"Zeitoun struggled to sleep that night. There was a man in the world who knew he was alive. He had found his messenger." (Eggers, 267)
Zeitouns determination and character throughout the entire story was astounding. The fact that he was determined to stay in New Orleans, despite the fact that his wife said that he should leave shows that he can be pretty stubborn, but he felt that it is what he needed to do. When he was helping the elderly people escape as well as feed the dogs, this just shows how much his town and the people who live in it mean to him. Because he was a carpenter and painter he is well known and respected by the community, so maybe he stayed because there was a lot of pressure placed on him by those in his town to make sure that nothing bad happened to their houses. He was there to watch after their property. The last half of the book really made me upset. The fact that those military personnel could be so rude and inconsiderate really disturbed me. It is hard to imagine that this kind of treatment to a man wrongly accused, could happen in this day in age. Zeitoun began to wither away and was continuously being given none straightforward answers as to why he is in jail. Zeitoun continued to hope and pray that he somehow finds a way to get out and be reunited with his family. From this quote it is very evident that he is ready to leave and despite all that he went through he never gave up.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Zeitoun Reading Response 11/29
Zeitoun Reading Response 11/29
“She finds herself wondering early in the morning and late at night and sometimes just while sitting with little Ahmed sleeping on her lap: Did all that really happen? Did it happen in the United States? To us? It could have been avoided, she thinks. So many little things could have been done. So many people let it happen. So many looked away. And it only takes one person, one small act of stepping from the dark to the light.” (Eggers, 319)
This quote particularly stands out to be because I find it unique how Kathy’s after thoughts of the disaster and everything that happen to her family are so similar to how most people would think, not only if they were in her shoes, but to most bad situations that occur in one’s life. We always think that it could have somehow been avoided, and are still in shock that it happened to us. However, what is extremely unfortunate is that it happened all around the time of her sons birth, where many usually experience happy feelings and moments of remembrance. Kathy will always associate the birth of her son to this traumatic event that has occurred to her family, husband, and home. It is interesting to see the thoughts that Kathy’s feeling and how she believes that it was unfair, when her husband was really the one to experience most of it and he still continued to have a positive outlook on life throughout his time in the jail.
Zeitoun Response 2 (11/29/11)
"Zeitoun and Nasser bushed whatever dust they could over their hands and arms and neck to cleanse themselves, and they prayed." (Eggers 245)
This line in particular was one that really stood out to me. It was its own paragraph, and it seems fitting that it was. Right before this sentence, Zeitoun explains how in times where you have nothing else to cleanse yourself with before you pray, you can use dust as a substitute. When they were prisoned at Camp Greyhound, this was one thing they were ceratain to have an abundance of. I chose this sentence to talk about because of the irony of it. How simple it is, yet how much it says, and how much more it implies. These two men, doing good deeds for many of the survivors in New Orleans, get captured, punished, and denied most rights to them. In this time of complete and unavoidable error by the city of New Orleans, these two men were not only trapped in the city, but trapped in a makeshift prison. They needed to pray. They needed to be heard, by anybody, anything. They did what they could to pray, cleansing themselves with the debris from an act of nature, an act of God. It is not said, but one can make an educated assumption that they were praying for their saftey, even after the storm was over. To me, the passage does not say much, but at the same time, it tells the complete story.
This line in particular was one that really stood out to me. It was its own paragraph, and it seems fitting that it was. Right before this sentence, Zeitoun explains how in times where you have nothing else to cleanse yourself with before you pray, you can use dust as a substitute. When they were prisoned at Camp Greyhound, this was one thing they were ceratain to have an abundance of. I chose this sentence to talk about because of the irony of it. How simple it is, yet how much it says, and how much more it implies. These two men, doing good deeds for many of the survivors in New Orleans, get captured, punished, and denied most rights to them. In this time of complete and unavoidable error by the city of New Orleans, these two men were not only trapped in the city, but trapped in a makeshift prison. They needed to pray. They needed to be heard, by anybody, anything. They did what they could to pray, cleansing themselves with the debris from an act of nature, an act of God. It is not said, but one can make an educated assumption that they were praying for their saftey, even after the storm was over. To me, the passage does not say much, but at the same time, it tells the complete story.
11/29 Reading Response Journal
“Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light” (Eggers, 335).
This quote stuck out to me because it gives a glimpse into the hope that people must have felt after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana. It also reflects on the joyous reunion between Zeitoun and his family after his harrowing struggle with law enforcement officials. What I loved about this novel is that Eggers effortlessly weaves Zeitoun’s struggle with the struggle of a nation to confront the crisis of a natural disaster. Zeitoun’s journey gives the reader hope that he will see his family once again, just as Katrina provided some with the hope of a brighter future, one where a nation would not fail to protect its citizens. I can't help but think back to the first Monday Night Football game in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. The Superdome was the loudest it had ever been, and you could tell the crowd was overjoyed to have someone to root for.
This quote stuck out to me because it gives a glimpse into the hope that people must have felt after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana. It also reflects on the joyous reunion between Zeitoun and his family after his harrowing struggle with law enforcement officials. What I loved about this novel is that Eggers effortlessly weaves Zeitoun’s struggle with the struggle of a nation to confront the crisis of a natural disaster. Zeitoun’s journey gives the reader hope that he will see his family once again, just as Katrina provided some with the hope of a brighter future, one where a nation would not fail to protect its citizens. I can't help but think back to the first Monday Night Football game in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. The Superdome was the loudest it had ever been, and you could tell the crowd was overjoyed to have someone to root for.
Zeitoun: A Strong Character
Zeitoun’s character was clear since the beginning of the novel. He was a man with strong values and a man that nothing seemed impossible for him. What was not clear to us, the reader, was if he was ready for the challenges that he had to face. He reached a really low point in his life when he was put in jail unfairly, and had no contact with his family. For all they knew he could have been dead. This really got to me. It must be a horrible feeling not being able to be with your family at times like that, it must be even worse not knowing if they are a life or not. Even if Zeitoun was cornered down in this situation, you get a sense that he still has not given up hope, you really get the vibe of his strong personality even if it seems like he is doomed. To his luck, a missionary came to his cell and said he would call Kathy. I thought Dave Eggers ended that chapter with a strong manner, “There was a man in the world who knew he was alive. He had found his messenger” (Eggers 267).
Zeitoun Reading Response
"None of the men in Zeitoun's cell knew whether or not these prisoners were still on the football field, or what became of them" (Eggers 251).
This quote (and the story that gives it context) is one of the most affecting sections of Zeitoun. The story the precedes this quote is about the conditions that a large group of prisoners endured while being held outside of a prison after being moved out of New Orleans. The story tells of the lack of shelter, food, and safety that the prisoners were offered. Even minor offenders suffered, same as the rapists and murderers that were housed there. This passage details some of the most detestable things to happen after Hurricane Katrina, and the quote that reflects on those events ties into a lot of the sentiment that is felt in the novel.
The passage tells of horrors that few could survive, but the quote after its over is perhaps the most terrifying thing said in this section. No one knows what happened to that virtual hell that was created for the prisoners. For all Zeitoun knows, they could all have died of starvation do to a general apathy from the government that was supposed to be housing them. At this moment in the novel, Zeitoun is caught in the very same federal system that housed these criminals, and being abused and neglected in similar ways. Not only that, but he is kept in the dark about what's going on around him. That unknown fate referred to in the quote mirrors Zeitoun's own unknown fate. His fear of what could happen in the future is only intensified by the horror stories and uncertainty surrounding the football field prisoners. For that reason, the quote personifies everything awful and horrible the novel attempts to portray in one fell swoop. For that reason, this quote is wildly successful.
Reading Responce 11/29
“But now nothing worked. Or rather, every piece of machinery – the police, the military, the prisons – that was meant to protect people like him was devouring anyone who got close” (Eggers 263).
This quote stuck out to me for many reasons, mainly because this scenario is generally not thought about in the United States. Most people associate the police, the military, and prisons, with just as he said; protection for the people/ public. And since all of this happened on our own land, not too long ago, it is outrageous. Things like this just should not happen at all. I think that this quote sums up exactly what happened to Zeitoun, and so many others, toward the end of the story and for that reason I think it is greatly placed and has much importance added to it. I also noticed how the author used the word “devouring.” He took this word out of normal context, which is to eat, and made it so that the way he used it put much more emphasis on how badly these people were really treated. To me, this quote is pretty straight forward so I do not have any questions about its context. However, I would like to ask, besides the flooding why do you think that the police, military, and prisons had to escalate to the extent that it did? Why did they have to cause so much harm instead of just help?
This quote stuck out to me for many reasons, mainly because this scenario is generally not thought about in the United States. Most people associate the police, the military, and prisons, with just as he said; protection for the people/ public. And since all of this happened on our own land, not too long ago, it is outrageous. Things like this just should not happen at all. I think that this quote sums up exactly what happened to Zeitoun, and so many others, toward the end of the story and for that reason I think it is greatly placed and has much importance added to it. I also noticed how the author used the word “devouring.” He took this word out of normal context, which is to eat, and made it so that the way he used it put much more emphasis on how badly these people were really treated. To me, this quote is pretty straight forward so I do not have any questions about its context. However, I would like to ask, besides the flooding why do you think that the police, military, and prisons had to escalate to the extent that it did? Why did they have to cause so much harm instead of just help?
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