Delillo offers an interesting commentary on the effects of terrorism in his short story “Baeder-Meinhof.” After the terrifying event involving the man from the museum, the narrator describes “everything in the room [as having] a double effect – what it was and the association it carried in her mind." After the man is gone, she is unable to mentally disconnect the things in her apartment from the petrifying encounter.

Delillo is pointing to the effects of a terrifying event like that in the story (or possibly a terrorist attack as is alluded to by the exhibit and the title) on the psyche, especially with relation to memory. The comon thread of this event and an act of terror is a fear for one’s life. Long after such an event occurs, we are reminded of it by images relating to it. Every time we recall this instance we realize that something similar could happen again and fear for our lives. We are frequently reminded by connections made in that moment relating to things we frequently see or think about and consequently live in a state of constant fear.

And so, the implications of such an event are tremendous. In a society where every single individual has seen the image of a terrorist attack that killed thousands of his fellow innocent citizens, every individual develops these types of connections and as a consequence the entire society exists in a state of fear. No American can possibly think of September 11, the Twin Towers, NYFD, or even New York City without remembering and feeling the fear they felt for their own lives when they saw the towers collapse.