Cosmopolitan Concern In Don Delillo’s Falling Man

Don DeLillo, by juxtaposing a New York citizen Keith’s family members who experienced the 9/11 attacks and the terrorists who plotted and launched the attacks in Falling Man-explores the causes of the attacks and consequences of the event while he presents American people’s life, psychology and mentality before and after the attacks. Thus he demonstrates that Americans and terrorists are not absolutely the opposites; they have much commonness and have potential for making conversation and coexisting peacefully. His claim somehow coincides with that of Kwame Anthony Appiah who insists that human communities with different cultures and religions are likely to carry out conversation, relieve their tension, and eventually achieve peaceful coexistence for they have something in common in nature and thinking mechanism when he examines the causes of conflicts among different peoples.This thesis, framed on Appiah’s cosmopolitan theory concerning value, conflict, and conversation, is to examine the causes and consequences of the conflicts between Americans and terrorists, the possibilities of their conversation, and the potential ways of initiating the conversation that are presented in Falling Man. Although there exists a wide difference between Americans and terrorists, they have commonness in nature such as yearning for family and fear of death. Although different interpretation and weighing of the shared value, their commonness and mutual influence provide them with the potential for having conversation and communication with each other, reducing the risk of conflicts and increasing the probabilities of their peaceful coexistence. Such a cosmopolitan prospect is bristled with difficulties, but its realization is not a mirage. This is just what Falling Man conveys to its readers.