Zeitoun Book Review

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Throughout the duration of the summer, as you most likely know, the eleventh-grade AP language and composition class was assigned to read the book Zeitoun written by Dave Eggers. It eloquently elaborated upon the heroics Zeitoun, the protagonist, had done during his time in Hurricane Katrina. As it had been described in the book, it was his civil duty to tend and rescue people and animals in need. There wasn't a time in the story where his actions were surrounded with glory and nobility.While the clear majority of us were astonished by the heroism of Zeitoun was glorified for during the time he spent in the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, it has come to our knowledge that Zeitoun had, within his own editing rights, tampered with the verity and …show more content…
Unfortunately, due to 9/11 and recent news scares in regards to terrorism, many others have received from their parents or maintained certain prejudice towards the Muslim community. In fact, when many of the students came back from the summer and were asked to clarify their thoughts regarding the purpose of the book, many jumped to conclusions stating “the purpose was to show the social injustice towards the Muslim population”. While this may be a plausible purpose in the novel, it still demonstrates how many students, who may have possibly maintained a negative perception in reference to the Muslim community in the past, after reading the novel now maintain a positive perception of the group. Nevertheless, when these select students later discover the heinous actions Zeitoun took described as the “abuse from the beginning of their marriage in 1994, up by the storm, and afterward.”, according to the article “Did Dave Eggers get ‘Zeitoun’ wrong?” by Victoria Patterson, one’s conception of the Islamic community will be refuted since Zeitoun might be the “typical Muslim” they later expected him to be. They will see these actions that every Muslim takes as the “more violent, and his Islamic views more radical”. The “heroism” will be replaced with the “Radical Muslim beliefs” stereotypes and other phrases majorly used to describe the Muslim

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