9/11 -- Connecting the Cold to the Children

Peggy Noonan's article "The Children of 9/11 Grow Up" has a very strong emotional pull to its readers, as Phoebe analyzed previously. Almost as interesting as the emotional-side of this article is the audience that it addresses.

After Noonan's opening paragraph, she begins to both personalize her story and direct her audience away from just the general public. She starts off the body of her article with, "I've been thinking about..." (par. 2) in order to let her readers know that she is going to be telling her perspective on the effect 9/11 has had on college students that were children during this event. Noonan stays attached to the students emotionally and keeps the focus on them, but she separates her writing and views from the students. Her strategy is to make her story more appealing and applicable to people of her age -- those that have been through a great tragedy before.

Further on, Noonan states that "9/11 was for America's kids exactly what Nov. 22, 1963, was for their parents and uncles and aunts" (par. 6). Noonan doesn't bother to explain the date, because she expects the majority of her audience to know what that date stands for. For me, as a "child of 9/11" I had to look up the date to realize November 22nd, 1963 was the day when JFK was assassinated. Noonan used JFK as an excellent connection to bring more understanding of the situation to those that have grown cold to constant tragedy.

Those that aren't in Noonan's majority of readers aren't too distracted by this phrase because they just assume the date has a greater meaning to other people. A majority of those in this type of mindset are people that have felt overwhelmed by the events of 9/11. In order to keep this article attached to these readers, the imagery and emotion used by Noonan provides a bridge between her view and their memories. As Noonan interviews college students, those that have memories of 9/11 frequently connect their thoughts to the experience of the interviewees – including me.

"Children of 9/11 Grow Up" does a wonderful job to connect its older audience to the feelings of current college students, while also keeping those “children” interested in the article. This college connection might have been intentional, or Noonan might have been primarily focusing on her own generation. Either way, they are both great results of effective writing.