Burnt Shadows

Kim drives across the US-Canadian border with Abdullah in the trunk of her rented SUV, then pulls over down the road to allow Abdullah to move to the passenger seat. Abdullah finds American road signs (DEER CROSSING, BRIDGE AHEAD, etc.) funny and takes them as evidence of Americans’ discomfort with surprise, saying that he now understands how Americans react to the unexpected. Kim bristles, interpreting this comment as a reference to 9/11, and Abdullah tries to explain how once, on a road trip with friends, he saw Americans carefully driving around a pile of stuffed animals. Kim assumes that the Afghans drove through the pile but doesn’t want to seem more sensitive over toys than the Afghans dying in the war abroad. Abdullah, worried Kim will think he is a thief, doesn’t explain that his friends gathered the stuffed animals to send home to their children in Afghanistan.

Abdullah tells Kim that Americans don’t understand war because their wars are always fought abroad. Kim asks him if he thinks it would be better if wars were fought everywhere. Kim grows suspicious and wonders why Abdullah didn’t turn himself in, confident that at worst he would be deported back to Afghanistan. Kim attempts conversation again, complimenting Hiroko. Abdullah praises Hiroko for converting to Islam and assuring Sajjad and Raza’s place in heaven, according to Islamic tradition. Kim asks Abdullah if he has ever read the Quran, which is written and recited in Classical Arabic, a language he understands. Abdullah replies that he understands Islam, and Kim tells Abdullah that his heaven “is an abomination” if it accepts the man who murdered Harry as a martyr (353). Abdullah asks not to speak anymore but thanks Kim when she drops him off at the rendezvous point, a fast-food restaurant.

Raza, arriving safely in Canada, pays extra money to his Canadian contacts to ensure Abdullah has a safe journey to Afghanistan. Raza is in the fast-food restaurant when Abdullah arrives, and a grateful Abdullah tells Raza how Hiroko and Kim helped get him across the border. Raza thinks of the story of Mohammed and the spider, when a quickly-spun web shielded Mohammed from his pursuers. Sajjad told the story to Konrad Weiss, who told it to Hiroko, who in turn told it to Harry and Raza, and Harry hoped one day Raza would tell it to Kim. Raza is glad that Kim has joined the legacy of the Tanaka-Ashrafs and Weiss-Burtons looking out for one another.

Raza tells Abdullah everything, and Abdullah is amazed that Raza’s first instinct was still to help him, saying, “truly now you are an Afghan” (357). Abdullah tells Raza he thinks he may have upset Kim but isn’t sure why. Abdullah explains his frustration over Kim’s disparaging of Islam when Abdullah’s brother died fighting for Americans against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Abdullah begins to panic about leaving the United States, and Raza tries to calm him.

Raza sees Kim speaking to two police officers in the parking lot and pointing through the windows of the restaurant. Raza trades his bomber jacket for Abdullah’s grey winter coat and gives Abdullah the rest of his money, telling him to take his car and run. As the police enter, Raza stands and shouts “Allah-o-Akbar,” a traditional Muslim declaration, to call attention to himself. Outside, Kim crouches by her car, agonizing over her decision, when she realizes that the police have caught Raza, not Abdullah.

Kim tries to tell the policemen that they’ve arrested the wrong man, but Raza tells her in Urdu to be quiet, knowing Harry will have taught her a few words. Raza doesn’t want Kim to save him, preferring to sacrifice himself to give Abdullah as much time to escape as possible.

Kim is angry and confused by Raza’s actions. When the police ask Kim to confirm if Raza is the right man, Raza tells her in Urdu to say yes. Ignoring her instinct to save Raza, Kim follows his lead and tells the policemen that Raza is the man she called them about, adding that she’s not sure if he’s done anything wrong and admitting to them that she is struggling after her father’s recent death in Afghanistan.

As the police escort Raza to their car, Raza and Kim share a look, in which Raza senses Kim’s request for forgiveness, “clearer than the words of any language” (364). 

Kim returns to New York, wrestling with whether she has made the right decision. Kim is at once sure that the Canadian police will release Raza soon, not knowing that he is a fugitive, and furious with Raza for allowing Abdullah to escape. Kim arrives home to find Hiroko waiting for her, having heard the whole story from Abdullah, who called her on Omar’s phone, assuming Hiroko’s phone was bugged by the CIA after talking with Raza at the restaurant. Hiroko tells Kim that Raza is a suspect in Harry’s death and that Abdullah called Hiroko to find out if it would help or hurt Raza if Abdullah turned himself in. Kim tries to explain why her suspicion of Abdullah was justified. Hiroko calls Kim out for her biased thinking. Kim tries to defend herself, saying Abdullah reminded her of Harry’s murderer. Hiroko asks Kim if she should imagine US President Harry Truman when she looks at Kim. Kim, angry, insists that Raza will be fine. Hiroko tells Kim that Kim’s justifications for her actions have made Hiroko understand how the Americans could drop a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki after seeing the effects of the first on Hiroshima: Individual suffering is rendered meaningless when placed in the outsized context of nationalistic goals.

The two women sit in silence, and Kim tries to contact the Canadian police. She reaches one of the men who arrested Raza and tries to explain her mistake. The policeman tells Kim, on speaker phone, that she did the right thing, that the American government is looking for Raza, and that her father would be proud of her. Hiroko leaves Kim on the couch to look out the window as the world outside goes on.