Death
Death is a huge theme present throughout the entire play because of its heavy presence on the fateful day itself. The entire was rocked to its core by the terrorist attacks of the hijackers on the planes. Each of the four planes had victims. All the crew and passengers of the four planes were killed instantly when the planes crashed. In addition to that, hundreds more died in the North and South Tower of the World Trade Center, along with those people in the west facade of the Pentagon. Never to be forgotten are the lives lost by first responders such as members of New York's Police Department, firefighters, paramedics, and selfless souls who bravely sought to help others. All of this created an atmosphere heavy with the theme of death, a theme that was inevitable in this tragic play.
Grief
Forever present alongside death, Grief is an overarching theme in 11 September 2001. 2,753 people were killed on that horrific day and countless more were injured creating a huge chain of grief that swept through the United States as well as the entire world. Each person was more than just an individual death, they were part of a web that interlocked the many people they knew, such as colleagues, family, and friends. Once they were hurt or killed, it spread grief to all those people they knew. As can be seen in the play, many people were shown sobbing and crying, or else completely and utterly stricken into a silent grief. This grief could be felt by Americans across the nation because an attack on some of us was an attack on all of us.
Love
An underlying theme in this play that often goes unnoticed and under-appreciated is the spread of love that we are able to see. The first love we see is that of families, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and grandchildren. As they lament over the loss of family members or the injuries of family members, it demonstrates the close connection between all these people and how much they loved their families. Additionally, this can be seen when they are filled with relief to find their family members unharmed. The theme of love we see after this is the love of other humans and humanity that seems to appear after such heartbreaking events. Police officers, firefighters, military, paramedics, and regular citizens all risked their own safety to help save the others around them and care for them. After the event, millions in donations and huge outpourings of compassion sprung from across the nation and across the globe to comfort and heal all those that had been affected. In this way we can see the love for humanity that all people hold within them.
