Goodheart does this by including early reactions to the elevator. Although most now take the contraptions for granted, humans are still "required to entrust their lives, on a daily basis, to technologies whose inner workings [remain] a mystery" (190). By including this segment, Goodheart has established the skyscraper as something far more than a cold, mechanical tower of glass and steel. Instead, he associates the building with humanity, not only physiological and sexual humanity, but also spiritual humanity. Established as a location where one must entrust one's life to technology, the building has the spiritual consistency of a cathedral or burial ground instead of the cold, emotionless consistency of a modern, mechanical building. Seen in this vein, the Twin Towers are now seen as additional casualties of the September 11th attacks, symbols of the passions of humanity rather than technological milestones. This interpretation of Goodheart's work is similar to Stein's interpretation, as the author suggests that Goodheart uses September 11th observations "for the comparative study of violent social movements as responses to many forms and ages of modernity" (197). Goodheart suggests that modernity and technology is still swept up in the beauty of humanity, and uses the September 11th attacks to illustrate the binding of technology and human passion.
Similarly, Goodheart defies the traditional conception of the airplane as a superhuman, modern marvel. Instead, he defines the contraption as a sanctuary for human sacrament, a mode through which humans are forced to consider their humanity and immortality.
Like the skyscraper, the airplane is first personified by human physiology. It is described as "female," and made up of "spar and rib," which formed the "bones" of the craft (Goodheart 190-191). The airplane is not only personified with a sexual humanity, but also described as a sanctuary in which humans consider their own sexual pleasures. Described as a mother, the plane is given the human characteristics of "delivering all the amenities of the womb: shelter, nourishment, warmth, dimness,...
Though the airplane is made of steel and speed, it does not become a classroom in which passengers consider the mechanics of technology, but rather a sanctuary or cathedral where the most human of passions are evoked. Passengers confronted with "erotic" flight attendants and hidden fantasies, charged by "erotic currents" that "whisper idle fantasies of sex" with random strangers (192). Groups of passengers on planes must also consider "death alongside these strangers," as Goodheart points out that the ritual of food and amenities on planes is nothing more than airlines attempting to reassure passengers that they will survive and passengers contemplating their own mortality (191). The plane, therefore, is not simply a bulky ship of steel, but instead represents everything about the human element, from birth to sex to death, even emphasizing the unifying aspects of this humanity that an assembled group of strangers share. Once again, Goodheart's view of the airplane coincides with Stein's interpretation that Goodheart uses the violent events of September 11th to make conclusions about modernity, but also directly opposes Stein's view that the attacks were an "assault" on American group culture as the attacks and humanity of the plane brings together those who share the common, human element.
Although both the skyscraper and the airplane have traditionally been viewed as cold, mechanical symbols of the technological age, Goodheart brilliantly uses the September 11th attacks to show that the human element is would within everything, that it is the driving force behind life.
Works Cited
Stein, Howard F. "Days of Awe: September 11, 2001 and its Cultural Psychodynamics."
Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society. 8.2. (2003): 187-199.
Goodheart, Adam. "The Skyscraper and the Airplane." The Norton Reader. Ed. Linda
Peterson and John Prereton. New York: Norton, 2008. 187-193.
Gardner, Jean. "Architecture as Eternal Delight: Reflections on the Attack of the World
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