Response to Zeitoun - Book Review

The book Zeitoun is about a family, the Zeitouns, who have to deal with the stereotyping in America because, of their Muslim faith. This book talks about how the Zeitouns' overcome obstacles, during Hurricane Katrina while also dealing with the affects of the war on terror. In my response essay I will discuss how Kathy converting from Christianity to Islam affected her and the rest of her family. I will also talk about how the family's religion kept them close but also tore them apart and how their religion affected their business. Then I will discuss how the government was wrong for throwing Zeitoun in jail, for just making carless assumptions about his ethnic and religious background.

I think Kathy converting from being a Christian to being Islam shows how courageous she is, because she wears her hijab proudly and does not care what others think. The parts in Zeitoun that stand out most to me about Kathy and her religion are when Eggers says "This was actually the command her mother had given the last time Kathy had visited: "Take that thing off your head," she'd said. "Go out and have a good time."(Eggers 37). To me this shows that her family does not take her religon seriously and they think she just wears the hijab when she is around Zeitoun. The other part that catches my attention is the kids that try to take off Kathys' hijab. I find that very disrespectful and I think people should respect the Muslim faith or any other culture that has different customs than Christianity. But I like the fact that even when her family tells her to take her hijab off and people from the public judge her just because she is wearing the hijab, she still stays devoked to her religon and her husband. I also respect the fact that she is not ashamed to be a Muslim and proud to show she is Muslim in public were some people in America are not very fond of the religion.

Even the government was not too fond of the Zeitouns' and there Muslim faith. When Zeitoun is staying in one of his rental houses, several men dressed in military clothing stop by the rental house and arrest Zeitoun and the other three men staying there as well. They had no reason to arrest them because they did absolutely nothing wrong. Then one of the soldiers says "You guys are Al Qaeda" (eggers 212). I do not think it is fair to Zeitoun or his friends that they are treated so poorly because they are of Middle Eastern descent. To me this quote shows just how stereotypical Americans and the government are towards people of Middle Eastern descent. Just because someone comes from a Middle Eastern background does not mean that they are "Al Qaeda". I find this part of the book disappointing because, during Katrina the government was suppose to be helping and rescuing people from the disaster, not accusing innocent people of being Al Qaeda. It is not like Al Qaeda made hurricane Katrina happen. Another part of the

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