Nidalis Personal Map of Home - Book Report/Review Example

Task Nidali’s Personal Map of Home Introduction Randa Jarrar’s book, A map of Home, tells us about the challenges she faces in her life, starting from the time she was born in the United States to a Palestinian Father and an Egyptian Greek mother; she grows up in Kuwait, but later on they are forced to flee to Egypt after the Iraqi invasion. A teenage Nidali, a name given to her by her father assuming she would turn out a boy, later on moved to Texas United states with her family to join her father who gets a job offer. She grows up challenging her father’s dominance and harsh rules to protect her from the cruel world, which would physically instill discipline in her, her mother and brother but she considers this discipline normal among their families in Kuwait. Her mother on the other hand loves music and we are told of how she loves to play the piano, rather than be a normal housewife to her family. Her brother Gamal never really plays a major part in the story and is a silent character except when he supports her sister’s desire to go on away from home to the university as strongly opposed by her father claiming that girls from the Arabic culture are not supposed to. Her cousin Esam, so religious that at one point confiscates Nidali’s wonder woman stickers, “she should not be the woman you admire, she is a shameless prostitute.”. Other characters in her book are Gheddo, her Greek Christian grandmother whom she loves so much and gives her support and her first boyfriend Fahkr, whom she keeps a secret from everyone else including her father whose policy is for her to be a virgin until she gets married. Randa uses bold language and humor throughout the book “My pussy you son of a whore?” Don’t concern yourself with my pussy, you hear? No more of this pussy for you, you ass!” (Randa, 5), or the time when Esam her cousin jumped in shock as they were watching news, turned it off and claimed that it was blasphemy for no one but God could predict the future “Predicting the weather is predicting the future, something only God can do,” (Randa, 46). Her language is both daring and creative that enables the reader to synchronize with her feelings and actually get to see how real and challenging her life was when growing up with her parents. There is constant tension within this family especially her father full of ideologies and always dictating terms whereas her mother disagrees with him on most issues, “Your kids look like monkey ‘s ass”( Randa, 5). The book helps the reader understand how adolescents keep up with their parents and to Nidali; she not only grows up with her family issues but also being able to cope up with different cultures and beliefs. From her Greek Egyptian mother to her Palestinian father and having to grow up in United States where the culture and political affiliations are much more different. The title suits the book because her lifestyle and plans keep on shifting as she creates her own dreams and at times, her fate is in the hands of outside forces. Her life is never constant and always keeps coming with new challenges and important decisions to make. In this summary of the book, I will talk about Nidali’s life as she was growing up to the time they finally moved to the United States. Growing Up Nidal, born in America in Boston, her father a Palestine and an Egyptian Greek mother moves to spend her first 13 years in Kuwait until they are forced to flee again to Egypt in Alexandria when they are invaded by the Iraqi bribing their way through with silk ties and whiskey. After the war, they do not really stay long in Egypt, her father gets work in Texas and they move again to the United States. Initially she is uncomfortable with the move to the United States because of feeling rootless but later on finds her similarities to the other ambitious American girls. Her father (baba) calls her Nidal and later on adds the ‘I’ to make it Nidali hoping she would turn out to be a boy, because he had had six sisters who were all not celebrated in his family, so he hoped to get a son to at least put that smile back on his face (Emerson). Nidali works harder as her father encouraged so that she would grow up and be a doctor, a doctor of words, always striving to be the best and how much her family meant to her as seen in her letters, “I wish I could always do homework perfectly and Baba will never be angry with me again” (Randa, 27). She then at a young age wins the Quran competition and experiences her first real kiss from Fakhr, her first boyfriend. Her early childhood were filled with war and political unrest and nobody seemed to even remember her turning 13 as the bombs were dropped in Kuwait, this unrest makes her have personal grievances with the government at that time because of the war, they had to move to Egypt, another new environment. She even laments about how it made her not only run away again to a new environment, but also took her boyfriend away from her. She writes a letter to Sadam, complaining of how her relationship was ruined before she could get the whole experience, even though it was never mailed. Dear Mr. Saddam Hussein, I am in my parents falling-apart car, and we are crossing your beautiful country, fleeing from your ugly army. My father has thus far distributed four bottles of Johnny Walker and three silk ties to checkpoint personnel. When you decided to invade the country where I grew up ... did you stop and consider the teenage population? How many were dying, just dying, for classes to resume and crushes to pick up where they left off in June?" She has to grow up under the guide of her strict father and has not yet gained the freedom she so desires to do as she pleases. Although tough and full of events, her childhood is not entirely boring because she grows up with a caring and loving father and occasionally coming across people like Lyndah, her Christian friend who challenges her religion to her first crash on Ahmed, whom she wants as a boyfriend even though she is only seven. “We don’t have boyfriends, boyfriends are fiancés and then you marry them”, said her father (Randa, 16) Life back in America Since baba was Palestinian, he could not go back to Kuwait when the war ended, this makes Nidali and her family goes back to the United States where her father gets a job in Texas. They start small by living in a trailer home. Here is where she loses her virginity in high school as she seeks to experiment on sexual pleasures and desires (Blasi). She is puzzled with the difference in the world as she explains how different the two worlds, Kuwait and America are, and ironically describes how a new world filled with a popular culture and media even bothered about the not so popular. “We were thrilled to hear the name of the place where we lived—a place we believed to be a tiny spot of spit on the map of the world—uttered by a gorgeous actress in an American movie. We would never stop to notice, though, that it was being uttered negatively in criticism of our place of residence. Still, the fact that we were noticed! That we existed! We relished it. America actually cared that we existed, and this somehow made us feel like we were worth existing.” Her family especially her mother has to cope up with new customs and cultures including, being harassed and asked if she speaks Spanish. The story ends with her having to move yet again, decide whether to be with her family or move to college. Conclusion Randa’s book, A map of The World is written in a honest and most often funny, that draws the reader in Nidali’s world full of so many challenges as she was growing up. She narrates her story by starting to create a character of herself Nidali born out of uncertainty about her sex to her father who expects a boy. The reader is then immediately introduced to her parents who both have abandoned their dreams – her father an architect forced to down his passion for poetry in order to support his family, and her mother who despite loving music and the piano, leaves all that to take care of her family. Jarrar does not shy from expressing herself and her strong use of language and creation of realistic characters like her father Waheed Ammar who is strict and pushes his daughter to work harder, study and become a poet, unlike his sisters who did not study past the sixth grade. The three characters, Nidali her mother and father together bring out the sparkle in the story with continuous arguments and confrontation especially from the ever-inquisitive Nidali to the ever-aggressive father. There is always sarcasm whether talking about religion, family, domestic wrangles or sex. Then she told me that in her religion, there is a big Ship with animals on it too, but do your animals come in pairs? She said, “You stole that story from us too,” Who’s you and who’s us? I said. She said Christians had the same stories we had. I asked about Adam and Eve and she nodded. “Four weeks into the invasion, Gamal discovered a black cat licking itself in the bidet and screamed at the top of his lungs. We all ran to the bathroom, and Baba yelled, ‘All that for a cat, you son of a bitch, you scared me!’ Mama was already beginning her histrionic attempts at capture. As for me, I was completely relieved that, for once, there was someone other than myself masturbating on the toilet.” (Melinda). Even though her religion is Islam, she doesn’t really make a big deal out of it and just considers it as another part of who she is. Islam though being very strict especially when it comes to sex, she does not stereotype Muslim at all. She writes openly about Nidali as loving sexual experiments and explains her experiences with boyfriends and girlfriends including Fahkr. We are told that just like that of Palestine keeps on shifting, Nidali’s map keeps on changing because she has an unsettled childhood always moving from one part to the other, her map of where she calls home is the piece of paper she draws on. Her ambition to be a writer and her adolescent experience drives her to guide the reader through her life experiences both challenging, humorous and fulfilling (Haney). Works Cited Blasi, Iris. A map of Home. Bust Magazine. 2009. Available at: Emerson, Derek. Book Review: A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar. University of Liverpool. 2009. Available at: Haney, Karen. Randa Jarrar finds her way With A Map of Home. Ezine Articles. 2009. Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Randa-Jarrar-Finds-Her-Way-With-a-MAP-OF-HOME&id=2977780 Melinda. Cultural Cartography: Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home. Muslimah Media Watch. 2010. Available at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2010/10/cultural-cartography-randa-jarrars-a-map-of-home/ Randa Jarrar. A map of home. New York; Other Press, LLC, 2008. Pp 1-126. Yassin-Kassab , Robin. A Map of Home. Qunfuz. 2009. Available at: Read More