Zeitoun Prompt 1

Through focusing in on a single character and his family, Eggers creates a story which encompasses the emotional and personal toll of Katrina, rather than the grand situation of the city before, during, and after the hurricane. If Eggers were to take a step back from the Zeitoun family and instead focus on the large scale situation, the story would lose its emotional appeal and the people involved would become statistics rather than individuals. Eggers’ stylistic asides about “uptick(s) in minor harassment of Muslims in the area,” (45) which serve as vivid windows into the past of the Zeitouns, would disappear completely. The story would become much more about statistics surrounding the hurricane’s aftermath, and much less about religion and home remodeling. By focusing on a single family’s recollections of the hurricane, Eggers captures a story which is of interest to the average reader rather than a historian.