John Updike's (2001) account of witnessing the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the New Yorker and Langston Hughes' (2008) "Salvation," about a young boy who gets "saved" at a church revival, are both nonfiction because though told in a short story-like manner they are both based on real life or actual events. In John Updike's (2001) reaction to the events of September 11, the author describes the events in a way comparable to a reporter but relies on the tools of fiction to add to the account in a number of ways. For instance, his depiction of television footage of the second plane crashing into the towers reads like pure fiction from his word choice, "where the footage of hellbent airplane, exploding jet fuel, and imploding tower was played and replayed, much rehearsed moments from a nightmare ballet" (Updike, 2001, p. 1). From metaphor and simile to personification, Updike uses the tools of fiction to render a nonfiction story. In a similar manner, Hughes recounts a real event but he uses the tools of fiction like characterization to write his story. He brings Westley to life like a fictional character, "God damn! I'm tired o' sitting here. Let's get up and be saved" (Hughes, 2008, p. 1). This analysis will provide my reaction to these works of nonfiction, included how they relate to my own experience and society and what the respective authors' theme and purpose seem to be.
John Updike's approach in reacting to the events of September 11 is to adopt a lofty and literary tone regarding the event. The first line in his piece sets this tone and demonstrates his use of fiction-like sentences to describe a nonfiction event, "Suddenly summoned to witness something great and horrendous, we keep fighting not to reduce it to our own smallness" (Updike, 2001, p. 1). His story is filled with figurative language like metaphors and similes and other tools of fiction not typical of straight reporting of nonfiction s...