In terms of literature, Arab Americans also produced works with unprecedented resonance. Poetry became the sole personal voice that searched for warmth and consistency. Short stories and novels appeared in a large number, giving birth to what was later termed Post-9/11 Arab American literature. In such a context, Anglophone Arab literary responses to 9/11 have to be earth-shattering as the event itself was. Nadine Naber thought that one of the most effective ways to dismantle the virulent generalizations of Arab Americans is to humanize the people that are subject to them (1). In this case, offering lesser heard narratives and carving a space in the literary arena would definitely contribute to the humanization of Arab Americans and would also break down the vicious circle of the common stereotypes that target and represent a deteriorating image of the Arab people. In addition to the age-old stereotyping …show more content…
She pleads to the reader to come closer and examine the intrinsic nature of Arab Americans, so that they can derive a clear understanding about them apart from American mainstream media. She explicitly …show more content…
Having experienced living within an American society, her attempt is to invite a new readership; one that could understand the situation of Arab Americans with no bias or indifference. Arab American writers have genuine intentions to negotiate with the American culture, yet they request the American people to listen to their real voice and to explore their real Americanness as well as Arabness. More importantly, Laila Halaby in her novel asks them to shed off the deteriorating perceptions they already have about Arabs. She requests them
September 11, 2001 has proven to be one of the most horrific and diving days in American history. Taking the lives of thousands, Muslim terrorists wreaked havoc on New York City’s iconic Twin Towers, pushing citizens of the United States and surrounding countries to their limits. People have since recorded personal accounts of the catastrophe, portraying the happenings of the tear-jerking event. A consistent sense of distress and hopelessness are evident in many modern literary pieces concerning the egregious act of terrorism. In his narrative “The Ashen Guy: Lower Broadway, September 11, 2001”, author Thomas Beller establishes a significantly panicked tone through the use of detailed imagery, strong punctuation, and illustrative diction.
“When she was around 10 years old, she was on the swim team, and while the team would wait for the occasional storm to pass, her swim coach would tell the young swimmers stories. Those early sessions would be the first seeds in her writing life, and by the time she reached junior high school, Hillenbrand had written a drawer full of short stories, composed while she was supposed to be in her room doing homework. ”(1) A historical event that happened was 9/11. On September 11, 2001 Islamist terrorist hijacked four planes that were flying above the US. Two of them were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
In his book Zeitoun, human rights activist Dave Eggers illustrates the hardships of a Abdulrahman Zeitoun during a time of chaos and disorder. Eggers offers a new perspective of Muslim-Americans during Hurricane Katrina to highlight their human injustices and discrimination, and in addition to reveal the great flaws within our national government. He creates an attachment between Zeitoun and the reader by building Zeitoun’s character, invoking upon sympathies, and maintaining a critical tone towards the government. Eggers builds up Zeitoun’s reputation to ensure readers’ trust for him. For example, Eggers details personal anecdotes such as how Kathy and Zeitoun met and their love for their children.
Samira Ahmed’s realistic fiction novel, Love, Hate, and Other Filters, takes place in modern-day Chicago where a suicide bombing has engrossed the attention of America. Maya Aziz, a Muslim teenager, is targeted for her heritage while attempting to lead a life free of high school drama, controlling parents, and difficult relationships. As Maya copes with Islamophobia, prejudice against Muslims, she begins to understand the horrors and shortcomings of violence. One lesson the story suggests is that hatred is an infectious and blinding motive. From the very beginning of the story, readers are familiarized with the source of terrorism through thorough description and sentence structure.
/11 changed the way of American life. Many lives were lost due to the awful attack, but unfortunately many Arab and Muslim Americans had to pay for the cost. Post 9/11 is a continuous struggle for many Muslim Americans. Due to 9/11 many Muslims face discrimination, racial prejudice, and hate crimes. All throughout our history, hate crimes were targeted towards minority groups, such as: African Americans, Latinos, Italians, Irish, Germans, and Asians; today, hate crimes are targeted towards Muslims.
The poem My Mother The Land by Phill Moncrieff poetically describes the struggles the aboriginal people faced at the hands of the European people and colonisation throughout history. The fact that the author based the poem on accurate historical events adds to the authenticity of representations and engages the reader in an emotional journey with the struggles the aboriginal people faced with the somewhat loss of their country, culture, identity, people and place. The author uses a variety of language features and text structures to create this view point, for instance the author uses several language features and text structures throughout verse one to demonstrate the loss of culture and people. The poet uses effective language features throughout the poem to describe the loss that the narrator feels in their country, culture, identity, people
1 Both “T.S.A” by Amit Majmudar and “September 12, 2001” by X.J Kennedy reflect how 9/11 negatively affected people differently. “September 12, 2001” by X. J Kennedy was written past the 9/11 attacks and tells the story of a young couple experiencing tragedy that would change their lives. Another post 9/11 poem “T.S.A” by Amit Majmudar gives the perspective of a young Muslim man facing racial profiling through airport security. Regardless of perspective, each poem has shown a negative change affecting regular people's lives. 2 People’s normality and everyday innocence was shook directly after the 9/11 attacks.
In October 1905, James Joyce wrote “Araby” on an unnamed narrator and like his other stories, they are all centered in an epiphany, concerned with forms of failures that result in realizations and disappointments. The importance of the time of this publication is due to the rise of modernist movement, emanating from skepticism and discontent of capitalism, urging writers like Joyce to portray their understanding of the world and human nature. With that being said, Joyce reflects Marxist ideals through the Catholic Church’s supremacy, as well as the characters’ symbolic characterization of the social structure; by the same token, psychoanalysis of the boy’s psychological and physical transition from one place, or state of being, to another is
Araby explores the story of an unnamed young boy who seeks to escape the suppression of spirit his monotonous life has caused. The young boy’s only beacon of light in a dreary house in Dublin is his infatuation with his friend’s sister. He attempts to escape his paralyzing reality with the dreams of her, “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance” (27). It is critical to note that most of the events in the story take place in the boy’s mind. Joyce employs interior monologue where he uses first person point of view to reveal the boy’s inner thoughts and feelings concerning his situation.
But after evaluating the book with the upmost scrutiny, I realized she did not intend for us to agree with her, but rather think and reflect on the lives of the Arab woman growing up in a Muslim society and understand the crucial differences in comparison the Judeo-Christian society we live
Introduction The novel as well as the short story proclaimed a literature of the oppressed that extended hope to those who have none. This can be seen in three key dimensions of the Palestinian novel. First, there is a beautification of the lost homeland of Palestine. Palestine is portrayed in literature as a paradise on earth.
Khaled Hosseini has an interesting way of portraying the two female protagonists. He discloses the tyranny and hostility that the Taliban enforce on women just because of their sex. A critic viewed the novel as ‘a powerful portrait of female suffering’ making the reader explicitly aware of the harsh environment Mariam and Laila had to tolerate. One review expressed that ‘Hosseini defends the rights of women to decide what to be in life’ , this could show that Hosseini directed the novel to be in favour of feminist views. Hosseini’s first book ‘The Kite
Kite Runner Being an immigrant is about leaving one’s native country; but it is also, more importantly, about adapting and assimilating to a new culture. Relocating to a new country could sometimes cause a life-transforming moment. In 2003, when Khaled Hosseini published the mainstream fiction story, “The Kite Runner,” he was an extremely successful M.D. (Medical Doctor) who was practicing internal medicine. Throughout his novel, he describes different characters which possess different characteristics and personalities. As illustrated in the book, Baba and his family moved to the United States to get a better life, and they quickly started to assimilate the American culture.
Araby As one grows older, one often looks back upon a moment in his or her life as being the point in time that they finally “grew up”. Araby, by author James Joyce, follows the story of one young man on his journey to his “coming of age” moment, or the point at which he “grew up”. Having spent his childhood residing on quiet and blind North Richmond Street, he began as any other boy in his the Christian Brothers School. After developing an unrequited crush on Mangan 's sister, a girl in his neighborhood, he discovers the existence of true disappointment.
The Arab World Different people around the world have different standards and personalities. The same thing applies to different cultures in which every culture has its own way in dealing with things. An example of totally two different cultures is the Western culture and the Arab culture. Many differences can be easily recognized between these two different cultures. An author named Edward T. Hall wrote an article that shows how these two cultures behave differently under the same conditions.