This analysis attemptsto define the impacts of 9/11 incident on the Muslim Identity in the world.Further it tries to elaborate the effects of this incident on socio politicalfabric of Muslim world particularly of Pakistan. The analysis is carried out onthe basis of the short story “Echo” by “Laila Lalami”. Her short story addresses the ambiguouseffects of 9/11 incident. The story reveals the fact that this awful incidentnot only affects the life of Americans but also distresses the life of Muslims inthe USA. Laila highlights the issues and problems especially “Islamophobia” facedby Muslims community after 9/11 in her short story.The setting of the storyis Mona’s home and its lunch time, she is looking for some food in her kitchen.She is in her bathrobe with tangled hair.
After little search, she found apacket of instant oatmeal, which she grabbed as she won something. This showsthat her grocery is running out of stock. When she heard the door bell, she shuffledto the door bell. She is not happy with her appearance like a woman which shenever thought to become. Her resentment shows that her present appearance andstatus is unusual to her.
It is further cleared by the astonishing response ofthe Postman who was not expecting her at home as she used to be on work at thistime of the day.Mona receives a packagefrom her sister, Amal who lives in San Francisco. Amal is habitual of sendingdifferent things and to keep in touch with Mona even with her busy schedule oflife. It is further become obvious by sudden reaction of Amal against Mona’spresence at home in day time as she said; “What are you doing athome anyway?”Her deep observation of surrounding refers the fact thatshe is witnessing the beautification of her surrounding in daytime for thefirst time.All these happening confirms to reader that Mona is an educatedand working lady, her presence at home is unusual for Mona herself and strangefor her sister Amal.In response, Mona hides the truth from her sister andmakes excuse that”It’s the last week of thespring semester.
My students are working on their final projects. So, noclass.”Mona is the leadingcharacter of this story, and Laila’s story “Echo” reveals the after effects of9/11 on the lives of Muslims working community and the Islamophobia and stereotyping of Muslims through the lifeof “Mona”.
Ø Introduction to 9/11 incident: “The September 11 attacks (also referredto as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billionin infrastructure and property damage.” (FromWikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The world altered irreversibly on 9/11.
Itwas the first hijacking in not only in USA but in the world. On 9/11, a groupof nineteen terrorists hijack four commercial aircrafts. They aimed totake control of the airplanes to attack on important places of USA. They usedthe planes as flying weapons for immense destruction. Three of the aircraftshit their targets (north and south towers of World Trade Center and thesouthwest side of Pentagon) but the fourth one crashed in Pennsylvania’s field.All the investigation proved that Al Qaeda-the Islamic militant group wasbehind these attacks. These attacks on USA, the super power and thereactions of the world to these attacks changed the overall shape of the worldand brought drastic changes in the perceptions of entire world.
In fact, It isa common believe that 9/11 is the most consequential incident after the Worldwar-II in the history of world. As its aftermath can be witnessed still afterseventeen years and seems to never end. Majorthemes covered by the Story Ø Identity Crisis:For American Muslims, the day of 9/11 was historic andtragic as it changed their lives overnight. They were equally committed andloyal to USA as their country just like other Americans but after 9/11 most ofthe Americans questioned their commitment.American Muslims weremore educated and involved in mainstream of American’s society. But Americansstarted violating all the civil rights of Muslims and targeted them in theirwork and religious places and educational institutions.
Muslims suffered a lotbecause of their Muslim identity as they were regarded as the second classcitizen after 9/11. A huge number ofcomplaints were recorded by American’s Muslims against employmentdiscrimination such as being called “terrorist” or “Osama” at work places,being stopped by wearing scarves and prayer break.Laila identifies the issue of identity crisis through thelife example of her story character “Mona”. She was the assistant professor ofHistory in Columbus College where she worked as visiting faculty for threeyears.
Soon she was supposed to be offered a tenure-track job as per policy.But the authorities decided to suspend her from her services by saying that;”thecollege’s endowment—considerably reduced after the stock market crashed—madelong-term hires difficult”But Mona understood the reason behind this decision. She believedthat her harsh criticism on the “war on terror” was the reason behind this decision.As Columbus was a prestigious and a famous college for its modesty and culture,so there was no possibility of any complain against her. The period of threeyears teaching is more than enough to prove the capability and Excellency of ateacher in her/his subject. Mona was studying there for last three years on thebasis of her performance.
Even then she had to leave the job; it shows that theremight be some exceptional reasons behind her termination.And that exceptional reason was her Muslim identity. Before 9/11 all the Muslims wereleading a normal peaceful life within American community. They were having good
