Chapter 17 - End

"Last night I dreamed that we were swimming inside a map. On one side the river flowed to the border of Canada, a skinny blue green line wriggling in the distance. page 153"

I think this quote is a perfect way to end the last chapter. It bring together two of the biggest themes of the book: waters and maps. Earlier in the book, Nadira said that where she was from the water and land melt in to each other, and there is no difference between land and water. Earlier in the book she says that borders are blue squiggly lines on a map. Now she mixed both of these ideas together, with the additional theme of swimming, to show that she is making her way to the border. It is interesting that she said that could see a skinny blue green line in the distance, because you can't actually see a line when you get to a border. I think this dream symbolized everything she has gone through, emigrating from Bangaladesh, learning how to swim, holding her breath through those hard times, and finally almost getting to Canada. I think concluded the book in a good way, in addition to giving you a taste of what is going to happen in the last few pages.

Chapter 16

"Ma is most definitely not the same. She insists on wearing that purple coat everywhere, all the time, even when it's warm out. And she doesn't walk behind Abba as in the old days, but gently leads him along while he gets his strength back. 142"

As the quote says Ma has really changed. It seems like this purple coat is her confidence coat. For her it symbolizes the time when she had to be alone, and take care of herself. She is no longer the woman who stays at home all day. The one who's only friend is Rachael Ray. She has more social experience, and knows how to be with herself, and be comfortable with that. Do you think Abba is bothered by Ma's new confidence?

Chapter 15

"They ask about how Abba is doing and how the case is going, and they know all about Aisha and how she may be valedictorian. 128"

We always talk about how Aisha and Nadira have changed, but I think this quote really shows how Ma has changed since we last heard from her. We left her on the curb in a purple raincoat. She was shy, and didn't want to stand out. Now she is talking all about a matter that both Nadira and Aisha have kept hush hush about, that Abba is in jail. She seems to be much more bold and social than she used to be.

Also, since we were talking about reactoins in Nickie and Robin's blog this weekend, I wonder how Ma and Abba will react to the whole Aisha's life is going down the tube situation. Ma is obviously VERY proud of Aisha, because she is telling people she doesn't know very well all about her achievments. I also think she was telling these people about Aisha because it was one of the only things she could be proud of right now.

Chapter 13 & 14

" 'If you know how to breathe, you can get through anything.'  116"

I think that when Abba said this to Nadira he not only meant that you can get through anything when you breathe, he also is talking about all the others skills he taught Nadira when they were at the pool.  Traits such patience, persistence, and knowing how to breathe.  I think Nadira seems like a pretty calm person overall, and maybe this will be a foreshadow to what is ahead.  Will Aisha and Nadira get into a sketchy situation and need to keep calm?  Or maybe even a situation where she needs to spy at people from under water?  Maybe she and her dad will make a great escape from the detention center in water!

Chapter 12

"I didn't even know that you could do something like that.  I sure didn't know a girl could do something like that.  106"

I found this quote really interesting, because once again we are given a look into how Nadira was brought up.  As we read earlier, Uncle doesn't think that women should be in charge of a household.  Nadria and Aisha were raised believing that women can't do everything that men can.  Especially at GMS where we are taught that women can definitely do anything that men can, it is interesting to see Nadira in this situation.  I don't necessarily think that Nadria doesn't think she is capable of being a Geologist, but she just didn't know that women Geologist were accepted in her community.  

Chapter 11

" ' Before, you always took over, Aisha.  It's like you didn't have room for me' ... 'There's plenty of room, Nadira.  You just have to learn how to grab it.' "

I really liked this series of quotes, because I think it was really the major turing point for these two sisters.  It seems like this explains that in some way that Aisha didn't always mean to be overpowering, but she just needed to take up her part of the power pie.  (see image I made at below)  Aisha has been using her total potential power the whole time, and Nadira has it all, she just doesn't use it.  I noticed that after Nadira learned about her extra power left in the pie, she started to use it.  I noticed that she seemed much more brave and bold in the rest of chapter 11.  (including spying on Lilly's fathers second mystery family)

Chapter 10

" 'It's all my fault.  I should have been able to convince them to let Uncle out'.  86"

I found this quote really interesting, because it was my one of my first chances to look inside a little deeper at Aisha.  This quote really opened my eyes to show me that Aisha can be insecure too, and that she isn't always strong like she wants us to think she is.  I am glad that I was able to notice this, because now I can feel like I can relate to her a little bit more.  I know when something bad happens to the people around me, I sometimes feel like I am to blame, even though it really isn't my fault.

Chapter 9

"If I say that is angry, he explained, then I should never be surprised by the harm.  And if I say something good, then it is like watching my own garden grow, and that is the greatest pleasure ever. 79"

I really enjoyed this quote because it really showed me something about how to be a good person.  I think Ali-Uncle is a good person to take advice from because he always thinks before he talks.  I think that this quote can be thought of as your good character.  If you say something hurtful, then there might be a bad consequence.  If you say good things, then your good character will grow.  Think of this garden of the garden of character.  I wonder if Nadria and Aisha's garden will grow...

Chapter 8

"I notice all the folders in the usually neat office: stacked upon his desk, on the extra chairs.  Our family is just one folder, I realize, and not a very important one. 64"

I think that these sentences are very interesting.  At first I was just thinking about it literally: this lawyer dude just has tons of folders, and one belongs to this family.  This family's folder isn't very important though, because they aren't paying clients.

Then I move on to more deep thinking.  Do these folders represent their soceity?  Do they think they are just a small unimportant part of it?  But if it was about their community, would they want to be an important folder, because they don't want to stand out?  I guess everyone is just a folder on a cluttered desk, and sometimes we are important to the lawyer, and sometimes, we're not...

Documentary and Book

"We pass a sign: LEAVING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 12"

It seems that when Nadira's family crosses the border it is a big deal.  When the men in the documentary  cross the border, all they do is walk across, and just keep walking.  There isn't even any indication that you are entering a new country.  It seems like their different border crossing experiences were much, much different.

Chapter 6

"In the mirror all I se is a fat girl with chubby hands.  I look stupid, not like someone who's good at math or anything else.  49"

I found this quote very interesting because if revolved around how Nadira sees herself physically and how she sees herself as a person.  She is obviously not confident in herself, because she is criticizing how she looks yet again.  This seems to be one of her weakest topics.  Also, whenever I think about someone being good at something, I don't look at them and think right off the bat, "Oh she must be really smart" or "she must be really good at baseball".  You kind of have to get to know somebody to know what their interests are.  It seems like Nadira needs to spend some time getting to know herself, and stop judging herself by her cover.

AMNQ Character List

Nadira:  high school aged girl, that is from Bangladesh who is not very confident.  She is also the narrator of the book

Aisha: Nadira's sister. Senior in high school.  Very confident and smart.  Dreamt of going to Harvard

Ma:  Nadira and Aisha's mom.  Currently in a shelter in Vermont wearing a purple raincoat.

Abba: Nadria and Aisha's dad.  Used to be a driver.  Currently in immigration detention after trying to cross the Canadian border with an expired visa.

Mr. Friedlander: College counselor at the high school.  Currently helping Aisha get an interview at a college. 

Tareq: baggy jeans wearer, high school drop-out, fearsome temper.  Drives fancy car.

Ali-Uncle:  Works at magazine shop, Ma + Abba's friend, prays often

Taslima: Nadria + Aisha's cousin, college student, wears hip-hugging jeans + tight t-shirts

Tim: Taslima's law advisor and boyfriend 

Auntie: Nadria + Aisha's aunt, Taslima's mom

Uncle: Nadria + Aisha's uncle, Taslima's dad

Chapter 5

Ask Me No Questions Chapter 5 Quotes:

"The bottom of his kurta blows against his knees like two flimsy pieces of wash, and the words inside me are stones in my mouth.  37"

"Only sometimes it feels lonely being this way, as if their voices are turning me to heavy stone.  41"

When I read this first quote I though that words turning to stone was a great image, and it really stuck with me.  When I kept on reading and stumbled across the other quote using stone on page 41 I remembered the other quote and realized that in both quotes she compared words and stone.  She feels like what people say are "weighing her down", and she needs to break out of this stone and do something. (for more on this see Robin's post)  Leave what people have said behind and move on.  Just like when you go camping, you have to leave the stones behind, that's what Nadira has to do.  

Interesting Point!

Sarah made a really good point over on her blog.

"Still, no matter where our borders, this is a land where the earth melts into the sea and back again;"-Page 19

I never thought of this quote of the world melting as a way of saying we all live on one planet!  This quote also really stood out to me when I was reading, but it made me think more about how the borders on the map don't really mean anything besides "Welcome to Canada!"  It is all land, and we all live on it.  

Dennyce also made a really good connection between AMNQ and AAHM in her blog!

Chapters 3 & 4

In chapters 3 & 4 the quote that I think quote that stood out to me the most was: 

"And the people from the other side, in what had been West Bengal, kept coming, flooding into our villages the way the water used to come.  22"

I really liked this sentence because it really showed how many people came into the village and the image it made in my head was very clear:  people swarming through in waves.  The image is kind of hard to explain in words.  It is reminds me of when I was little I would go hands-on science-type museums and there were be experiments you could do with water.  You would put up a barrier at the end of a "river" and let the water store up, then you could remove the barrier and the water would just rush really fast.  This is how I envisioned this quote, just with people instead of water.