The Submission Amy Waldman Analysis

After reading The Submission by Amy Waldman, my sympathy for Asma Anwar has increased because no matter how much good she accomplishes, she continues to face numerous misfortunes. Right from her introduction, we find that Asma is already experiencing a difficult situation. When Asma first appears in chapter eight, she learns that her husband, Inam, passed away in the 9/11 attacks, and that she was eight months pregnant. Despite the fact that her husband died during 9/11, Asma was unable to receive government compensation for his death until much later. After experiencing these terrible setbacks during her introduction, one would believe that Asma’s $1.05 million settlement would repay for it. However, even mundane tasks, such as grocery shopping, …show more content…
Mohammed first experiences an incorrect portrayal of himself when he is interrogated at the airport by security guards. When they ask him “Aren’t you a practicing Muslim?” (28), Mohammed responds with “No” (28). Although he is portrayed by the media and other characters as a terrorist and a Muslim, Mohammed Khan is actually a non-religious architect. After posing for an ad for the MACC, Mohammed begins to have second thoughts about becoming the center of an ad campaign. When he gets into an argument with Laila about the ad, he makes the point that he is being portrayed fictitiously by the MACC, saying “I’m not thrilled at becoming a prop in a propaganda war” (196). At this point, Mohammed knows that he is being used as a prop in the argument over the memorial, and he is annoyed about the attention. These two examples from the book provide evidence for the mistreatment of Mohammad Khan by the press and the general public, which causes me to feel sympathetic towards him. However, I chose to talk about Asma instead because although she was not a significant character in the book or in the decision over the memorial, she experienced much more tragedy than Mohammed or any of the other