Zeitoun Rhetorical Essay

In the airports, Muslim people became “the usual suspects”, were thoroughly searched and often interrogated. In her article, O’Connor claims that the lives of American Muslims changed forever, and the statement is hard to disagree with (“How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Those who had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, their children and grandchildren were sentenced to face racism, hate and violence.

“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, is a hilarious must read for junior high school students and any other aspiring writers. Her essay inspires comfort and confidence in writing a first draft. It concretes that all writers experience the “shitty” first draft. Anne Lamott wrote this instructional information in 1995, but it is timeless information. She blows the idea of writing an immaculate first draft out of the water. Anne supports the idea that bad first drafts will almost always lead to better second, third and final drafts. She symbolizes the first draft to be like a child. Where you put all your thoughts and emotions out there in words on paper, you go all over the place, you say all kinds of ridiculous things, and all with the

In his documentative account, Zeitoun, altruistic author Dave Eggers illustrates the experiences of one muslim man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, and his struggle to respond to and cope with the trials facing society and nature following Hurricane Katrina. By describing the destructive flooding of his home and his neighborhood, Eggers establishes a desperate tone, as a race against time ensues to save what is left. As the physical landscape drastically changes, so do the very morals and establishments that hold society together. Eggers utilizes several rhetorical strategies to highlight the cruel and destructive stigmatization of Muslim Americans in a post 9-11 society, and that in times of calm or chaos, the common man is the same despite the labels

America, a land that prides itself on being “the great melting pot”, and “the land of opportunity”, oftentimes exemplifies everything but that. Over the years, a vast majority of immigrants have migrated to America and assimilated themselves to American culture. In Moustafa Bayoumi’s novel, “Rasha”, he describes the turmoil some families face when trying to immigrate into America. In the novel, Rasha was arrested, thrown in jail and detained for three months just because she was a Muslim. While immigration is portrayed as a way to a “better life”, the truth is that families just like Rasha’s still encounter discrimination that challenges American ideals such as freedom of religion and equality.

“We have, in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread” (1-3). Throughout Florence Kelley’s speech to the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she emphasizes the injustice of child labor laws and the need for women to take a stand by fighting for the right to vote. Kelley is one of many inspirational leaders who fought for women’s rights. She reaches out to a group of women so that they might call to mind their right to petition. In doing so, Kelley is persuading the audience to fight for their right to vote to change child labor laws. Kelley uses several rhetorical devices such as imagery, diction, and pathos

Throughout the novel, Eggers uses pathos to show that the Zeitoun's do not conform to America’s idea of Muslims, but instead are a normal American family. He highlights the strong bond Zeitoun has with his family. For example, on page 16, while talking about Zeitoun’s wife, he writes “She and Zeitoun spoke on the phone throughout every day, about everything...Neither of them could operate their home, their company, their lives or days without each other.” Eggers’ use of pathos contributes to the reader’s emotional connection with the character by

Zadeh is an immigrant from Urmia Iran, plagued by the injustices and maddening systems of American immigration policies. In addition, once he does eventually get into the country, the blockades to starting up his business have no interest in easing off. By exposing these malpractices to a larger audience, Zadeh wants to convince readers that immigration policies are more of a hindrance than a help. Zadeh’s main rhetoric use is pathos, and his emotional ties to his experience gives the reader a very clear and thoughtful description of the horrors of immigration. However, he doesn’t shy away from other appeals, he makes sure to back up his claims with facts given by very credible sources and personal involvement. Since he is a co founder/CEO

Renowned journalist and author, Dave Eggers, in his famed novel, Zeitoun, recounts the mistreatment of the Zeitoun family in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina based on their racial and religious profiles in a post-9/11 America. His purpose is to reveal the unwarranted injustices faced by Muslim-American Hurricane Katrina victims through a description of the Zeitoun family’s experiences, in order to educate his readers of the impact discrimination has on emergency response. Eggers adopts a sympathetic tone towards the protagonists as they fall victim to the government’s unpreparedness, and maintains a critical tone to address the American government’s failure in protecting the rights of the hurricane’s victims.

In the essay David Zinczenko wrote about how fast food chains are making it easy for people to become obese especially in children. Zinczenko makes some very good points throughout his essay. At the beginning of his paper Zinczenko stated “I tend to sympathize with these portly, fast-food patrons, though. Maybe that’s because I use to be one of them.”

Upon reading Zittrain's essay "The Case for Kill Switches in Military Weaponry", I found that the author used all three rhetorical appeals, which are ethos, pathos, and logos. The first one that I noticed while reading is logos. After looking for the definition, Logos is an appeal to logic and it's a way of persuading an audience by reason. In the essay, Zittrain said, " There is a reason tank operators start their vehicles with a switch requiring no ignition key or code—it is too easy to misplace or become separated from keys on a battlefield, even at the cost of unauthorized access". The author used this logic to explain how tank operators always use a switch that requires no ignition key or code to prevent hackers, same as the example of

blight on society rather than a useful addition. Abdul presents controversial ideas and themes such as the discrimination that Muslims face in everyday life, the ‘expectation’ all Muslims are extremist, and that they are seen by some as ‘less than

Award-winning author and well-known journalist, Dave Eggers, in his biographical work, Zeitoun, illustrates a Muslim-American family’s troubling experiences in a post-9/11, Islamophobic society in the wake of a natural disaster. Eggers’ purpose is to critique the flaws of the American government’s response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in order to reveal the human tolls of its injustice and discrimination. Using ethos, logos, pathos, and imagery, he adopts a poignant yet disappointed tone in order to bring awareness to such negligence and to convince the American people of the consequences of racism. Eggers effectively uses metaphors throughout Zeitoun to provide a better understanding of complex situations throughout the book.

Logos: It is an appeal to the mind with the use of logic, rationality and critical reasoning to persuade the audience. The author uses logos in his article to make a logical connection with the topic. For example, the author uses the explanation of ideas in the article and employs lots of diagrams in each parts of the topic to show the visualization to support his evidence which is very informative because the visuals give lots of information about what the article is about and that to get attention of the audience.

September 11th holds many hard and upset feelings around the world today. The harsh actions of Muslim extremists unfortunately completely changed the way Muslims are treated, especially in the United States. These events, exacerbated islamophobia. Unfortunately, “the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, connect Muslims and Islam to terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States.” (Byng) Although it has been over a decade since the attack, many still feel racist and discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims. Muslims are the targeted minority in the United States, “the 9/11 terrorist attacks shifted the social and political context for Muslims in the United States. Terrorism within the geographical borders of the United States carried out by Muslims places an identity at the center of national and global politics.” (Byng) The blame of the horrible terrorist attacks, rather than be placed on terrorists or religious extremist, has been placed on Islam in America. After September 11th, hate crimes towards Muslims skyrocketed, “the most dramatic change noted by the report was a more than 1,600 percent increase in reported hate crimes against Muslims -- a jump from 28 hate incidents in 2000 to 481 last year.”

Literature published through time have shaped the societies. It decided how a certain society should feel, think and act. Clandestinely, literature sneaked into the lives of people, influencing the subconscious and framing the society. This research aims to discuss Muslim Americans’ struggle in the aftermath of 9\11, focusing on the social and political aspects. Thus, forming a better understanding of the Muslim Americans’ image in literature to be able to debunk any misunderstandings. In the presented research, the novel The Submission will be analyzed. The summary and background of the novel will form the first chapter. The second chapter will analyze the social struggle. The third and final chapter will analyze the political struggle.