Beatriz’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2011)

Beatriz’s comments from the MHS AP Language group.

I was very surprised by the end of the book, I was expecting Ahmad to plan an attack on the school or on Jack Levy but he didn't do anything. It kind of disappointed me that he didn't attack anyone or anything. The terror that Updike is talking about is the terror that Ahmad faced by being such a radical and criticizing everyone. The terror that Ahmad was bringing upon the people that surrounded him was not a physical one but an emotional one. I believe that this "emotional terrorism" that Updike portrays through this book is what triggers attacks like 9/11. But I have to say I was extremely disappointed that Ahmad just decided to be truck driver, I thought that since he worked for a Lebanese family maybe that would have some affect on him so that he would become a violent terrorist.
I'm not sure if it is my own bias view of how terrorists are supposed to be but Ahmad does not seem as bad as someone like Osama Bin Laden because he just kind of bullies people because they don’t think like him. Of course it is something wrong but the consequences are not as terrible as killing a massive number of people. Do you guys think that emotional terrorism is worse than physical terrorism? I think that emotional terrorism definitely has its serious consequences in a person’s mind but it is sort of indirect, whereas physical terrorism is felt instantly.

As I kept reading I rethought my previous comment, it seems that the book does reflect a negative part of Muslims but when Tylenol is speaking to Ahmad is shows the other side of the story where Ahmad is bullied for being a Muslim. On pg. 98 they are having a conversation and Tylenol calls Ahmad by "Arab" and speaks to him ignorantly by cursing at him. Tylenol is Joryleen's boyfriend, but he says he does not care about her or Ahmad.
By including Tylenol's bullying of Ahmad Updike call also portray a Muslim's struggle to having a normal life after 9/11. To me it seems like we rarely think about the suffering of Muslim's after that tragic event, we think more about the impact it left on the other people who now have to live with the fear of terrorism. The conversation between Tylenol and Ahmad "infuriates him" and everyone that listens to Tylenol calling him names laughs at him. I think that later on in the book all of his sufferings are going to pile up inside him and he will use terrorism to explode.
Although being bullied is no excuse to become a terrorist or to cause harm to others, without the proper psychological treatment they will turn to violence to solve their problems. Also by believing that killing unbelievers is good for his faith I think that Ahmad will plan an attack and kill his classmates and maybe even family.

Something that I quickly noticed as I began to read the second section was Updike's style of writing, he is very descriptive. His writing actually reminds me a little of Dickens because he uses complex compound sentences in seven pages to describe the church service.
Speaking of the church service he attended one characteristic I found about Ahmad was very judgemental. Throughout the whole service he is criticizing the people, the preacher and the values of the Christian faith. I still feel a little offended when he criticizes the church, like on pg. 68 when he is talking to Joryleen saying that "unbelievers are our enemies". And he even says that "The Prophet said that eventually all unbelievers must be destroyed" if that isn't a hint as to he is going to become a terrorist I don't know what is. I think that now not only is his hatred going to affect his decision to become a terrorist but his faith as well. Any opinions? Do you guys think this book criticizes the Muslim faith too much and gives it a bad name?

I got my predictions about Jack Levy and Ahmad from pgs. 40 - 43

I don't know if it is our bias opinion to think that terrorists grow up with hatred built inside or that they have a troubled childhood. But I kind of began to question why Updike is doing certain things, if it is out of personal bias or he meant to do so. The story takes place in America but yet the boy's name is Ahmad and he is Muslim... Why did he choose to do that? I thought that since the boy was born in America he would be like a homegrown terrorist but since he is from Muslim descent that may be a little judgmental of Updike. This book was published in 2006 which is far from 2001, however, there may be some 9/11 remorse in there, that's why I think he made the decisions he did.
Another thing I’d like to point out is the relationship between the guidance counselor, Jack Levy, and Ahmad, I feel like he does respect him on the outside but in his head he sort of makes fun of him. I think that Levy is asking too many questions to Ahmad and when (this is a prediction) he becomes a terrorist he will be the first one he attacks. Not to mention that Levy is a Jew, one of the people Ahmad hates most, I think he will be one of the main targets if Ahmad becomes a terrorist. Do you guys think that Ahmad is going to become a terrorist? Have any opinions on Ahmad’s decisions and actions?

Hello ladies, I hope you are all enjoying the book. To start off I would like to say that at times I'm feeling a little offended by this book, because Ahmad seems to really hate Christians and Jews. In the beginning he already starts by calling his classmates "devils" and accusing them of taking away his God. Even though this book is fictional, I believe it does transmit the correct emotional hatred that a terrorist has.
From what we read, it really seems like Ahmad hates his teachers and everyone around him. Just the way he describes teachers on page 4 as "unclean" and as people who have "pink lids and bad breath and puffy bodies of those who habitually drink too much" he portrays his hatred for their wrong morals (wrong according to his own). Ahmad also criticizes the fact that "some [teachers] get divorces; some live with others unmarried" and that they just teach "democratic values" because they get paid to do so. In my opinion, Ahmad's belief that the values of our government is "Godless" and "satanic" is ridiculous. He is totally mixing up two completely different things. Here in America we have separation of church and state for a reason, there are simply too many religions and beliefs in one place to only establish one. However, Updike is developing a character which (I think is kind of obvious) will become a terrorist, so it is understandable that he displays so much hatred.
I connected this reading a lot to the students at Columbine because I feel like they had the same sort of feelings as Ahmad does. Maybe he will end up doing the same, what do you guys think?

I know! I really enjoyed the ending as well, like Jackie S. mentioned before, Kamal did in fact become a Christian which totally goes against the Islamic religion. I’m not saying that Christians hate Muslims or Muslims hate Christians, but I am saying that these religions have very few things in common and most values are contradicting. Maybe that is why he is being seen as such a big threat to terrorism, once people know about terrorism they won’t want to be involved in it.

One thing that drew us all to read this book is that its written by a former terrorist which gives us a first-hand look at how they feel about terrorism. I think that this gives him more credibility as a writer than someone who simply studies terrorism/terrorists because he was there, he knows how he felt, how his family felt and now he speaks against terrorism in speeches. On pg 308 (this is probably my favorite part in the book) Kamal says that his book will just be discredited because he is a former terrorist and not ”well-educated”. He said that because his “real name is not Kamal Saleem” professors and journalists “began speculating on [his] real name, thoughtless of the fact they were endangering [his] family in Lebanon”. He is just trying to protect his family in Lebanon and himself from terrorist attacks, but historians thought that in order to give him credit he should use his real name. I think that this so wrong because he is just trying to protect himself.

My favorite line from the book is also on pg. 308 when Kamal says “Wake up, America! You have a good heart towards foreigners, but it will be your death if you do not recognize your enemies and face them head-on.” This continues to be a problem today and I think maybe it even got worse after 9/11 (that’s what he’s talking about on pg. 308) because we have now become scared of foreigners and no longer have a “good heart” AND we did recognize our enemies, but perhaps we recognized the wrong enemies. I believe that the enemies aren’t the people but terrorism itself, its not about Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan but its about stopping terrorism from spreading.

I am also really curious to know what caused him to change, I have two predictions. One: Maybe his wife changed him because in the beginning he did mention that she made him see the good in him even though he didn’t think he had goodness in him. Two: Maybe, like Jackie S. said, living in America for a long time caused him to have a change of mind.

And Jackie I think that, like I said before, its something that is common for the boys there because they are suffering and don’t really have anything to rely on. I feel like the Brotherhood seems like a good thing because they have nothing else to believe in.

Another part in the reading that I though was very interesting was how much Saleem’s life has changed, he has to have security everywhere he goes. He is like a bigger target than the actual targets of the terrorists. On pg. 125 and FBI agent visited him in his office and told him to tighten up the security in his house because a Pakistani terrorist was targeting him. He must have a very difficult life and live in fear because he never knows when a terrorist is plotting something. If we ourselves fear these attacks imagine Kamal.

To answer Jackie’s question… I’m not sure if he converted to Christianity he hasn’t been really specific about that yet but some of his actions do imply that he has had a change of heart but I don’t quite know if he is a Christian.
I really liked Stacey’s comment about Saleem and the Brotherhood because of the wording she used. I thought it was interesting how she sounded like they were really helping him when she said “luckily” the Brotherhood helped him one day. I mean at the time it sure looked like they were nice guys just helping out a child, but they are terrorists! I believe that because some people suffer so much in those countries that’s why terrorism is still growing, because people have nothing else to hope or believe in like Saleem did.
Which connects to the previous book we read when he was speaking about the FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, to some people there they are seen as heroes who are fighting for the people but in reality those who are watching the war from other perspective have other opinions. We, here in America, see them as terrorist and the same with the Brotherhood, we see them as terrorists because we aren’t suffering like they are. I understand why someone would think that the Brotherhood is heroic but I agree with Saleem when he says that “the Brotherhood does more than support terrorism… they are its lifeblood” (69).
Just to connect to a bigger idea, these terrorists may seem like good people to those are in suffering but I think that it is up to the world to try to combat this upcoming terrorist group. How do you guys think that we can stop terrorists or at least the spread of terrorism?
To answer my own question, I think that it all starts with education, if Saleem didn’t have such a complicated childhood and rough time in school but had the proper education I think that he would have never had turned to the Brotherhood. I know this seems like a very “hopeful” answer but I truly think that unless we do something about the education systems in countries which are prone to terrorism, we cannot contain the spread of terrorism.

I don’t think it’s a Christian book I just feel like Howard Books is a Christian distributor. Kamal being a terrorist adds on to the purpose of the fight against radical Islam. I think that he is opposing radical Islam, not Islam in general, he is trying to show others that Islam isn’t all about killing people for the reward from Allah; he’s trying to show the glory in Islam.
However, I do think it’s weird how the story that his mother tells him is violent and she tells the story in the most normal way ever. I mean what do you expect? If children grow up listening to these stories that warriors “fought bravely for Allah” they will think its something normal.

Beatriz Pereira While I was reading the book I found that he was using the word jihad many times and I wasn’t very clear on what it meant so I looked up the word and did some research on it and it means the religious duty of Muslims. Originally it means “struggle” however it is used to describe how Muslims should act in certain situations as presented in the Quran. I also thought that it was very interesting how Saleem had plans of destroying “America from the inside out” (2) but now he gives speeches of his experiences in the jihad along with two other terrorists, would you guys trust an ex-terrorist? I am not sure if I would, I mean I would not discriminate however I would not be entirely convinced that they have changed (which might be his purpose... to show that people can change like he did).
Saleem is describing an attack that happened to him as a terrorist; I never thought terrorists suffered attacks from other terrorists or that there was groups that hated each other (besides Israel and Palestine). He is trying to show how he was an "ex-terrorist” but he adopted America as his country and left his terrorist days behind him. He must have felt horrible when he saw the 9/11 attacks because he “had helped to cause it… [He] planned it”(4). He says that he was part of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian Liberation Organization which shows that he was totally serious about empowering terrorist attacks. I think he is looking back at his days in these groups and realizing the terrible things they did. It caused an attack to happen to him for him to write this book (it’s like occasion on SOAPSTone).
And just on a side note I found it really interesting that his wife is American but she is a Muslim, I liked how he said that she was the one that saw “goodness” (8) in him. I think that throughout the book he is going to expand on this aspect of how he found the goodness in him and left the terrorist groups.

I enjoyed reading What is the What, it was a little long, the book in itself was a little confusing because he would jump back and forth for the present to the past but I could really feel what he was feeling at moments in the book. The author did a good job in portraying how Valentino was feeling at times and connecting his past to his present.