“Zeitoun” Part III and IVa
Pages 183-246
When last we left Zeitoun, he was just out of the shower and off the phone with his brother from Spain when he went to the door to see who was there. That’s the last we hear of Zeitoun for awhile. Part III is all about the panic-stricken wife Kathy. All of part III is told from her point of view and the reader doesn’t know what happens to Zeitoun.
Kathy goes through every day fearing the worst. She knows that her husband is self-sufficient and can take care of himself, but the violence and craziness in New Orleans is escalating daily, so her mind jumps straight to death. What if Zeitoun is dead? What will she do? How will she raise her children on her own? What sort of support group will she have? Will she move to Phoenix to be around Yuko or to Syria to be around Zeitoun’s family?
I couldn’t imagine the terror Kathy was going through while not hearing from Zeitoun or any news about Zeitoun for 11 days. Her friends tried to tell her that everything was going to be alright and everything was fine, but she wasn’t hearing any of it. She even resorted to lying to her children about hearing from their father.
We find out at the beginning of Part IV that Kathy’s fears were not unfounded. Zeitoun is not okay. He didn’t die, fortunately, but he is being detained in a make-shift outdoor prison in New Orleans on the suspicion of being a terrorist linked to Al-Qaeda. The prison looks like something fashioned straight out of the prison in Guantanamo. The prisoners have nowhere to sleep, but the hard concrete ground. The cells are made of chain link fencing and everyone is visible to everyone else. There is a toilet, but that is also visible to the rest of the prison. The only relief they get is to sit on a metal u-shaped bench for one person that is neither comfortable nor able to provide the relief they need.
The treatment that the prisoners receive is not good. They do not get to call a lawyer or a family member. No one knows where they are. The situation keeps on getting worse every night. Prisoners that act up are brought to the middle of the prison and doused heavily with pepper spray and then drenched with water. There are no showers and the guards definitely don’t care about helping Zeitoun out with something to eat other than pork products – which Zeitoun can’t have.
We know that Zeitoun is innocent – the guards do not. He is a prisoner suspected of terrorist ties. There is nothing Zeitoun can do to sway them. Arguing won’t help, it will just exacerbate the situation. Do terrorist suspects deserve a little human dignity? Is it alright to treat humans like dogs? Well, if people treated humans like Zeitoun treated dogs, the world would be a much better place, but you get my point. Is there a point where humans lose their ability to be treated with a little dignity? What is that line? How do we know when that line is crossed?
In America, there are certain rights that we all have. We get the right to a fair trial and we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. That rarely happens. How should Zeitoun have been treated differently?
When we get to the end of Part IVa, Zeitoun is sorry that he didn’t listen to his wife. He is sorry that he didn’t leave the city and he stayed without his family. Now knowing the situation that Zeitoun is in, should he have listened to his wife and family and gotten out of the city right away? Or was he doing the will of God by staying and helping others?
What is going to happen to Zeitoun in the final part of the book? Do you think he will come out of it? What will this do to the family unit? Will it bring Zeitoun and Kathy closer together?
Why do you think Zeitoun is suspected of being a terrorist? Is it just because he is Muslim? Two non-Muslims are suspected along with him. Why is that?
Could Kathy have done more to find her husband during the 11 days without communication?
Why did the violence escalate so quickly? Was it because of the massive military force posted everywhere or was it just because chaos produces more chaos?
Is Zeitoun dealing with this absurd situation he is in well? Should he be doing something else? What can he do to prove his innocence?
I can’t answer all these questions well, because I’ve already finished the book, so I know what happens!
Here’s the main culprit for the injustice that comes to Zeitoun: fear. In this part of the book, we see fear taken to its logical, ugly conclusion. Fear only leads to hatred, and ultimately it destroys life. Fear is what filled New Orleans following Katrina, its what filled the soldiers and policemen who perpetrated all of this. For some, it was fear for their lives, but more often, it was fear that they would be shamed, or embarrassed, or somehow seen to have not fulfilled their duty. this combined with the fear that is at the root of racism, a fear of anyone who is different.
I still think Zeitoun did the right thing staying in New Orleans and helping who he could. The existence of evil does not mean that those who are good should abdicate. Someone once said – and I recently heard King Abdullah of Jordan quote this: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” I believe Zeitoun, as a good man, did achieve something, though he suffered much. He proved that there is a different way from the way of fear. He was certainly not the only hero of Hurricane Katrina, but he represents them. He represents those who refuse to be controlled by fear, but instead choose to help, to serve, to love.
He reminds me of the Good Samaritan. We never hear what happened to the Samaritan after he helped the man beaten on the side of the road. Maybe the man had leprosy, and the Samaritan contracted it. Maybe he suffered his entire lifetime for this one act of kindness. Does that change the fact that what he did was the right thing?
It’s tempting, when you see the ugliness of the abuse heaped on Zeitoun, to think, “What’s the use? What difference can anyone make in the face of such evil?” And on a small scale, perhaps that is true. As long as we are on this broken earth, there will be battles that evil will win, or at least from our perspective it will appear that way. But on a cosmic scale, the war has already been won, there has already been a decisive victory.
Because perfect Love drives out fear. And we know His name.