Windows on the World: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Frédéric Beigbeder

First published: 2003

Genre: Novel

Locale: Manhattan, New York City; Paris, France

Plot: Historical fiction

Time: September 11, 2001; September 2002

Carthew Yorston, a forty-three-year-old real estate agent from Texas who has taken his two young sons, Jerry and David, to breakfast at the Windows on the World restaurant atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001. He is a self-absorbed and privileged womanizer who claims to be a descendant of John Adams, second president of the United States. In his earlier years, he was strikingly handsome but his hairline is now receding and he sees himself as a Robin Williams look-alike. Afraid of boredom and so rich that he feels he's earned the right to be with any woman he desires, he divorces his wife and leaves her and his sons. Although he occasionally has pangs of guilt, he moves to Long Island, New York, where he continues to make money in real estate. He meets a beautiful lingerie model named Candace on the Internet and immediately begins a sexual relationship with her. However, Candace's recent urge to live together, marry, and start a family has him worried. As Yorston and his sons are settling down to breakfast at Windows on the World, he makes observations about his fellow diners, including those clearly out on corporate expense accounts and particularly a blonde woman who appears to be another diner's mistress. He comments cynically to himself about how trapped they are in their relationships and jobs. Then a low-flying plane suddenly becomes visible. It strikes the North Tower at 8:46 between the ninety-fourth and ninety-eighth floors, about ten floors below the restaurant. Yorston and his sons are trapped inside with almost a hundred other people. As it becomes more evident that they are not going to survive the attack, Yorston begins to think deeply about his failures as a father and husband. He makes repeated attempts to rescue himself and his sons, trying to go both down the stairwells and up to the roof. For a while he is able to convince his sons that this is all a theme park adventure and that there is no real danger. It is to no avail; David dies of internal burns and immediately afterward, minutes before the building collapses, he and Jerry leap out a window, taking David's body with them. One of his final thoughts is that the life he has chosen as a single man, void of commitment, is not one of freedom, but loneliness.

Beigbeder, a self-absorbed French novelist who ruminates about the September 11 terrorist attacks, as well as about his fascination with American culture and art. At thirty-eight, with a strangely shaped chin, Beigbeder is a slightly fictionalized version of the novel's author. He muses about Europeans' general dislike of Americans and the centuries-old relationship between France and the United States and expounds on his favorite American authors, filmmakers, and musicians. Obsessed with the terrorist attacks, he feels compelled to write about them but the writing does not come easily. As he passes his mornings at Le Ciel de Paris, the restaurant at the top of Tour Montparnasse, a year after the attacks, he broods about the proper response to September 11and struggles to find the right way to write about the subject. Beigbeder's ruminations bring him to the topic of the 1970s, the decade that saw the building of the World Trade Center and that celebrated the image of a decadent jet-setting playboy. He analyzes the terrorist attacks as having been spawned in the context of that decade. He intersperses thoughts about September 11 and its effect on the world with numerous anecdotes about his playboy lifestyle and personal interests; this leads him to a critical self-examination of his own personality and the choices he has made in life. By deconstructing his life, he comes to realize the limits of his narcissism. He also discusses his inability to love and his disappointment about being a mediocre writer and a poor parent. Using the persona of Carthew Yorston as an alter ego and imaginary cousin, and sometimes speaking directly to him, Beigbeder writes cynically and self-accusingly throughout.

Jerry, Yorston's nine-year-old son. The older of the two boys, he is a serious and sincere child who has an optimistic attitude toward life. He looks a lot like his father. Jerry will believe anything his father tells him but, valuing honesty himself, he becomes angry when he realizes he has been deceived. Prone to nosebleeds and sensitive, he takes his father's hand at the end and leaps with him to death.

David, Yorston's seven-year-old son. Scrawny and pale, with blond bangs, he is a quiet tough child. He regularly taunts his older brother. He lives in an imaginary world and believes in superheroes. Although he's never cried in his life, he breaks down from the pain of severe internal burns. He is the first of the three to die.

Candace, the lover Yorston meets online after his divorce. A stunning lingerie model, she works for the Elite New York modeling agency and has modeled for Victoria's Secret. She and Yorston meet frequently for sex at the Algonquin hotel in Manhattan. She has recently been talking about settling down and starting a family with Yorston.

Lourdes, a Puerto Rican waitress who works at Windows on the World. She is a plump, kindly woman who entertains and comforts Jerry and David after the plane strikes the building. Yorston thinks of her as a saint. She reassures them that she lived through the 1993 World Trade Center attack and that they will all be saved.