“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?
You raise a very good question at the end of your post, and to be honest i don't know the answer to it, it just doesn't make sense for them to act like that.
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