• Hurricane Katrina

• Dave Eggers

• Motifs & Themes

Dave Eggers

Memoir: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Short Fiction: How We Are Hungry

Creative Nonfiction “Novel”: What is the What

Nonfiction: Zeitoun

Hurricane Katrina

• August 2005• 1,836 Dead, 135

Missing• 100,000 People

remained in the city

• 20,000 in the Superdome

• Levees broke after much of the storm had passed, flooding 80% of New Orleans

• Temporary triage, jails, and shelter

Themes and Motifs:• Egger’s particular style of prose, use of

five senses• Description of setting, sound of the water,

shift in the city• Idea of the American dream to a Muslim

immigrant• Political leanings in the text? What

“American rights” come to mind?• Occupying the voice of Abdulrahman• Structure of the plot