Zeitoun: A Review - Essay Example

Zeitoun: A Review Abdulrahman Zeitoun, an American citizen, was arrested without cause and detained simply because of the appearance of being Middle Eastern in descent. The word Taliban, as it was muttered in his presence, was the only real indication as to why the U.S. Army was holding him in prison. His crime had not been one of his own control, his appearance being enough to give cause to the American soldier to arrest him. The flood waters were still rising in New Orleans and the city was in chaos, people were detained for many reasons that did not seem to make sense. This reason was unrelated to the flood, but still was enough to cost Zeitoun his freedom during the turbulent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. According to Wood, “With ‘no question asked, no evidence seized, no charges leveled [against him]’ Zeitoun became ‘collateral damage in war that had no discernable fronts, no real shape, and no rules” (Wood). Zeitoun spent days begging for a phone through which he could contact his wife. He was insulted, denigrated, and treated as if he had committed a crime. He was housed in a football stadium with nothing but a thin blanket, no toilet facilities and no dry clothes, as the aftermath of Katrina created inhospitable conditions for all, not the least of which were the prisoners who were relocated and given no resources with which to survive. According to Eggers, the prisoners were of all levels of security, murderers with petty thieves, rapists with looters trying to survive the chaos of the storm. The thin blanket became a commodity and stabbings were occurring frequently as men fought over blankets (Eggers Chapter 30). The story of Zeitoun was written as part of a new form of pseudo-fiction in which eye-witness accounts of events are chronicled in order to provide a discourse about human rights issues. The words are not those of Zeitoun, but they are created from interviews that associates of Eggers made with Zeitoun in order to include his story in writings that Zeitoun was putting together for a review of the experiences of survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The purpose is to use oral tradition as a resource for chronicling history so that the stories of those who survive events are not lost in the media driven quagmire of the information age (Wood). The problem with the method is that it is profoundly subjective, a fictionalized point of view of the writer reflecting a third person account of the events as told to him by intermediates between himself and the subject of the work. The work has the potential to be myth rather than history as the account might make the story take precedence over the truth, elements filled in so that the account has the proper elements to make the work noteworthy. The emotional context of the work is dependent upon the interpretation of the writer of the way in which the subject might have felt about the events that were related. While the events were certainly horrific and do not reflect a United States that this writer is familiar with, neither are they specifically backed up by anything other than the supposed truths that were relayed to his assistants (Wood). The way in which the story is related is effective, however. In reading the work, it is hard to believe that it is not fiction the story so repulsive to any citizen of the United States that it evokes a visceral response. The nature of the incarceration, the circumstances and ignorance from which it was imposed, is disturbing to a degree that it almost evokes immediate action. The story is effective in its purpose of inciting the reader to want to squash such inhumanity, to root out the sources of such evil intent and to mercilessly eliminate their source. The prejudice with which this event took place puts the American road towards ideological enlightenment back a hundred years, highlighting the ignorance in which citizens live, both for those who participate in its spread and for those who continue in their national identity without raising a hand to vote no to this kind if ignorance. As a story, the advancement of the relation of the history of these events is done with effective narrative. The story is told through the eyes of a man who is caught in the headlights, his experiences a source of shock and pause as he tries to navigate through a world that has turned upside down for him. However, the writing is done in such a way as to provide no explanation or context for much of the events. While it is intended to be biographical towards the specific events that this one man experienced, it does not seem to have any research or surrounding information that supports the claims that the man has made, although the notes at the beginning of the book indicate that background information was verified before it was put into the work. It reads like a story, but it does not seem to be fleshed out the way a novel would be fleshed, nor does it read like a journalistic account. It rests somewhere in between these two types of writings which considering the content and the claims, more sophisticated substance might have been helpful in framing and effecting the story. The account might have been true, but the story does nothing to support that truth for the reader, even if the writer supported his story with fact checking. The reader is given a simplistic version, none of the emotional context of any of the others involved in the story truly revealed. The reasons behind many of the events from the point of view of those who committed them are not explained, simply recorded leaving the reader incredulous. The story speaks of an America that is not familiar to most of its citizens. It speaks of a place where anyone can be swept up and put into prison for the reasons that have no foundation. This truth may be accurate, but in order to believe that it occurred, it must be supported beyond the observations of one of its victims. The point of view of those who incarcerated the man might provide a perspective that would have made the story more credible. It is not that the story is not believed, but that the way it is written does not provide enough in the way of support in order to create a full picture. The events and circumstances of the incarceration of Zeitoun are important to the context of social perceptions of the ideology that supports the American experience. The events are too important for the truths to be lost in the recitation of the observations of the person who had those experiences. The writing is too simplistic and without depth, the piece not giving enough intellectual or journalistic attention to what occurred. The story is compelling, but it reads like a children’s story about the life of a child in another country rather than an eye-opening revelation of the injustices that can be observed in this country. The intentions of the project are noble and Eggers should be cited for his pursuit of finding the truth and revealing human rights violations wherever he can find them. However, in order for it to be embraced as the truth, the reader needs to have more facts, more explanations, and to see the events from more than just one side of the story. The work is good, but in this writer’s mind, not as successful as its potential. Clients Name Name of Professor Name of Class Date Reflection on the Review of Zeitoun by Daniel Wood The review of the book Zeitoun by Daniel Wood for The Critical Flame is structured by first giving an abbreviated synopsis of the story through which a point of view is expressed, then by creating a commentary on the style choices made by Eggers in writing the work. I shared the same skepticism in my response to reading the book and chose to reflect a similar aesthetic in my own review of the work. It is not that the story is not believable, but that it is written in such way to leave to many gaps in the understanding of the events that are related. The criticism that is provided by Wood provided some explanation for the style that Eggers used and the literary form that he was attempting to create. However, just as Woods did not find it affective, I did not think that it worked in creating a form from which true change could be enacted. The reason to reveal this type of injustice is to incite change, otherwise the reader feels too helpless in the face of such events and is left uncomfortable and without enough information to take action. The review was balanced in the way that it presented the facts of the works and weighted it against the opinion that Wood had formed. This approach gives credibility to the review, providing the balance that was lacking within the work of Eggers. This comparison allowed me to form a better opinion about the reasons I had reacted to the work - as if there was something missing from the reading that I could not identify, but was needed. Works Cited Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2010. Print. Roginson, Jordan. Surviving the Storm. Altmuslim Comment. 3 August 2009. Web. 10 March 2011. Wood, Daniel. Fitting the Form. The Critical Flame. 2010. Web. 10 March 2011. Read More