A City Underwater in "Zeitoun"
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| Zeitoun and his wife, Kathy |
In the second third of Dave Eggers'
"Zeitoun," Zeitoun is forced to realize the dangers of staying in New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has passed. As the author has previously shown,
Zeitoun is a stubborn man. He decides to remain in the city of New
Orleans well after it became dangerous to remain. Even though the hurricane has
already passed, the flood that it left behind makes the city quite
treacherous. The water in the city was
becoming progressively more polluted, and Zeitoun was also running out of food.
Despite this, Zeitoun remains in the city. Eggers states that Zeitoun believes he is
doing a service to the townsfolk, evidenced by the fact that he saved the life
on an old woman who was unable to flee her house when it was flooding.
The author then points out that Zeitoun's urge to stay in New Orleans is
getting steadily more treacherous, and that the amount of reasons Zeitoun
should leave are only growing. Some new dangers include armed robbers and
policemen acting of their own accord. Even
with his wife calling him every day on the single working landline remaining,
Eggers emphasizes Zeitoun's unwillingness to leave the town. He argues
that because of all the good he has done so far, such as feeding some dogs left
behind by town residents, more opportunities for good deeds will soon arise,
and many more lives will be saved. While this may be true, Zeitoun's wife
continues to urge Zeitoun to leave the city and return to his family. She
worries constantly about him. Eggers concludes this portion of the novel
by focusing on Zeitoun's growing realization that he no longer has sufficient
reasons to stay in the city, and that if he didn't leave soon, he is bound to fall
into some dangerous circumstances.
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