Home Fire

For both Isma and Aneeka, the hijab is a symbol of their deep connection with Islam and their cultural background. However, the siblings have different and sometimes contrasting attitudes toward their headwear. Isma doesn’t question her obligation to wear a turban and does it with pride. For her, the turban is a shield that separates her from the rest of the world and gives her a sense of security and belonging. When Isma’s mentor, Dr. Shah, “turned her attention to a piece of fabric and said, ‘There, that and an untold story are the only obstacles between [Isma] and [Eamonn]’” (52), suggesting that taking off the turban would make her relationship with Eamonn more trusting, Isma at first views the recommendation as a transgression. After some considerations, she agrees to meet Eamonn in her apartment and uncover her head, hoping that he would interpret the gesture as an invitation to a closer relationship. However, by taking off the turban, Isma feels as if she put aside the strength her religion gives her, and instead feels all the more vulnerable and unprotected.

Aneeka, on the other hand, takes off her hijab willingly and within the first minutes of spending time with Eamonn alone in his apartment. For her, this act of uncovering her head in the presence of a stranger symbolizes her willingness to put aside all norms and conventions for the sake of doing what she thinks is right. Aneeka’s swift decision to take off her hijab becomes a turning point in her relationship with Eamonn and marks the beginning of their affair. In her case, the hijab symbolizes the strict religious rules and norms of behavior, with which she grew up, and by shedding aside her hijab, Aneeka also sheds aside her willingness to follow the conventions of Islam obediently.  

During one of her walks after a snowstorm in Massachusetts, Isma finds a lost glove in the snow and wonders how it would now match to its former pair. Isma notices “the weight of snow pressing familiarity out of the objects, so that the glove placed beside its former pair looked no more than a distant relative. And what then do you do? Throw away both gloves, or wear them mismatched to acknowledge the miracle of their reunion?” (14). This pair of gloves symbolizes Isma’s fractured relationship with Parvaiz: Although she condemns his choices and practically denounces him for the sake of protecting herself and Aneeka, she doesn’t reject the idea that one day they will reconnect and find a way to recultivate their sister-brother bond. Just like a single glove is incomplete without its pair and can’t function sufficiently, so is one sibling without another. Thus, the pair of gloves, where one glove has been missing for a long time but is now found, symbolizes Isma’s hope that one day Parvaiz will come back, and her trepidation about how to restore their relationship should Parvaiz find a way back home.