“Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers is a nonfiction novel that follows tragic epiphanies for the protagonist and his family when he decides to stay and witness the catastrophic hurricane Katrina. Once Abdurrahman Zeitoun traveled to United States, Louisiana, he finds the American dream. He became the owner of a painting contractor business and a father and husband. Born in Jableh Syria, he is a Muslim. As well as his American wife Kathy that eventually converted to it. As reports of Katrina's danger awareness strengthen, Kathy is nervous towards the conditions and urges Zeitoun to evacuate. Zeitoun agrees that Kathy and the children should go to her family's home in Baton Rouge. However, he tells her he will not be able to go with them. He had to remain watchful for his house and business and Kathy hesitantly agreed. Katrina then is upgraded to a hurricane and Zeitoun is still not worried. As horrible predicted conditions become evident, Zeitoun managed to make the best of it. The New Orleans levees break and he finds himself with a canoe trying to aid people in need because of the high amount of water.
After some time, Kathy overhears by the media that the Natural guard and military have been sent to maintain order. While on his journey, Zeitoun encounters people that travel with him, such as:
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He had his rights, and they were not being considered. The soldiers chose to do whatever they felt was necessary, ignoring the fact that a strip and search was out of context. This epiphany opened Zeitoun's mind, he realized that the land of opportunities is also hypocritical and unjust. Initially he idealized America as the holy land that makes miracles for anyone that use it’s resources. However, this is not always true. It heavily depends on your choices, yes, but there are things you cannot control such as discrimination. He suddenly realized that authority figures can abuse the said power, and even unnecessarily use