Z's Relationship With His Father

“Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement, and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent” (Bob Keeshan). The novel The Terrorist’s Son by Zak Ebrahim influenced me in a very unique way by showing me a unique perspective on family, and causing me to examine my relationships within my own family. The Terrorist’s Son is a jumble of emotions for me. There were many times when I related to Z and his relationship with his father. Z’s father is like my father in many ways. Both were amazing, close fathers at the beginning. Z’s father played soccer with his children, and my father played Frisbee with me when I was younger. My father tried to spend as much time with me as possible when he and my mother divorced. A specific time he tried to influence me was when he tried to make me right handed to conform with the majority of society. He would place a spoon in my right hand and tell me to eat with it. Z’s father, on the other hand, tried to make Z like him by taking him to a shooting range and teaching him to shoot a gun at a young age. Zak is so naturally talented at it, that his uncle even says “like father like son” (37) when Zak shoots out the light on top of the target and it bursts into flames. I
My father is not a terrorist in jail, but he is in the jail of his home with his new wife and her four insane children an hour away from my own home. I do not think of him as a great father anymore. He has lied, just as Z’s father lied to him. When Zak and his family visit Baba in Rikers prison, “[Baba] promises us that he did not have a gun, and that he is not a murderer” (39), which we later find out is not true. My father does not admit his mistakes; which Z’s father never did. My mother protects me as Z’s mother does. I realize now that I do not have it as bad as I