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.
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