83 pages • 2 hours read
Kamila ShamsieHome Fire
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Intersection of Birthplace and National Identity
All main characters of the novel—Isma, Eamonn, Parvaiz, Aneeka, and Karamat—have different approaches to Islam and their Pakistani heritage, and Shamsie uses their varying perspectives to highlight how problematic the concept of national identity is for Muslims living in Western countries.
Two of these five characters, Isma and Karamat, have jarringly opposing views of the issue of identity. Isma, when asked by the airport security if she considers herself British, responds that she had lived in Britain all her life, meaning that “there was no other country of which she could feel herself a part” (9). For people like her, who were born and raised in one country but have strong cultural and religious ties to another one, a struggle to assimilate while keeping their identity is something that often accompanies them throughout life. Although wearing a hijab and practicing Islam are integral parts of Isma’s identity, other people might use them to cast her as a radical Muslim. Moreover, by preserving her identity while living in modern Britain, Isma unwillingly opposes people like Karamat, who believe that those who “set [them]selves apart” (87) from British society deserve to be “treated differently” (88) or even denied a homeland.
Contrary to Isma, Karamat pursued a different path and severed his ties with his Pakistani heritage, making his birthplace, Great Britain, and its traditions his identity. As a result, the press described Karamat as “a man ‘from a Muslim background,’ […] as though Muslim-ness was something he had boldly stridden away from” (43). Thus, both Isma and Karamat struggle with their identity but in different ways: Isma wants to adhere to her religion and culture, but at the same time to be an exemplary British citizen, realizing that she is “in no position to let the state question [her] loyalties” (53). Karamat, on the contrary, must reinvent himself once he becomes a politician and constructs his identity solely on his birthplace, Britain.
Loyalty to the Family Versus Loyalty to the State
Using Parvaiz as an example, Shamsie explores what drives young people to join ISIS and challenges the prevailing nihilism of discussions about recruited men, which is often reduced to labeling all those who go to Syria as “terrorists” or “extremists.” She also strives to foreground what makes British nationals abandon their family and pledge loyalty to the Islamic state.
Farooq, before even starting to talk to Parvaiz about ISIS, channels his efforts into undermining Parvaiz’s trust in his family and in Britain. He blames Isma and Aneeka for failing to raise Parvaiz like a man and portrays the UK as a place that oppresses Muslims. Therefore, he deepens Parvaiz’s sense of isolation—he no longer feels a part of his family, nor of Britain—and at the same time cultivates Parvaiz’s yearning to belong.
Thus, Farooq’s strategy of persuading Parvaiz to join ISIS is twofold. First, he tries to present the Caliphate as an idyllic society where Muslims don’t feel the oppression prevalent in Western countries; telling stories about his time spent in Syria and showing pictures of picturesque nature instills in Parvaiz’s mind the idea that it is a place of camaraderie and harmony. Second, Farooq repeatedly feeds Parvaiz stories about Adil, portraying him as “the father every son wishes he had” (154). Hearing about his father’s bravery deepens Parvaiz’s crisis of masculinity, and Farooq’s manipulations further enhance it.
Crisis of Masculinity and Its Consequences
Shamsie focuses on the myths sons tell themselves about their fathers, and how fathers can bring destruction, even those absent from their children’s lives. The author explores these fractured father-son relationships through the example of Karamat and Eamonn, and Adil and Parvaiz.
Karamat considered his son to be “a public-school boy who lives off his mother because he can and has no ambition beyond beating his own high score in computer games” (137). While Karamat has always been a zealous man determined to build a successful political career, Eamonn did not follow in his footsteps and chose for himself a comfortable job in management consultancy and occasionally took breaks to travel. As a result, Karamat doesn’t consider his son a real man, and although he doesn’t say it to him directly, he can’t suppress his disappointment in him. When Karamat learns about Aneeka and her strong character, he admits that “his poor boy never stood a chance” (278) and later blames Eamonn for not having a spine to resist her manipulations. Isma tries to convince Karamat that he doesn’t know his own son well, and that in Eamonn, “there’s strength where [Karamat] think[s] there’s weakness” (276), but Karamat dismisses her words.
On the contrary, Parvaiz was raised in an all-women household and didn’t have a role model to teach him how to navigate and perform his masculinity. He never knew his father but had always yearned for those stories of his father, where he is “not a footloose boy or feckless husband but a man of courage who fought injustice, [and] saw beyond the lie of national boundaries” (153). Listening to Farooq’s exaggerated stories about Adil’s heroism, Parvaiz develops a feeling of inadequacy, and as a result, strives to prove that he is as brave as his father. Because of Farooq’s manipulations, Parvaiz starts to believe that he is not a real man; he presumes that the only way for him to attain his manhood is to go to a place where there’s no space for women.
For both Eamonn and Parvaiz, this crisis of masculinity leads to death: Parvaiz goes to Syria to prove he is worthy of being called his father’s son, and Eamonn travels to Karachi to show his father that he is a courageous, independent thinker. Thus, Shamsie foregrounds how problematic the issue of manhood is and what far-reaching consequences one’s fractured masculinity might have.
Related Titles
By Kamila Shamsie
