paragraph 7, she describes ground zero as “a great

bowl of light.” And finally, in her conclusion, she refers to it as a pit. Why do you think Berne

describes ground zero in so many ways?

To me this is just how she feels as she examines the whole situation. She knows the whole story to the world trade center but now that she is there seeing it in real life this is just how she feels about the area through out the day. To me it describes her feelings about the whole situation.

5. This piece is sometimes printed under the title “My Ticket to the Disaster”; how do these very

different titles affect your understanding of Berne’s reason for writing? How would your

perception of her purpose for writing this essay change if it were called “My Ticket to the

Disaster”?

To me a title says a lot, to me a title kinda of prepares you for what your about to read. So if i was reading something with the title My Ticket to the Disaster I would already have thought to my self okay this is going to be something in a sad manor.

6. What do you think Berne means in her conclusion when she says that with so many visitors

coming to see ground zero, a form of “repopulation” is taking place?

I think she is maybe saying that yes the building is gone and people did die, but people are still coming and we all are going to have to move on and this will only make us stronger.