Other Words for Home

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Vocabulary

Essay Topics

Quiz

Themes

Control and Suppression of Difference Versus Independence and Mutual Respect

This theme operates on two levels throughout Other Words for Home. Before Jude leaves Syria for America, she has begun to realize that the president’s government oppresses its people and that both militia groups and “radicals” like Issa want independence, freedom, and democracy instead. Jude witnesses both sides of the argument, as Baba condemns the violence he views as spurred on by armed “maniacs” who take over towns and leave citizens “bloodied and cowering together in their city, which has been torn apart by war” (32). In this part of the book, the president represents control and the suppression of dissent, while Baba represents the part of the populace willing to forgo freedom and economic justice for the sake of peace; he more or less accepts the “whispers rolling down the mountain” that “tell[] [Syrians] to stay quiet / and be grateful” (26-27). Issa’s rebellious acquaintances reject that control and promote new ideas; they symbolize change and movement toward a less economically stratified society. He tells Jude, “Soon, we will be able to walk anywhere we want” about the hotel chairs intended only for wealthy tourists (14), implying that in the Syria he imagines, everyone will share the same rights.

When Jude arrives in America, she experiences a different, more subtle conflict between control and independence. Peer groups like Sarah and her friends wield power at school and judge those who don’t conform or fit in, including Jude; they ostracize her at lunch (whether intentionally or unintentionally), take her sledding only awkwardly, and call her only friend “weird.” Sarah attempts to use stares and non-verbal cues to stop Jude from trying out for the musical as well; when Jude mentions that she was at the drama meeting, “Sarah gives [her] a look and [Jude] know[s] it is a warning” (198). However, Jude’s sense of independence ignites at the thought of performing, and she moves forward with prepping an audition and earning a role. Less subtle is the control attempted by whatever hateful person or group vandalizes Layla’s parents’ restaurant. This attempt to suppress difference fails, though, as Layla’s parents remain steadfast in their choice to keep the restaurant open and receive the support of the community at the mosque benefit.

Courage and Hope as Choices

Courage and hope are solidly intertwined in the novel. When Jude leaves Syria in Part 1, Issa’s parting message to her is “Be brave” (57). Jude immediately falters, feeling that she is not capable of the kind of courage Issa means. Jude continues to feel uncertain on arriving in America, when she knows she should be the one to lead Mama through Customs and Immigration but cannot find the English words to explain their case. Throughout the early days of her stay in Clifton, Jude experiences more frightening moments, such as the first day of school, the woman who tells Mama she no longer needs her hijab, and the day she goes sledding with Sarah’s friends.

The ironic truth, however, is that throughout every part of Jude’s literal and figurative journey, she is in fact very courageous and strong. She finds the courage to politely tell the woman remarking on Mama’s headscarf that they are happy as they are. She remembers Issa’s encouragement when Sarah and her friends bring up auditions and makes the choice to be herself, “not a girl who held her tongue, / but Jude who was always told Skety” (199). Her courage is rewarded when she earns a role, and Layla shares in her joy when the cast list is posted.

The novel therefore frames courage not as an absence of fear but as a choice to act in spite of fear. Similarly, hope is a choice—one that requires courage to make, since it also opens up the possibility of disappointment. Jude’s acceptance of hope gradually increases as her courage grows. At first she is too fearful of Issa, Aunt Amal, and Fatima’s possible fate to allow herself to think much about them; she weeps when Issa moves from home and is full of anger and anxiety on finding that Mama withheld her letters to Fatima, whose whereabouts are also unknown. Jude must concentrate on finding her place in the school and neighborhood, accepting her own identity and individualism, and maturing through coming-of-age experiences before she is courageous enough to allow hope for her loved ones into her heart. She is again rewarded for her courage when a letter comes from Fatima and when Issa calls.

Self-Identity and the Desire for Acceptance

It is only natural for Jude and Layla to express a desire to fit in. When Jude first arrives in America, she bristles at the notion that Aunt Michelle and Uncle Mazin might think of her as “a stray animal they need to adopt” (68). When she finds her class on her first day of school, she sees the path toward acceptance as a quiet, non-remarkable one: “Pre Jude reveled in her classmates’ attention, / but now I just want to blend in” (105). Out to dinner with Uncle Mazin, Jude hears the sensible message that fitting in will take time, but she also doubts that Uncle Mazin is entirely at home in America even now.

Jude more fully realizes how social acceptance relates to self-identity when Layla warns her what might happen after a terrorist attack: “She tells me that now I will learn what it means to be a / Muslim / in America” (261). Shortly afterwards, a man tells Jude to go back where she came from, and she witnesses the words spray-painted on Ali Baba: “Terrorists” (275). It is notable that Jude’s first reaction on seeing the vandalism is a rejection of the language skills she has worked so hard to learn precisely in order to gain acceptance: “For the first time since I’ve been in America, / I wish I didn’t read English” (275).

The complex relationship between self-identity and acceptance becomes even clearer for Jude when she tries to comfort Layla only to experience rejection. When Layla tries to explain, she presents the irony of her identity as an American-born Muslim in terms of acceptance: “I don’t belong anywhere. / Not here, / not there” (281). Ignorant Americans like Sarah and her friends see Layla’s appearance and assume she is an immigrant or even a terrorist. If she were to go to her parents’ home country of Lebanon, though, she would be an outsider as an American.

This conflict over acceptance eases somewhat with the lesson Jude learns from Miles, an American boy who realizes he too is considered a little different:

[…] I do understand what it’s like to not fit in.

To have people look at you like you’re different

and weird

and like that’s somehow a bad thing […] It’s not a bad thing (267).

Ultimately, Jude is pleased to see that staying true to one’s identity leads to small victories in the overall fight for acceptance:

We’re going to be fantastic tonight, Sarah says,

and her use of we’re,

a contraction that I have practiced over and over

in Mrs. Ravenswood class

feels like a tiny present to me

that I am so happy to unwrap (331).

Characters like Uncle Mazin and Mama also strike a balance between the desire to fit in and the desire to be themselves. Mama settles into life in America by finding a community that reminds her of her religion and homeland, and Uncle Mazin finds that he can take part in that community without sacrificing the things he enjoys about life in America.