Muhammad Atta's Struggle Through the Day

The author, Matin Amis, puts lot of events into Muhammad's day that should make Muhammad stop this plan. I almost get the sense that I dislike Muhammad even more due to the fact that he pushed through all his fears, the sickening voise in his head, and all the things that went wrong.

He starts with a bad morning where he is in this run-down inn, he slips and hits his head, he cuts himself shaving, and he does not like the way he looks (or who he is: think about that). Also, he does not want to be caught in a plane crash eternally in Hell so he tries to make himself feel better by asking for holy water. He is upset with the airline security procedures. He is upset with killing the stewartists. He is not even doing this for religious purposes; the narrator even says that he is a fundamentalist if you look at his real beliefs.

All of these events are almost like signs saying do not do this. He has little passion for it. He was not jumping out of his seat to volunteer, he did not like the consequences, and he had a guilty feeling when he thought about killing the stewartists.

These are not events to make the audience feel like they should sympathize with Muhammad. His bad day does not compare with what he did to the victims of 9/11. If the author wanted the audience to do that, I think he would have talked more about Muhammad's past and he would not have put in the part where Muhammad calls the other men on the mission to gloat about his holy water and to insult the living they have created. In the end, the author puts in a description of how long and painful Muhammad's dying moments were. Then Muhammad regrets this suicidal mission (he should have read the signs).

Website: This website just tells about guilt and how guilty people behave. I really liked the part towards the end that says someone does not feel guilt not only from not knowing right from wrong but not thinking it is important. How important did Muhammad think this mission was to him? He did not foresee how much he thought his life was important and he did not care about the punishment because he would be dead.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/guilt_shame/