Words Unspoken

Committed to breaking down the stereotype that Muslims are terrorists.

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expanding my reach

Now, I have finished reading my book and have set up a poster in the back of the library combined with sending out an email to recruit people. I'm not done yet though. I am sending 5 of these books to 5 different schools with a book review inside of each to give them the student's perspective of the book and will also give them my tumblr account name to look at the sections i have highlighted with important information from the text. 

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Poster in the back of my school's library promoting the book and my project.

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Chapters 43-46

In this section, Leila returns home. She had been staying at a women’s shelter where she encountered abused women escaping abusive boyfriends, women who had been raped or molested, pregnant teenagers who had been kicked out of their homes, and druggies clinging to their babies and desperate to shoot up. In the end, she goes home and is safe with her family. Her mother is no longer pestering her to get married and is taking part in her daughter’s education.

In the end she has learned to accept her identity as a young Australian–Palestinian Muslim girl.

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Chapters 40-42

After Gulchin visits again, Amal has a revelation. Since she has put the hijab on, she has been thinking she’s become pious because of her decision to wear it.

“I’ve been assuming that now that I’m wearing it full-time, I’ve earned all my brownie points [. . .] I’ve been kidding myself. Putting on the hijab isn’t the end of the journey. It’s just the beginning.” (333).

“Despite Mrs. Vaselli disapproving of my fasting (she thinks it’s a waste of time given that I don’t have salvation) she’s insisted I visit her whenever I can after dinner to eat dessert with her.”

There has been a growth in give and take between Mrs. Vaselli and Amal throughout the book. Now that Mrs. Vaselli has accepted Amal’s religion, she is asking her to try her religious customs as well, such as lent.

“Next year you trying Lent wiz me. Better for you” (336).

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Chapters 37-39

In this section, Leila has run away from home. Her mother, Gulchin, comes to Amal’s house demanding answers, blaming Amal for her disappearance, though it’s not her fault. Gulchin goes on to explain that she brought a good American boy over for dinner as an option for marriage.

“I tell her I forgiving her if she talk to him, he good man, he interested to engage her”(310).

“She girl, she supposed to be doing this, why she delaying?” (311).

Later on, on top of her best friend being somewhere unknown, she has a small interview for a job at a fast food restaurant. The manager comes out and sees Amal wearing her hijab, and instead of saying some excuse like the position has been filled, he says

“Sorry, love, we can’t accept people like you. The thing on your head, love, that’s what I mean. It’s not hygienic and it just don’t look good up at the front of the shop. Sorry, love. Try somewhere else” (318-319).

This was the first prejudice she had encountered when getting hired for a job. 

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Chapters 34-36

While at a wedding with her family and Yasmeen and her family, Amal and Yasmeen scanned the room, watching the crowd of people dance around and checking out boys. They decided that if a guy wore white socks and black shoes they were immediately disqualified because they were mommy’s boys or attached. They never stopped to ask them these questions, they just judged. She then makes the statement that no one is free from prejudice, no matter how small.

Later on, its Leila’s birthday and Amal and Yasmeen lie to their parents and Leila’s to go out to dinner, the only bummer is that Hakan coincidentally comes to eat at the same restaurant. There is a big scene and they are all kicked out of the restaurant. Amal blows up in Hakan’s face saying how disrespectful he is to her and that Leila knew nothing about the dinner plans. His final words to Amal were, “You bitch. You’ll never see Leila again” (294). And they didn’t for a long time.

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Chapters 31-33

Nothing notable happens in this section. 

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Chapters 28-30

After that catastrophe she sees an almost drunk Tia who says, “Piece of friendly advice: You should take that thing off before you do the dirty with [Adam].  It might get in his way”. This pushes her over the edge. Not only had she just fought with Adam, but now she also has to deal with Tia. In outrage, she pushes her onto the ground. Tia says she should go back to the desert cave she came from. Amal replies with an angry answer, “This is my country and if you ever forget it again I’m going to rip you head off!” (245). 

To top all of this humiliation off, there was a bombing in a Bali nightclub by Muslim terrorists. There was an assembly about it and then homeroom. You can imagine for the only Muslim girl at a private school, how people must be feeling towards you. One boy said, “Those filthy Islamic terrorists! Hast to be them!”. After the teacher told them to dial it down and channel their anger, that same boy said, “It’s not how to channel it, it’s who to channel it at” (250-251). Just when we think the world is at peace, something horrible like this happens that causes people to create stereotypes and discriminate against a certain community of people who may not even have any ties towards those who committed the horrible act. 

After the Bali bombing, Lara, the school president, asks Amal to give a speech on the topic of Islam and terrorism saying it would be valuable for her to explain to the student body why those terrorists did what they did and how they used Islam justified it. Just because she’s Muslim doesn’t mean that Amal knows what goes through every single other Muslim’s head. So Amal said she would do a speech on why Muslim terrorists used Islam to justify their means if Lara did the same with Christianity and the Ku Klux Klan. She didn’t mean it of course, but it was her way of saying its not just Islam. Amal then explains that the term “Muslim” is just a label for them. “In they end, they’re nutcases who exploded bombs and killed people.” (257). That is the first misconception between non-Muslims and Muslims. It is assumed that a person who practices Islam understands how Muslim terrorists justify their actions with their shared religion.

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Chapters 25-27

Nothing notable happens in this section.

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Chapters 22-24

Leila and Amal are watching a movie and Hakan comes down stairs and she tells him he’s in trouble with their parents because after he came home either wasted or high that night, he left the front door open. He insults her, acting all superior and macho like he has the upper hand, and tests her by pointing out that he’s untouchable. His mom fears him, and when his dad has threatened to kick him out of the house, his mother cries and says not to do it because he’s their only son and their first-born. I would say he’s got it made for those reasons. That’s a traditional view of the first-born male child. They are special.

After hanging out with Mrs. Vaselli, their not-so-grouchy-anymore next-door neighbor, Amal has finally gotten through to her. She said, “You stupid girl for hiding your beautiful hair [. . .] But your choice in end, I guessing. Oh well. No one should telling no one what to do when come to God. You no have salvation but you laugh a lot. Maybe Jesus let you in” (209). This is coming from a very religious Greek Orthodox. Mrs. Vaselli is finally looking past the piece of cloth to the person beneath the vail. She’s seeing through the stereotype. 

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Chapters 19-21

Nothing notable happens in this section.

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Chapters 16-18

In this section, Amal is asked repeatedly if she watched different documentaries on TV about different things pertaining to her religion and what others who share the same religion have done. Tia is the most persistent. 

“Hey Amal, did you watch that interview with those girls who were raped by those Lebanese Muslims? You must feel so ashamed” (154).

AND

 Adam, not trying to be a sarcastic jerk, asked her if she had watched the documentary on September 11 that night saying how it showed how crazy religious the hijackers were. She pointed out that just because she was Muslim didn’t mean that she watched every tv interview or documentary on the subject.

 On the first anniversary of 9/11, Amal is taking the bus to school and an older woman sits next to her and is complimenting her on her scarf and tells her stories of Middle-Eastern Women she worked with. After the bus driver turned up the radio to blast how “Muslims were violent” and how “they were trouble”, and after his dirty glares towards her, the woman sitting next to her stood up and asked him to “turn that nonsense down”. She then said, “I am sixty-seven years old.  And, dear, I’ve never let politics tell me how to treat people” (161). Now if only the rest of the world had the perspective this woman had, there would be no problems and no stereotypes towards other races and religions. 

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Chapters 13-15

In this section, Amal is sitting with her Aunt Casandra and her family and notices that there is no real "Muslim appearance". Muslims come in different shapes and sizes, skin tones, eye color and hair colors even. At school people said, "But you've got fair hair and light-colored eyes!" (135). People's normal thoughts of Muslims involve the Middle Eastern look: olive skin, dark eyes and dark hair. Around the world Muslims have no look. 

When trying to explain her prayer time to Adam, Amal brings sports into the example to help him out. She said that her prayer time is like a time out from life. It's a time for her to get her head together and be one with her God. So instead of having just one time out, there are five time outs per day. 

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Chapters 10-12

Nothing notable happens in these chapters. 

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Chapters 7-9

After a few days of wearing the hijab, Amal finally got the influx of questions she had been waiting for: 

Did your parents force you? What's the deal with that thing on your head? Can I touch it? Can you swim? Do you wear it in the shower? Why does it look different on you compared to the women wearing the really bright material with that red paint on their hands?

She answered them all, feeling quite pleased with herself afterwards and feeling happy that people were starting to accept her for herself and her religion. 

Now while Leila's mother is clinging to her culture, Amal's Aunt and Uncle are not. They have changed their names and bleached their hair just to fit in. They want to detach themselves from their Islamic and Arabic cultures completely. They called Amal and her family crazy for fasting at Ramadan and they ask why they bother to pray, saying that they are too extreme. When Amal stated that she was wearing the hijab full time, her aunty asked her why because she had such beautiful hair. Her uncle asked her mother why she would make Amal do that and put her through all the humiliation. They don't understand that she is more involved in her faith then her Aunt and Uncle and that she is free to follow her religion in any way she pleases. 

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Chapters 4-6

So this is Amal's first official day at McClean's and she wears the hijab to school. She goes to see her principal, Ms. Walsh, first thing in the morning. The first assumption she had was that Amal's parents made her wear it, which was not correct. She didn't realize that wearing the hijab was her choice to grow stronger in what she believed in. I can understand where she's coming from, thinking that Amal's parents made her wear the hijab because many view Islam as an oppressive religion when it really isn't. Wearing the hijab is similar to the wearing of crosses by Christians or the Star of David by Jews. The only difference here is that the hijab is slightly more apparent. 

When her parents question her decision to go full time after getting a call from the principal, Amal explains that she had gone through every single scenario in her head and that this decision is, "[her] duty and defines [her] as a Muslim female" (52). I agree with that. 

At school one day, Amal hears some girls by their locker say the word oppressed and something else about her looking like a slob with the hijab on. This is not ok. They're judging her by her religious attire.