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Abu Salim
Elishva’s second daughter lives in Melbourne, Australia, along with her sister, Hilda; their husbands, and Hilda’s son, Daniel. Both daughters call their mother Elishva at church every Sunday by calling Father Josiah’s cell phone. Although Matilda is usually patient with Elishva’s fanciful belief that her late son, Daniel, will return to Baghdad, she frequently threatens her mother to come to Iraq in order to take her away from so much violence. This initially sounds like an empty threat, but it finally comes true at the end of the novel, when Hilda and Matilda send Elishva’s grandson Daniel to the old lady’s house: they use the boy’s resemblance to Elishva’s son to convince the old lady to follow them back to Australia. This elaborate scheming reflects Hilda and Matilda’s concern for their mother, as well as their conviction that leaving Baghdad is necessary given the current conflicts ravaging the city.
Matilda Quotes in Frankenstein in Baghdad
The Frankenstein in Baghdad quotes below are all either spoken by Matilda or refer to Matilda. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
With her veined and wrinkled hand, Elishva would put the Nokia phone to her ear. Upon hearing her daughters’ voices, the darkness would lift and she would feel at peace. If she had gone straight back to Tayaran Square, she would have found that everything was calm, just as she had left it in the morning. The sidewalks would be clean and the cars that had caught fire would have been towed away.
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Elishva no longer shared with anyone her belief that Daniel was still alive. She just waited to hear the voice of Matilda or Hilda because they would put up with her, however strange this idea of hers. The two daughters knew their mother clung to the memory of her late son in order to go on living. There was no harm in humoring her.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
If the argument was interrupted, Elishva would argue with herself instead or grab hold of one of the women in the church to listen to her fiery sermon about how she refused to leave her home and move to a place she knew nothing about. Father Josiah encouraged her to stay, because he saw it as a religious obligation. It wasn’t good that everyone should leave the country. Things had been just as bad for the Assyrians in previous centuries, but they had stayed in Iraq and had survived. None of us should think only of ourselves. That’s what he said in his sermon sometimes.
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Matilda Quotes in Frankenstein in Baghdad
The Frankenstein in Baghdad quotes below are all either spoken by Matilda or refer to Matilda. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
With her veined and wrinkled hand, Elishva would put the Nokia phone to her ear. Upon hearing her daughters’ voices, the darkness would lift and she would feel at peace. If she had gone straight back to Tayaran Square, she would have found that everything was calm, just as she had left it in the morning. The sidewalks would be clean and the cars that had caught fire would have been towed away.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Elishva no longer shared with anyone her belief that Daniel was still alive. She just waited to hear the voice of Matilda or Hilda because they would put up with her, however strange this idea of hers. The two daughters knew their mother clung to the memory of her late son in order to go on living. There was no harm in humoring her.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5
Quotes
If the argument was interrupted, Elishva would argue with herself instead or grab hold of one of the women in the church to listen to her fiery sermon about how she refused to leave her home and move to a place she knew nothing about. Father Josiah encouraged her to stay, because he saw it as a religious obligation. It wasn’t good that everyone should leave the country. Things had been just as bad for the Assyrians in previous centuries, but they had stayed in Iraq and had survived. None of us should think only of ourselves. That’s what he said in his sermon sometimes.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
