Summary

Zeitoun (55-62)

 This passage talks about different situations that were taking place in New Orleans at the same time. On the one hand, while the city was turning into a mess and although there was an official announcement for people to leave the city, Zeitoun refused to leave. Rather he stayed looking after his job site and the neighbor’s houses. On the other hand, Kathy and the kids were heading to Baton Rouge where her family lives. Kathy took the announcement very seriously, since it was rare that the city made it official. Kathy was looking forward to put the kids and herself in a safe place. She was so overwhelmed and tired by the huge traffic that she took the wrong route making her trip longer than it was supposed to be. The most important thing is this passage, besides the right decision that Kathy made of evacuating the city was when Kathy went to the MDV to get her driver license. Because of Kathy’s religion she wore a “hijab” (a scarf to cover her hair). When Kathy sat down to take the picture, the lady at the MDV told her to “take that thing off” (Eggers 58) which Kathy’s mother reacted to by saying “you can’t make her take it off, It’s her constitutional right” (Eggers 58). Kathy tried putting some humor to this shameful moment that everybody was witnessing asking her mother for a brush so her hair didn’t come out messy, but what’s really count is that she took her picture wearing her scarf.  I think this is very important because even though Kathy’s family didn’t seems to agreed when Kathy converted into a Muslim, this situation showed that her mother did not wanted any one to abused her daughter. This also showed that Kathy was being discriminated by the lady at the MDV, probably because Kathy was Muslin. No one deserves to be discriminated in any possible way. I believe is important for all people to learn to fight for their rights just as Kathy’s mother did for her daughter.