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Captain Linnaeus Rydendale
Xaanan is Waris’s mother. She’s a Somali immigrant who fled to London at the outset of the Somali civil war. She splits her time between teaching martial arts and working at a refuge for Muslim women. She trained her children in martial arts, advising them to be warriors and not let anyone take pity on them for who they are.
Xaanan Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Xaanan or refer to Xaanan. 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: Yazz
Quotes
you’ve really suffered, Yazz says, I feel sorry for you, not in a patronizing way, it’s empathy, actually
I haven’t suffered, not really, my mother and grandmother suffered because they lost their loved ones and their homeland, whereas my suffering is mainly in my head
it’s not in your head when people deliberately barge into you
it is compared to half a million people who died in the Somali civil war, I was born here and I’m going to succeed in this country, I can’t afford not to work my butt off, I know it’s going to be tough when I get on the job market but you know what, Yazz? I’m not a victim, don’t ever treat me like a victim, my mother didn’t raise me to be a victim.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Girl, Woman, Other LitChart as a printable PDF.
Xaanan Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Xaanan or refer to Xaanan. 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: Yazz
Quotes
you’ve really suffered, Yazz says, I feel sorry for you, not in a patronizing way, it’s empathy, actually
I haven’t suffered, not really, my mother and grandmother suffered because they lost their loved ones and their homeland, whereas my suffering is mainly in my head
it’s not in your head when people deliberately barge into you
it is compared to half a million people who died in the Somali civil war, I was born here and I’m going to succeed in this country, I can’t afford not to work my butt off, I know it’s going to be tough when I get on the job market but you know what, Yazz? I’m not a victim, don’t ever treat me like a victim, my mother didn’t raise me to be a victim.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
