When Laura Blumenfeld’s father was almost killed by a terrorist in Jerusalem in the 1980’s, she had to get to the story behind the killer. In "The Apology/Letters to a Terrorist", Blumenfeld writes to the gunman in jail, and he writes back. After revealing her identity, she discovers the remorse in the gunmen but also begins to understand his reasoning behind the whole thing. The writer’s intention was most likely to get a reaction out of people, but also to give people an inside look at these terrorists, and to help us see to some degree they are real humans with real emotions who are often brainwashed by those around them. Blumenfeld’s tone is a mix of bitter, judgmental, and sincere .While she displays a judgmental tone towards the gunmen for not completely being sincere, but also feels for him and his health condition. The thing is mostly organized in chronological order starting with her meeting the families of the terrorist, although there are a few flashbacks to fill in the holes. The author composes most of the story with anecdotes and dialogue. In order to further advance her stories, the author uses a lot of imagery to set the scene, as the reader can see in lines such as “Their house, which was behind a red gate, was really a number of buildings joined together— cement improvisations with raw concrete steps and half-stacked cinder blocks”. This is a vivid description of the gunman’s house. With most of the story being developed through imagery and dialogue, the author creates pathos in the minds of readers and makes them understand how difficult of a time this was.
I found this to be a very compelling story. Although I found it hard to sympathize with the gunman, since he did what he did and it took him a long time to feel any remorse, the author helps me find some sympathy for him, which is not easy to do. It was very hard to find a dull point in the story. The author kept it interesting with her constant, but not too detailed, descriptions and by using the letters they wrote each other. Through the author’s imagery, she definitely helped me understand her motive for why she needed to talk to this terrorist. Even though there was a good amount of detail, which some say may have been too much, I believe it helped deepen the author’s story. Overall, I think this was a very excellent and different type of reporting.
Blumenfeld, Laura. The Apology-Letters from a Terrorist
Below is a crash course video on the West Bank conflict in the Middle East.