There's nothing tricky and nothing sly about the telling of Zeitoun. The author, Dave Eggers, looks at it square on. There is no sense of manipulation or deception. That's not to say, however, that Zeitoun isn't filled with a novelist's touches the chosen detail, the impeccably controlled pace and tone, and little dissonant grace notes. Zeitoun is a story of frustrating incompetence and infuriating abuses of power. In Eggers masterful construction, the reader never forgets that this story is not something imagined by a fiction-writer, but something experienced by two particular people at a real place and time, not so long ago.
By addressing a wide variety of the U.S.s population as an audience, Eggers is able to accommodate many lifestyle preferences. With Eggers ability to use a simplistic style and elementary vocabulary, his own personal touches, as well as race, creed, color and/or moral value, he is able to satisfy the readers expectations. More importantly, Eggers makes certain Zeitoun emphasizes human values; this in turn allows the audience to forge their own personal connection.
Zeitoun is arrested, along with three other men, on suspicion of looting. Im the landlord. I own this house, he had said (206). But the National Guardsmen called in from outside New Orleans did not listen. Eggers uses the National Guardsmen as an exact example of frustrating incompetence throughout America. Eggers illustrates that the process in which the Guardsmen are involved is flawed and unorganized. Zeitoun and the others were taken to a temporary prison set up at the train station car park. It was made of chain-link fencing and had no privacy. Zeitoun was strip-searched and forced to wear an orange jump suit; the guards refused his right to phone his wife; one called him Taliban (213), another al-Qaeda (212). Since the lawyers fled, the legal process was suspended. Yet again, Eggers points out that the process that is taking place in New Orleans is very much flawed and unorganized. Eggers uses Zeitouns treatment, during the arrest, to demonstrate the infuriating abuse of power within American society. To Zeitoun, it seemed as if Guantnamo Bay had been brought to his doorstep.
Eggers, who until this point has been restrained in his telling, here stretches Zeitouns story to accommodate wider conclusions. Eggers quotes from a Homeland Security document emailed to the authorities as Katrina struck that warned of possible terrorist exploitation of a high category hurricane (308). The guardsmen who arrested Zeitoun claim that confusion rather than conspiracy was to blame but Eggers clearly wants his story to be a parable about the War on Terror.
Eggers style of description is formatted exactly the way it is for a reason, it is very easy to comprehend and easy to follow for all readers. Eggers uses even just the little events that may not mean much separately, but combined, they explain and paint the big picture. For example, Eggers illustrates to the audience that the levees are breached, the city floods, and the family splits when Kathy and the kids evacuate and Zeitoun decides to stay behind and look after their properties. But the ravaged city where he remains is curiously almost idyllic beautifully quiet, submerged under water that is clean, translucent, "green and clear, it was like lake water" (85). This changes of course. Eggers quickly transitions from the green and clear water that covers New Orleans to dark, murky, and contaminated water. This relates back to Eggers incorporation of no sense of manipulation or deception. Eggers doesnt only portray the good side of what happened before, during, and after Katrina hit; Eggers portrays both aspects of the event, both good and bad. Eggers wants the readers to grasp the full concept of what really happened before, during, and after Katrina hit, and the way he does that is by allowing the readers to see how the disaster progressed over time.
Eggers presents the unjust conditions of Zeitouns captivity through the following examples: Zeitoun is never read his rights, Zeitoun is searched without a warrant, Zeitoun is held without charges and without a phone call, and Zeitoun is denied medical attention. He chose to stay alone in a city during its most pressing crisis, despite pleas from his family and the mayors institution of a mandatory evacuation plan; what did he expect?
The Zeitouns strong suspicion that his arrest was related to his religion and ethnicity is based entirely upon the offhand comment, Taliban (213), made by an unidentified soldier. Otherwise, Zeitouns arrest appears to be in keeping with that of all other looting suspects. Eggerss focus upon the often-overlooked, yet fascinating, injustices of the post-disaster relief services is illuminating, but he makes no comment upon the thoughtless choices that led to Zeitouns arrest.
Eggers employs great writing style as he transitions from one perspective to another while making it quite easy to understand the story. However, the books choppy paragraphs give Zeitoun a halting as well as a slightly disorganized feel. Despite this fact, Eggers succeeded to incorporate a chronological diary-type story with a non-fiction story by also adding multiple perspectives. This story is credibleit shows that Eggers really understands who Abdulrahman Zeitoun is as Eggers takes readers down the road of Zeitouns life before, during, and after Katrina.
Perhaps Eggers' greatest achievement in Zeitoun is his balancing of the day-by-day account of the Zeitoun family as something detailed, intimate, and personal. Eggers uses the family to express something greater, to tell the bigger story. The family is portrayed as ordinary and typical, but the family's particular experiences reveal an ugly seam in American society and the structures of establishment power. Zeitoun is a proud man, proud of his adopted country, a man who has never let small daily troubles (the casual racism he and Kathy keep stumbling across) dispel his pride or his idealistic views of the great place he has settled in after his years of wandering.
Eggers never rants about injustice and his prose remains clear and sharp-focused. With the response to Hurricane Katrina placed upon the suffering by the government, Zeitoun greatly depicts the broken promises that the American Government can place on its monument of sins. Eggers ties the events of post 9/11 America to the events of Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun as they fight through the hurdles of living life as Muslims in America after the 9/11 attacks. Readers will find themselves asking, How is it possible that America can betray her citizens?
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