FEARING THE UNKNOWN
Marina Nemat was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran. When she was 16 years old, Nemat was arrested at her home for speaking out against the Islamic government; in which, she spent two years as a prisoner in Evin. Can any reader imagined what it will be like if he/she was is Nemat’s shoes? To be a prisoner for speaking out against the government? Nemat didn’t have time to reconsider the consequences of her action. Marina Nemat was just another typical teenager who cared for her education and opposed the new government. If a stranger can observes Nemat closely, then deep down in her soul, courage conquer her mind and body.
However, Marina Nemat must first conquer the fear of being a prisoner in Tehran’s prison at sixteen. In the article, Zero Dark Thirty’s Disturbing Flirt with Evil, Nemat described the endless days she was tortured in Evin, a prison for the political enemy. As goose bumps crawls from the chilled horror a woman must endured to be able to survive in such horrid condition, this article will make the readers fear the broken human’s soul and fear the unknown of what comes in the end.
First of all, do you know what fear is? Fear is being terrified. Fear is immobilizing your brain to shut down as the lashes continued to strike the sole of your feet. The article will make the readers feel fear on Nemat’s life as she lay motionless on that prison bed. Nemat (2013) described the “endless agony” as she forgotten how to count the many lashes the guard tortured her with. In reality, there’s the fear of not having your prayers be heard; for the guard to stop with the torture; nevertheless, she is still a child. Nemat wants the reader to feel the fear that she had felt in that prison. Imagine yourself in her place for a second. Can you take the pain from the guard lashing? I wouldn’t be able to take all that miseries that’s being inflicting onto me. No readers would want to go to bed one night only to have their government pulled them out from the safety of their home. Nemat was tortured for opposing her government. That demonstrate how little her government cares about the citizen of Iran. America have a wonderful governmental system; but what makes you so sure this government wouldn’t turn their back on you? Whether it is here or elsewhere, there are corrupted people who are willing to sacrifice one life to save theirs. What would become of you then? Or your family, for that matters? Nemat’s family didn’t have any last words with her when she was being taken away from her home. Any parents would fear for their child’s safety. Where the unknown lies, fear will conquer the mind and body until the soul is ready to fight for it back.
Surely, if you converted from Christianity, would you fear that Savior still be your rescuer? In The Huffington Post article Zero Dark Thirty’s Disturbing Flirt with Evil, Nemat said she was “forced to convert to Islam from Christianity.” (Nemat, 2013) Wouldn’t a devoted Christian believer fear the unknown sin? Marina Nemat was tortured to the point where she thought that she was in hell. In The Huffington Post, Nemat wrote, “My soul has dissolved into the darkness that is taking my body apart with brute, unforgiving force.” (Nemat, 2013) Nemat was at a turning point where the pain is so overwhelming she turned to Christ for help. Anyone would fear to find himself/herself in hell. A reader who practiced the same religion as Nemat would understand people frowned upon those who switched religion. What can reassure her Christ will be her Savior? He/she will probably do anything to take the next breath when a person wants to live bad enough to see the next ray of light. Even if it means that he/she have to dance with the devil himself. This world is full with all kind of people. Everywhere you look, someone is getting torture and there is nothing you can do to help the situation. Nemat can’t be saved for her soul is broken. Remember that the prison guards do not pardon those
