After reading both of "Ground Zero," by Suzanne Berne, and "The Way to Rainy Mountain," by N. Scott Momaday I would conclude that both essays describe a place full of emptiness due to tragedy. In "Ground Zero," the confused and mournful looks that visitor's have cemented on their faces suggests the impact that a tragedy like September 11th  has on a person. The anxious tone suggests a person's hunger to discover for them selves what had happened on September 11th and what was lost. The description's of people from all over the world standing behind police barriers helps describe the impact on everyone and the longing for some kind of proof that what they saw happen on tv was actually real. The people had to image it for them to get past what had happened on that day of terror. In "The Way to Rainy Mountain," the historical uneasiness exemplifies the tragedy that was forced upon the Kiowas Tribe. The old landmark of Rainy Mountain was the land that the Kiowas were stripped and forced from by their old friends and the soldiers at Fort Sill. All they had left was their lives. The depressed tone sums up the feelings that the Kiowas felt and lived. The attitude of longing to really see the land that was described by the grandmother causes the granddaughter to set out on a pilgrimage to see for herself the place of tragedy and cultural destruction.