Literary Analysis - What He Said to His Enemies - Nye

"Come in, look for me where you think I am. Then when you see no one is there, we can talk." (119). 

In the poem, a man is being pursued by those who consider themselves to be his enemies. They appear to be willing to go to any length in order to make his existence a miserable one, always on the run. These enemies wish to break him mentally, force him to give in to their logic saying, "You are no good, will never be any good". (119). Only when they break him, his culture, his dignity, will they end their pursuit.

However, if his enemies had their way what would be left of the man. Can one truly be considered human without their culture? I think that Nye is trying to create a parallel to the plight of Muslims after September 11th. There was a sense in America after that date that we had to be at war with Arab culture and there very way of life.  Americans had a hard time differentiating between the terrorists of al-Qaeda and the every day Arab.
"What made them think the world's room was so small?"(119). It is important for people of varying cultures to realize that there way is but one and certainly not the only way to live.   This poem connects back to the mission of giving Americans a view of Arab culture that not many have been exposed too, which Nye lays out in her introduction.

The man in this poem desperately wants to have a conversation with his enemies so that they may understand his culture and put an end to these senseless wars, cultural and physical, and embrace their similarities rather than their differences so that friendship may one day prosper between cultures.