Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York NY: Scribner, 2008.
For my outside reading I am reading A Most wanted man, by John Le Carre. The story begins with a Muslim family living in Hamburg after the bombing of the world trade center. Because the bombers boarded the plane from Hamburg, the secret police there have tightened security around the city. LeCarre writes "Since 9/11, Hamburg's mosques had become a dangerous place. Go to the wrong one, or to the right one and get the wrong [priest], and you could find yourself and your family on the police list for a long time (3)" There is a lot of suspicion directed at Muslims, and the mosques are rumored to be filled with secret policemen looking for terrorists. The son in this family is called Melik, and his mothers name is Leyla. A thin man in a large coat with eyes that burn with emotion shows up at their front door. Melik wants to throw him out, because he could be a terrorist. Leyla, however, takes him in, because she wants Allah to forgive her for not going to the mosque in a while, and because she feels pity for the man. LeCarre write "but when he made to slam the door, he discovered Leyla standing on the stair behind him, looking over his shoulder at the boy and at the cardboard notice shaking uncontrollably in his hand (6)". Leyla convinces him to let the boy stay. We as the reader are supposed to feel the same as Melik in this case, because most of us wouldn't allow a ragged man into our house. The characters have been set up with traits, and we will see if they change further into the book.
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4 comments:
It is interesting to see how much people judge others off of appearances alone. It makes us realize how different of views we can have of certain people. It also shows us that we cannot really judge others based on outward appearances alone, for they could give off a persona that could be completely false from who they actually are.
I agree with Kenzie!
This is so interesting and realistic. I myself have actually wonderedd how Muslim people felt after the incidence of 9/11. It's very unfair how these people are viewed and classified as "terrorist" or "non-terrist". Its very depressing.
This is exactly what happens when a population becomes terrorized over a certain group of people. In your book, Muslims are being directed to as terrorists, or at least most of them are which leads to people misjudging them and even hating them. In your story when Leyla takes them in she is trying to go against everyone else because she really doesn't want to go with the status quo and judge people just because some news is talking about Muslims being terrorist. As we all know this is the case when an event causes a certain population to react with fear that they resort to racism.
This seems like an interesting topic for a book. So much of the culture surrounding the Muslim faith is not understood and it seems like reading a book like this that isn't meant purely to inform the reader, but also to be captivating, would be a good way to learn about it.
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