TOW #7 - "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist" by Laura Blumenfeld, Written Text

In "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist", Laura Blumenfeld decodes and simplifies the unnecessary hatred between two groups of people in war by humanizing both groups through juxtaposition and pathos. In this New Yorker article, Blumenfeld tells of her adventure in the West Bank in visiting the family of the terrorist who shot her father thirteen years ago. All she wants to know is the shooter's perspective on the situation and the reasons why he did it, so she introduces herself as a journalist instead of the victim's daughter to get the real story instead of a biased lie. She learns along with the reader that both people, the shooter and the victim, are real human beings. She helps the reader come to this realization initially through juxtaposition. She starts off the essay by writing, "The gunman wasn't home [...] 'That's him,' the woman said, pointing over her grand children's heads to the gunman's photograph. 'He tried to kill someone,' she said in an easy voice" (Blumenfeld 1). Referring to him as "the gunman" and this emotionless account of events dehumanizes the shooter. As the story progresses and she makes contact with the man, we begin to learn details about his life, his family, his dreams, and we start to see him as an actual person when Blumenfeld refers to him by name: Omar. The placement of these two different viewpoints almost makes the reader feel guilty for viewing the man this way. Blumenfeld expertly plays on the reader's emotions and coerces them into realizing that although Omar may have gone about it in the wrong way, he is just another human being standing up for his beliefs. In a letter to her father, Omar writes, "I would like you to know I've prayed a lot for you [...] I would first like to express to you my deep pain and sorrow for what I caused you" (Blumenfeld 8). The reader feels for Omar in this moment because they realize he is not a bad man after all, just a man who has made mistakes. The powerful message that war is more than just guns and bombs, it is a battle between real people with real reasons to fight is thoroughly taught by Laura Blumenfeld in "The Apology: Letters from a Terrorist".