The Falling Man

"The Falling Man"
Tom Junod
09/11/08
Esquire

This article discusses a photograph taken on September 11th, of a man in mid fall after jumping from one of the Twin Towers. It first covers the photographer who took the photo and his discovery of it afterwards, then it goes through and shows each of the families to whom the Falling Man may have belonged. The story is on the surface about the hunt for the man's identity, but perhaps ultimately the article is about the hunt for our reaction or acceptance of what the man did.

ANALYSIS:

This piece was shorter than some of the other ones, yet still had quite a punch to it. Junod uses a lot of rhetorical questions, and exposition to tell his story, relying less on investigative journalism, and more on the esoterical. The article is probably a lot more "think-y" than most that I've read, and seems to want to make the reader explore his or her own feelings, and less about the identity of the man. It is as if the anonymity of him is what makes the picture important.