Home Fire Research
Kamila Shamsie's novel Home Fire has brought many topics regarding historical events and assimilation into the spotlight. The novel is heavily influenced by the themes of assimilation, conflicting identities, and family. The fact that Shamsie chose to set the story in a Muslim household living in London really brings out the burdens they faced as a result of racial profiling, discrimination and unfair immigration policies.
Throughout the book, terms such as 'MI5' and 'IRA' have made me wonder about Britain's history with terrorism. There have been multiple references to the 'War on terror' and 'the State'. Although the last two terms are fairly straightforward, I'm still not very sure of their direct effects on Muslims living in countries such as Britain, and the injustices they faced as a result of racial profiling. Isma's interrogation at the Heathrow airport (even though it was quite early on in the book) made me wonder whether there were specific events in Britain that led to heightened racial tensions circa 2015. Researching what events specifically led to racial profiling of British Muslims would be interesting as it would allow me to understand why Isma's family is in their current situation.
Overall, there have been many instances where throughout Home Fire where I didn't understand the significance of a certain reference or the certain sentiment it carried. Researching events such as the attempted IRA bombing of a bridge on North Circular Road in London will allow me to further understand and appreciate Shamsie's story.
The reference of the IRA also left me with an interest of why it was included in the text. This fascination is what actually made me decide to research it for my research excursion. It is a very interesting line of research if you decide to pursue it.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great research topic. In the US, 9/11 is the primary reason for the "increased security" that has really allowed prejudice towards Muslims, but I am curious if Britain has different reasons/motivations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Calvin! Because we're living in the US, we've only gotten to see terrorism through the lens of a post-9/11 era. I'd be interested in learning about terrorism through the lens of a British citizen and how that compares and contrasts with America's views.
DeleteAs you pointed out, the IRA comment left me stumped! I really thought it was going to be revisited, but I one connection I think is interesting it shows that terrorism is a generational thing, something that will keep repeating itself. Because of this, I think it is kind of interesting how Eamonn's name was spelled the Irish way rather than the Pakistani name of "Ayman", which sort of points out how frivolous xenophobia and prejudice is, as much of the Islamaphobia and anti-refugee sentiments in Europe, and the U.K. especially mirror those same sentiments against Irish people when the IRA was more active.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish connection is interesting given that the IRA is the Irish Republican Army. Hopefully we will all learn more about this from Marc's and others's research excursions!
DeleteI've also pondered the significance of the M15 and the IRA, but they were never addressed as the story progressed and it sucked to leave a detail like that without much context. I completely agree that there are instances in which it is ambiguous whether or not some details are significant or not. It really be like that sometimes. >:/
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