46 pages • 1 hour read
Don DeLilloFalling Man
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
On September 11, 2001, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center change New York City forever. A lawyer named Keith Neudecker wanders through the chaotic streets and watches the hurt, terrified people scramble through the dust and wreckage. When Keith feels that he can go no further, an old truck appears, and the driver offers to take Keith wherever he needs to go.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Keith asks the truck driver to take him to the apartment belonging to his estranged with, Lianne. Though Keith and Lianne’s relationship was once intensely passionate, they grew apart from one another. Eight years later, Lianne still reflects on how their marriage turned from a passionate, love-filled relationship into the “eventual extended grimness” (9) it became. Three days later, Lianne talks to her mother, Nina, about how Keith arrived at her door covered in gray soot and blood. She is happy that their young son Justin was not home to see his father in such a disheveled state. Lianne eventually took Keith to a hospital. Nina warns Lianne not to let the recent tragedy affect her judgment regarding Keith, but she understands how everyone is still in shock following the attacks. Nina, who loves art and artists, never warmed to the corporate-minded Keith. The conversation ends when Martin, Nina’s lover, arrives.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
At the hospital, doctors remove glass from Keith’s face and treat his wounds. Many other people are receiving similar treatments. Lianne talks to another parent, Isabel, whose children have developed a habit of secretly whispering to one another with “semi-gibberish” (14) words. Though their marriage is nominally over, Lianne allows Keith to return to her bed. They lay next to one another every night because they do not want to be alone. During his medical exams, however, Keith thinks about his numerous affairs. Carol Shoup, an executive editor who occasionally hires Lianne for freelance editing projects, contacts Lianne. Like many people, Carol is aware that Keith was near the terrorist attack, and Lianne notices the care and sensitivity she uses when asking,“ Is this a bad time?” (15). Many people ask Lianne this question in the same way.
When Keith tries to return to his apartment near the attack site, he must pass through military checkpoints. He passes “through the frozen zone” (18) of the devastated city as bulldozers and other heavy machines pass along the streets. Keith examines the ruined site of the World Trade Center, where he worked for 10 years, and he senses the thousands of dead people in the ash-covered streets. In his building, Keith takes the nine flights of stairs rather than the working elevator. In his apartment, Keith packs a few clothes and important documents. He leaves and never returns.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Falling Man opens with a description of the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York City. Keith stumbles through the dust, smoke, blood, and rubble. He sees people coughing, stumbling, and dying in the street. The confusion and chaos are everywhere as the people try to determine what has happened to them and their city. The apocalyptic descriptions of the city are an example of pathetic fallacy, in which inanimate objects or the environment is described in such a way as to echo or reflect characters’ emotional states. The city is in turmoil, just as the characters are enduring a tumultuous emotional state. The chaos and destruction surrounding Keith are a metaphor for his psychological well-being, as his sense of identity and control is as devastated as the towers. The opening chapter of the novel introduces the audience to the physical changes wrought by the attacks and the emotional and psychological devastation suffered by the victims. The physical destruction is inseparable from the emotional and psychological destruction. While the rubble and the dust will be cleared away, the psychological damage will continue for many more years.
The destruction of the opening chapter contrasts with the eerie emptiness of the city when Keith returns. Days after the attack, Keith visits his old apartment to fetch clothes and important documents. The dust, blood, and rubble are mostly removed from the streets. The chaos is gone and replaced by a heavy military presence; order has been imposed on the city by force and the threat of violence. Keith talks only when he must, he sees very few vehicles, and the only other civilians he spots are as skittish and nervous as he has become. This brutally quiet and controlled version of New York is a stark contrast to both the public perception of the city as a bustling metropolis and the opening chapter’s descriptions of the city during the attack. The contrast illustrates how quickly and significantly the world has changed after the attacks. Not only has the city’s physical landscape been changed now that the towers are gone, but every sense is impacted. The sights, the smells, and the sounds have changed forever. Keith no longer feels at home and no longer recognizes New York. The physical and emotional landscape of his world has changed forever.
Keith’s changing perception of the city is illustrated by his decisions when he reaches his apartment. Initially, Keith moved into this apartment to be closer to his job in the World Trade Center. His entire existence was oriented around his career, and he used his proximity to the city’s tallest buildings to measure his self-esteem. The towers became a measure of Keith’s identity: he was so emotionally invested in the towers that he left his wife and child to be closer to them. However, when he reaches his apartment, he no longer recognizes the city or himself. Neither he nor the city can base their identity on the proximity to the towers anymore. Keith takes only the essentials, packing a change of clothes and his essential documents. He leaves behind everything else as those possessions no longer feel like they belong to him. They are part of an older identity that no longer exists. Keith leaves the apartment and his possessions because they feel like they belong to someone else, someone he no longer recognizes.
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