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It is always instructive to read different narrative reflections upon historical events, but seldom does a reader have a chance to read two essays upon an event that will surely pass into history as an occurrence of seismic importance, from his or her lifetime. Moreover, Adam Mayblum's "The Price We Pay" and Robert Stone's "In the Mind's Eye of the Bomber," both offer fresh yet contrasting perspectives upon the tragedies that occurred on September 11th, 2001, before this event has assumed a kind of concrete and fixed status in the collective memory of American history.

The thesis of Adam Mayblum's essay "The Price We Pay," is that September 11th was the result of the profound symbolism America had incurred, as the embodiment of freedom as well around the world. "Today the images that people around the world equate with power and democracy are gone, but "America" is not [just] an image [or a nation], it is a concept. That concept is only strengthened by our pulling together as a team." Mayblum sees the attacks as an assault upon the principles of freedom and democracy, as well as upon American citizens and our collective national security. He uses the figurative language of the 'team' of democratic adherents to stress the simple, eloquent message that this was not just an attack upon America, but upon a particular way of life that many nations, including our own hold dear.

Mayblum's language of teamwork is simple and straightforward in its diction. But Robert Stone's essay advances a far more complex issue, as he attempts to deal with the psychological impact of the crisis. Stone's thesis is the unreality of the horror, which was so shocking that it was "experienced" as "something fictive, because the mindset of the suicide bombers is so alien to our culture. "We saw in the shocking elemental collision that our conscious minds denied the violent assault of one narrative system upon another. People deeply enclosed in their sanctified worldview were carrying out what they experienced as a sacred command to annihilate the Other." Stone attempts to not understand the event from the outside, as an American, but to provide some explanation from within the mind of the bomber, for why such events occurred. Stone's central thesis is that if one can understand the mindset, one can better understand why the event occurred, and even while he 'fails' in this attempt, to find a perfect explanation of the mentality of the bomber, and the metaphors advanced in his essay are less concrete and more difficult for the reader to grasp than Mayblum's idea of a team, Stone's ultimately more ambitious essay provides an important, added dimension to the understanding of September 11th.