Saleh Soufi35718

WRI10111
Sunday 11 July, 2010
Critique (The Algebra of Infinite Justice) final draft

Critique on The Algebra of Infinite Justice

Arundhati Roy, the writer of the well known book The God of Small Things in
1997, which was later translated to 27 different languages and won the Booker prize in 1997;
she writes the article The Algebra of Infinite Justice published in The progressive in
December, 2001 just 3 months after the 9/11 attacks on America. In the article, Roy talks
about how that the American government is hated around the world because of its foreign
policies. Throughout the essay, Roy tries to show why the American foreign policies are so
hated around the world by giving evidence from actions done by the American government
over the past century. In this article, she mainly examines Americas cold-heartedness
towards the killings in Iraq, she also talks about the Afghani, American conflict and how it
began, and finally she talks about the relationship between Bin Ladin and the American
government. Roy presents her argument in an angry tone and sufficient evidence taken from
current events, while providing logical explanations; however, some of her examples require
referencing and some of the language she was using was only directed towards Americans,
whilst ignoring the fact that not only Americans might read the article.

In the article, Arundhati Roy tries to explain and show why the American Foreign
policies are hated around the world. Firstly, she talks about the American governments cold-
heartedness in their operations in Iraq and how they dont even care about the 500,000
children who died in Iraq because of the America foreign policies. Then, she talks about how
the Muslim mujahedeen in Afghanistan were created and supported by the American
government in order to destabilize the Soviet Union, while on the contrary, they are the
biggest threat to America today, fighting against American military using American weapons
that were initially provided by the American government in the past. She continues to talk
about the numerous conflicts between the American government and other regions in the past
and present, which has a catastrophic effect on the security of American people in America,
since there is always the risk of a new incidence like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor due to the huge
number of enemies that the American government have created. After saying that terrorism
has no country (P.342), the author goes on to talk about Osama Bin Laden, and how she
thinks that he is nothing but a doppelganger or in other words a double agent for the
American government who does all the nasty work for it. In the end, she criticizes Present
Bushs ultimatum for the world and says that choosing between the American government
and the terrorist should not be mandatory.
In the article Roy states her main goal of writing the article with a very clear thesis
statement, which is The American people ought to know that it is not them, but their
government's policies, that are so hated(P. 340). Here it can be clearly seen that her main
goal of the article is to show Americans why their governments foreign policies are disliked
by people all around the world. In her third and forth paragraphs she tries to show the
American governments savageness and cold-heartedness towards these nations that they are
invading. She gives an example of this when she says that in 1996, when Madeleine Albright
was asked on national television what she thinks about the children how died in Iraq because
of economic sanctions that the U.S. government have Implemented. Albrights answer was a
very hard choice,, but we think the price is worth it. This is a great example of showing
the cruelty and viciousness of these policies and to show that not even the risk of the lives of
children can stop these actions. Here the writer tries to attract the readers sympathy towards
those who are harmed by the American government, by using real life evidence of the
savageness of the American governments operations.
The author had a very angry and frustrated tone, which can be seen throughout the
article. The use of phrases like massacre of innocent people and collateral damage (P.
340) shows the deep anger that the author has against the American government. She also
used rhetorical questions such as How many dead Afghans for every dead American? (P.
340). These types of questions show great feelings from the author towards Americas way of
treating others. There were also some symptoms of sarcasm and ridicule used by the author.
An example of this is when she talks about the irony of how the American government have
created the mujahedeen and gave them weapons and money in order to weaken the Soviet
Union. Yet, now they are fighting the mujahedeen who are using American weapons and
money against the American soldiers in Afghanistan. This use of mockery by the author
shows that her opinion of American foreign policies is that they are irrational and not will
thought off. In her conclusion she says that the choice between terrorists and the American
government should not be mandatory as a comment on President Bushs final offers to the
world when he said Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists, shows great hatred
against the president and his governments ideas.
Although Arundhati Roy has done a good job writing this article; however, there are
some things that can be improved on in her article. Firstly, she should have given references
for some of the not so popular events that she mentions, especially the examples where she
uses specific numbers. For instance, when she talks about Afghanistan being the single
biggest source of heroin on the American streets and that the annual profit is between 100-
200 billion U.S. dollars (p. 341). Here she states two big claims, first saying that all or at least
most of the heroin that gets to America is from Afghanistan, and the second claim would be
mentioning an astonishingly huge profit. When setting claims as big as these, then they
should be addressed to some kind of a reference, because its neither something that is
commonly known, nor was she the one who made the studies. Another thing that can be
improved on in the essay is to consider that the article might not be read only by American
people, thus eliminating the use of terms that would most likely be understood by Americans
only. For example she uses the term doppelganger, which means a double agent, and she
also uses the term Uncle Sam, which refers to the United States. These types of term are
most likely to be recognized by Americans only and not others from all around the world that
might read the article. Giving a synonym of the term in the same sentence or giving an
explanation would make the essay clearer for those who are not familiar with such terms.
Arundhati Roy had a clear message that she wanted to send to the American public
through this essay. Her goal was to show the American people why their governments
foreign policies are despised by people all over the world. She uses an angry and frustrated
tone throughout the article while substantiating her anger with clear evidence. However, the
article lacked some referencing and ignored non-American readers by using some terms that
are most likely only understood by Americans.





Reference list:
Roy, A. (2001). The algebra of infinite justice. In G.H. Muller: The New World Reader.
(2008). (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. P. 340-343