What If?

I changed my opinion of Amy Waldman's novel, The Submission, almost as often as the characters themselves did about the memorial and each other. As the characters questioned their beliefs on religion, cultures, and identity I began wondering which I found the most important. While the novel raised important questions, I resented its ending for not giving enough answers. I felt like Claire, who felt the need to question Mo's reasons for his memorial and shared her dissatisfaction and frustration when I too felt like I only created more questions for myself. Although I sometimes became annoyed with Mo's arrogance and stubbornness, I admired him for believing so much in his memorial that he willingly subjected himself to the media's close scrutiny and the public's harsh criticism and violence. However, by the end of the novel he gives up on the memorial and flees the country, forcing me to question what anyone learned from his fight to protect the memorial. While many begged him to give up so that America could heal, decades later, Muslims in America "were...if not embraced, accepted. Trusted" (324). After months of violence and cruelty to Muslims and the loss of countless lives, for Muslims to become simply "accepted" made it seem like Mo lost his battle for the memorial for nothing.      His life never truly amounted to anything, because although he became well-known and wealthy, he always felt alone and wondered about what might have occurred if he had fought harder. The novel emphasized the importance of democracy and the public's opinion, yet in the end, prejudices prevailed and conformity triumphed. I believe the defeat of Mo and his memorial symbolized a defeat for cultural understanding and the embracement of diversity. How can such a decision remain democratic when it ignores the rights of so many people? The last few pages of the novel focus on the regrets of main characters, mostly about how they wished they fought harder because they will always question what could have happened if they had. Life is short and if people accept the limitations society places on them and give in to pressure, they could spend the rest of their lives forced to wonder about their decisions and their impacts.

Kindness in a World of Anger

While most characters in Amy Waldman’s book, The Submission, lose themselves in a struggle to preserve their pride and ego, Asma fights bravely for her rights when she needs to, but never argued simply to prove someone wrong, which quickly captured my interest and respect. Waldman describes how Asma could “could hold her meanest comments in” and juxtaposes her to everyone else involved in the memorial debate, who quickly use stereotypes, insults, and even violence to attack one another. She understands the fine line between being outspoken and rude and acts when she feels she must, regardless of how it affects her. As a widow trying to raise a baby alone, she already faced a difficult life, but as an Arab and Muslim woman as well, her life proved dangerous and yet, despite the obstacles in her life, she resolved to improve her life and her sons even if it meant making sacrifices. For example, although everyone else in her building ignores domestic abuse, she attempts to help an abused woman even though others criticize her for interfering. She goes out of her way to reach out to others, even when she has nothing to gain from helping them. Asma realizes that people should “want nothing but what is given” to them and through indirectly characterizing her as selfless, Waldman demonstrates that people do learn from tragedies and the past. Asma also accepts responsibility for her failings and those of others, unlike most characters, who only seek to blame others for their troubles. In the midst of conflict, Waldman asserts that people turn on each other and act in their own interests, yet despite the cruelty and violence the novel depicts, characters like Asma give me hope that people can change and improve. While it proves easy to blame others and conform, when people fight for their beliefs, even if only with small acts, they can have a huge impact.

Remembering the Living

Amy Waldman’s novel, The Submission, focuses on a horrific terrorist attack similar to 9/11 that spurs people into action to remember the dead, yet fails to cause them to appreciate those still alive. In the book, parents devote their time and attention to memorials, politics, and their career ambitions but forget to appreciate their kids. They focus so much time and effort on a memorial and divide themselves and their country, all, ironically, in an attempt to unite and heal their country. Characters, like Paul, become easily frustrated with their children and yet spend each day with people they despise, arguing about a garden. Paul devotes months, even years to a single memorial but when forced to attend a dinner party for his son his wife must force him to go. An attack like the one Waldman describes should cause people to become grateful for the people still in their lives. One woman in particular, the mother of Sean, caused me to feel both pity and anger due to her obvious grief but selfishness. She continually criticized her living son, Sean, and longed for their dead one who perished in the attack. She unloads her misery on Sean and creates unreal expectations for him, such as stopping the building of a memorial, as if hoping he fails. He struggles with “filling the too-big shoes of his dead brother” and through creating pathos, Waldman targets critical parents to instill feelings of guilt (99). While the parents all try to make grand gestures to the dead, they forget that small acts to the living can mean even more.