Plot Based Discussion: Zeitoun

Zeitoun is a biography written by Dave Eggers and it follows the life of a Islamic man who stayed behind in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit land. The beginning of this novel leads up to the hurricane and Zeitoun's life, family history, and other personal information is released. The novel follows the life of Zeitoun, introducing him as a Islamic painter who lives in New Orleans. Zeitoun is married to a southern white woman (Kathy Zeitoun) whom converted her religion to Islamic, and is devoted despite the disapproval of her family. Zeitoun is very devoted to his work as a painter/contractor, and has a very good reputation among the locals because of his hard work. When news of the hurricane's severity arrived, Kathy urged Zeitoun to leave with her and their kids, but Zeitoun's stubbornness forced him to stay. He told his wife that there would be far less damage to their home if he stayed, opposed to the damage that would occur if he left with them. Zeitoun took time to secure the houses of his clients, and to secure his own house, then he hunkered down and prepared himself for the hurricane.

While Hurricane Katrina was hitting the mainland Zeitoun did some minor renovations to his home, and put down some trash cans to catch water, but he did not believe that the hurricane caused too much damage. The day after the hurricane finished Zeitoun reported that there was some minor flooding, over 18 inches of rain, and some wind damage, but overall damage was not too bad. Later that day he called Kathy and told her to come home because he believed that all the trouble was over because the flood waters receded, but Kathy was tired and decided to spend one more night away and was going to drive home in the morning.

When Zeitoun wakes up the next day(Tuesday, August 30) he looks out his window and realized the true severity of the situation, the levees had broken. He quickly calls Kathy and tells her to stay with her family up north because the flooding is worse and flood waters are rushing into there home. Zeitoun now knows that their home and property will be destroyed, and they will loose almost everything they have. Zeitoun attempts to save things by bringing them up onto the second floor, but he quickly realized that there is only so much that one man can do. He sets up a tent on his roof, and when looking out he notices his old canoe. Zeitoun then gets into the Canoe and canoes around the neighborhood hoping to help people.

While searching for people to help Zeitoun comes across an obese elderly lady who is holding onto a bookshelf to avoid drowning. He and a few other guys devise a plan to use a ladder to get her onto the canoe because there was no way that she could swim. This event shows Zeitoun's true character, and that he wants to help people and save lives.