Research on Zeitoun

Below I am summarizing the topics we generated in class last Thursday.  You should also use this space to share research information you are gathering about Zeitoun.  Credit will be given for each example of annotated research--a brief summary of the research you have found.

Mini-Research Essay on Zeitoun

Research Areas Discussed in Class:

      1.  Examine heroism and the (tragic) hero in the story: how is Zeitoun a hero? What qualities are necessary for such a hero and how does he fulfill them.  What are the various stages he goes through, the obstacles he overcomes, the qualities of character he has that you admire, that get him into trouble?

2    2.  Evaluate Kathy Zeitoun’s decision to become a Muslim.  How does this decision take place?  What is she looking for and what does she find.  What can you learn about Muslim culture, specifically for women, that helps you understand her decision and her comfort with it?
 

      3.  What is your opinion of other people’s insensitivity to Muslim culture in the novel? What specific behavior reveals this insensitivity?  How does this insensitivity, and eventual stereotyping, affect various characters?  Focus on specific scenes in the novel but also research stereotyping of Muslims in the United States.  Find out if what happens to Kathy and Zeitoun is unusual or not.

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       4.  Examine the role of various law enforcement agents in New Orleans after Katrina.  How were citizens like Zeitoun betrayed because of the imposition of martial law?  What rights that he assumed he had were violated?  What specific scenes and treatment seemed most unreasonable, cruel, painful to you? What was the short and long term effect of these violations on Zeitoun and his family?  Use the text as your primary source but also do some research, as Eggers did, on the legal situation at that time.
 

      5.  Several of you discovered that things have not gone well for the Zeitoun family since Eggers wrote his story about them.  Using evidence from the text, focus on incidents that reveal the stress both Kathy and Zeitoun were under during and after Katrina.  Do some research into this family’s situation since the book was published and describe what has happened.  See if you can identify causes of the marriage’s ultimate failure.