The Irony of Rasha and her Family’s’ Confinement - “Rasha”
Bayoumi writes, “Eventually the cell door opened and two FBI agents walked in…The two agents passed out flyers of alleged terrorist and wanted men, instructing them all to look at the pictures. The papers moved down the line of the family. Do you know any of them? The head agent asked. No, everyone responded in turn. And Rasha realized that they themselves were being investigated as terrorists…Never in her life had she thought that she would end up on jail unless she had committed a crime. So why was she here? For Wat? Because she had overstayed her visa and was now undocumented? She didn’t commit a crime, and she was being punished for someone else’s cats…This wasn’t justice. It was revenge.” Treating Rasha and her family as terror suspects is ironic for they have not been involved in any criminal activity. Overstaying a visa and being a terrorist are divergent and unrelated factors. Their ironic subsequent confinement depicts the prejudice which Arab and Muslim immigrants are subjected to. Rasha and her family suffer as a result of wrongs committed by Muslim terrorist whom they are neither related nor connected to. The prejudiced system collectively considers all Arabs and Muslims to be “ problems” in America.
The Irony of “Are you Part of the family?” - “Sami”
Bayoumi writes, “Sami was surprised. He wasn’t accustomed to people identifying him as Arab-American…He’s darker-skinned than the rest of his family, to the point that even his father will joke with him by asking, “Are you sure you are part of this family?” The ironic joke underscores Sami’s difference from his family members. His father is certain that Sami is his son, yet he asks the question to allude to his inherent darkness. Being dark is an attribute which makes Sami the ‘problem’ in his family in matters of appearance.
