Andrew Tweeton Period 4 November 12th, 2013 The Visitor Questions

1. There were three main events in the film “The Visitor” that had a change on Walters life and changed him as a person. The first is when he went to visit his apartment in New York and found Tarek and Zaineb living there. He could have kicked them out, but realised he enjoyed their company and invited them to stay. The second was when Tarek taught Walter how to play the drum. Walter struggled to play the piano and didn’t much enjoy it, but after learning to play the drum he continued to practice and had a passion for it. The third is when Tarek’s mother came to town to visit Tarek in the detention center. Walter began to grow feelings for her, and did not want her to leave. He gained that sort of happiness inside him that his wife used to give him before she had passed away. 2. Tarek enlightened Walters life by teaching him how to play the drum. Learning to play the drum was like a new beginning for Walter. When he came home and found Tarek living in his apartment he could have easily kicked him out. Instead, he let him stay and it made his life more than ordinary. I believe after post 9/11 people began to get paranoid that everyone is a terroist. A good example of this is the scene Tarek was taken by the officers in the subway just based on how he looked and the color of his skin. People began to start “judging books by their covers” rather than truly knowing the person. 3. Pre 9/11, visitors were welcomed into America in the spirit of Emma Lazarus’s words: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Our nation welcomed people from all different cultures and was diverse. Post 9/11, things changed and people were hostile against people from other countries. They began to become suspicious of visitors and condemned them to walk in fear. I believe Walter said he never visited the Statue of Liberty to show Tarek’s mother that it was nothing special because he did not want her going there and getting into another situation that he already put Tarek in. 4. I agree with Walter’s condemnation of Tarek’s treatment because they did not notify or even give the family a chance to get him out. The treatment center almost treated the people like cattle and they were freely to do whatever they wished with them. I thought it was wrong that they did not give Tarek’s mother a warning that he was getting deported. On the other hand, when Tarek’s mother says “There is nothing we can do” I agree with her statement. I think she realized she is at fault for throwing the letter away and never telling Tarek about it. Now that he has been deported, there is no changing the treatments office mind, he is gone for good. 5. This film demonstrates that innocent people can be arrested and deported just by how they look and the color of their skin. Some ways we can improve our system of immigration is by doing full background checks before making a final action on immigrants and giving people a

chance to become an American citizen before just kicking them out. We could be receiving some great people that can help benefit our country in many ways, but we will never know if we don’t give them a chance to prove themselves.