The Submission – Sara McElroy

Amy Waldman. New York: Farrar, Staus and Giroux, 2011. 299 pp.

Amy Waldman’s The Submission is a novel that interweaves the lives of people who were affected by 9/11 in ways that combat, suspect, reinforce, and support what it means to be patriotic. All of the characters in the novel are connected to the same looming issue: an American-born architect, possessing the Muslim name Mohammad Kahn, of who constructs the winning 9/11 memorial design in an anonymous competition. The controversy that ensues questions patriotism, democracy, deceptive politics and press, and the proper place and time of sentimentalism. Mohammad, who was born in Virginia and prefers to be called “Mo,” and the “Muslim American Coordinating Council,” are being targeted by patriotic Americans and scheming politicians for radical beliefs that initiated the 9/11 terrorist attack. The stereotypical assumption is that Mo’s design, named “The Garden,” is a martyrs’ paradise for the terrorists that died (Waldman 78). If the jurors on the memorial council decide against Mo’s design, the democratic spirit of freedom that America conjures as its pillar is shattered; if his design is carried out, then the patriotism that unifies a damaged country is likewise shattered. The Submission combats Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay on “The Frontier in American History,” which calls for a galvanizing force or “new order” of Americanism (Turner 18). In the novel, American “patriots” are using their collective/group identity as a “composite nationality” as a way to weed out any person, nation, religion, or anything that would threaten their precious uniformity,-- namely Mohammad Kahn and his inherited associations (Turner 22). Under no other constitution could there be an opportunity for the puppeteering fingers of politicians and their vocal chords, the press, to rally Americans to be for patriotism and against American constitutional foundations. Trickled down from politicians, the press uses inventive deprecating words to persuade citizens to turn to subliminal prejudice. The collective narrators in the novel embody diversity in America, while wrangling with their own obstacles of prejudice and stereotyping. Being divided between his cultural heritage and his home, Mo jokes about shaving “half his face,” and begins laughing hysterically when he realizes the paradox he is placed in, “being in the crosshairs of nations, religions” (Waldman 240). For political leverage he is encouraged to assimilate with America and not only “humanize” himself, but “Americanize himself,” as though being a naturalborn citizen is irrelevant if you possess an unfavorable culture that threatens patriotism (Waldman 209). The concept of the frontier plays a role in The Submission because the novel is illustrating how categorization of “true American” ideals bulldoze cultural heritage in an invisible way. Sentimentalism used to protect these “families” directly or indirectly affected by 9/11 is initially the prime reason why Mo’s design, “The Garden,” may be an unsavory

choice. This sentimentalism and patriotic crusade against “The Garden” is promoted by political figures who are more concerned about “saving face” or increasing polling numbers. Frederick Jackson Turner would call these people “talking politicians” (Turner 31). A heavy backdrop of “press deals” between politicians and the media show the political manipulation that stimulates both patriotic fanaticism and democratic liberalism against each other. Joan Didion’s article, “Fixed Opinions, of The Hinge of History,” addresses the issues of this political process of making “certain promises in public, and conflicting ones in private” (Didion 7). The conventional figure of the slimy journalist is seen in the character of Alyssa Spier—and beside her telling last name, she takes pride in the fact that she possesses the ability to “shape” news (Waldman 156). Mo becomes enveloped in the media-related abuse by being a “player” in this political process, and defiantly avoids the press but also ignites the memorial’s questionable relation to Islamic gardens by his hermitism and avoidance. Allen Ginsberg’s poem “America” illustrates Mo’s reaction to the insanity of press, which is “I don’t feel good don’t bother me.” But that doesn’t prevent him from being dragged through the political agenda of Geraldine Bitman, the governor of New York who rises in the polls each time she opposes Kahn (Waldman 249). Waldman’s writing is smart, fluid, and does not skip a beat. She engages perspectives of a diverse group of people, all of whom are affected by the 9/11 attack: a widow who has simply lost her husband, or the politician using the attack as a vehicle for political growth. The Submission addresses paranoia and conspiratorial issues with the government’s involvement in “the attack” that are seamlessly woven into the manipulation of patriotism. Architectural art and religion symbolize the attack on the World Trade Center and the expansionistic persona of America. The Islam religion in the text is depicted as a colonizing religion, which is only emulating what America does to the rest of the world. Proof of Americanizing alterations and the democratic spirit appear in the Muslim characters Asma Anwar and Zahira Hussain, women who are epitomizing choice, which illustrates how the galvanizing force of America even blends in religion and culture. The ending sequence of The Submission feels a little anti-climactic, until the very last lines. However, these last few lines only reinforce America’s concept of Manifest Destiny outstretching to the world and seeping into different countries. The text is interesting to readers who have an interest in political and press related exploitation against inquiring American citizens; as well as the issues and irony of democracy and patriotism being two different and opposing entities. The Submission questions motives of American citizens and politicians who refuse to separate personal problems which that end up transcending growing into national problems. Amy Waldman’s The Submission is a captivating book for the reader who asks America, as Ginsberg does in his poem “America,” “when will you look at yourself through the grave?” The text looks at America through the lens of a vanishing American idealism brought about by an attack of America’s feigned security blanket.

Didion, Joan. “Fixed Opinions, or The Hinge of History.” The New York Review of Books 16 Jan. 2003: 1-15. Web. 3 Dec. 2011. Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of The Frontier in American History.” The Frontier in American History. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1986. Print.