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Chapter 6 – Parvaiz
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Home Fire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Islam, Nationality, and Identity.
Familial Love, Protection, and Betrayal
Fathers, Sons, and Inheritance
Stereotypes vs. Individuality
Summary
Analysis
After not being allowed to board the plane to Turkey, Aneeka is unable to process the news of Parvaiz’s death. She thinks that everyone in her life dies, but that Parvaiz has always been there to process that grief with her. She pushes the idea away, asking for proof that it is in fact Parvaiz who has died. She goes upstairs and locks her door, thinking that this has all been a mistake, that Parvaiz must be on his way to her, and she falls asleep.
Much of this chapter depicts Aneeka’s severe grief at losing her brother, reinforcing the deep bonds that had existed between them and clarifying why it is so important to her that his body be returned to Britain. This also adds to Aneeka’s horror over Isma’s betrayal, as Aneeka connects his inability to come home (and subsequently, his death) to Isma’s talking to the police.
Themes
Aneeka wakes late the next morning. Isma arrives back from America and immediately tries to comfort her. She says, “we’ll always have each other,” but Aneeka thinks that “‘always’ was only Parvaiz.” The man from the Pakistan High Commission who informed them of Parvaiz’s death returns, but Aneeka insists that they have the wrong person, and that Parvaiz is a British citizen. The man apologizes, saying that he is there because “the home secretary has a point to prove about Muslims.” Aneeka then realizes that Eamonn has not yet called her back.
Aneeka again pushes her sister away because she views Isma as an indirect contributor to her brother’s death, even though Isma is simply trying to maintain what little family she has left. Additionally, the representative from the Pakistan High Commission who tells them of their brother’s death makes a telling statement: that Karamat is using Parvaiz’s death to implement general laws and paint other Muslims with a broad brush, while simultaneously distancing himself even further from his heritage and his faith.
Themes
On TV, the news reports on Parvaiz’s story. It says the Turkish government confirmed that the man killed in a shooting outside the British consulate was “Wembley-born Pervys Pasha, the latest name in the string of Muslims from Britain who have joined ISIS.” They report that they do not know why he was approaching the British consulate, but that a terror attack has not been ruled out. They report that it is likely the attacker was from a rival jihadi group.
Here and throughout the rest of the novel, news stories and reports like this one play the same role that the chorus would in ancient Greek tragedies like Antigone, commenting on the action and speaking for the public (and sometimes for the audience). This news story illustrates the ways in which people like Parvaiz are stereotyped. He is grouped in with terrorists and given very little additional context; the reports even speculate that he might have been about to commit violence even though he was a victim of ISIS himself and never perpetrated a violent crime. Readers already know the truth from Parvaiz’s perspective, but the British public doesn’t provide any space at all for that perspective.
Themes
The news then shows a clip of an interview with Karamat, who says that he has revoked the citizenship of all dual nationals who left Britain to “join our enemies.” He says that Parvaiz was a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan and that his body will be returned to “his home nation, Pakistan.” He says, “we will not let those who turn against the soil of Britain in their lifetime sully that very soil in death.” The reporter asks if Parvaiz’s family in London has been informed, and Karamat responds that that’s a matter for the Pakistan High Commission.
This is a fulfillment of Isma’s statement in Hira Shah’s class in which she noted that Muslim British citizens involved in violent acts of terror are “rhetorically being made un-British.” Here, Karamat emphasizes Parvaiz’s Muslim identity rather than his British one. Despite the fact that Parvaiz was born in London and never lived in Pakistan, Karamat treats Pakistan as if it is his “home country.” Again, Karamat’s sentiments here matches those of King Creon in Antigone; he believes that people who have dishonored their home nations do not deserve dignified burials there.
Themes
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No mourners come to the house. Only Gladys phones to express her sympathies. A news clip has appeared of her telling cameras, “[Parvaiz] was a beautiful, gentle boy. Don’t you try to tell me who he was. I knew him from the day he was born. Shame on you, Mr. Home Secretary.”
Gladys’s plea serves as an argument for the fact that Parvaiz’s situation should not be generalized, nor should he be treated like a stereotype rather than an individual. But Isma later recognizes that Gladys is free to make such statements in a way that Isma and Aneeka are not. As a white woman, Gladys’s loyalty to her nationality is never questioned, even when she openly supports Parvaiz.
Themes
Aneeka feels grief so viscerally that it “flay[s]” her. She realizes that she has moved past grief and into rage. The police then come to Aunty Naseem’s—not to talk about Parvaiz, she realizes, but to talk about Eamonn. Aneeka tells them she started their relationship because she thought he could help get her brother home. When they ask her why the secrecy, she says, “Because of men like you with your notepads and your recorders. Because I wanted him to want to do anything for me before I asked him to do something for my brother. […] What would you stop at to help the people you love most?”
Aneeka’s overwhelming grief is one of the novel’s clearest parallels with Antigone, in which the protagonist is so devastated by the death of her brother Polynices that she defies her king in order to honor Polynices. The interview that Aneeka gives reveals her own betrayal in pursuing a relationship with Eamonn and keeping it a secret. Whereas the police (and Isma) find Aneeka’s actions incredibly suspicious and upsetting, Aneeka feels that she is completely justified by her loyalty to her brother and her intense desire to protect him and bring him home.
Themes
Isma hears Aneeka give this interview. When the police leave, Aneeka sees that Isma is “wounded and appalled.” Aneeka turns on her, saying, “If you liked him you should have done it yourself. Why didn’t you love our brother enough to do it yourself?”
Isma’s reaction to Aneeka’s revelation about her relationship with Eamonn makes it clear how much she views this as a betrayal, particularly because Isma also had romantic aspirations with Eamonn. But to Aneeka, Isma’s feelings for Eamonn only make Isma guiltier; Aneeka thinks that Isma could have done the same thing Aneeka in order to help Parvaiz.
Themes
Isma tries to comfort Aneeka, but Aneeka says she knows Isma doesn’t want to see her because of Eamonn. Isma insists that they’re still family. Aneeka is upset that it seems Isma is more hurt about Eamonn than Parvaiz. Aneeka says she doesn’t want her company because she betrayed Parvaiz. Isma tells Aneeka that that’s not why he’s dead. Isma apologizes.
The anger between the two sisters illustrates that their different methods of trying to protect their family have only served to drive a further wedge between them. Even though Isma is trying to repair the relationship between them, the mutual hurt ultimately overcomes any attempt to reconcile what they’ve each done.
Themes
Aneeka asks if Isma believes in heaven and hell. Isma says only as parables. When Aneeka asks her what she thinks happens when people die, Isma says she doesn’t know. Aneeka insists that she needs to bring Parvaiz’s body home. Isma says that Aneeka cannot do that because of the trouble it could get them both in—they can’t even say the things Gladys said. Isma says that she loves Aneeka too much to do anything else. Aneeka says “your love is useless to me if you won’t help,” and tells her to leave.
Even though they each carry a lot of love for each other, part of the conflict between them lies in the person to whom they are most loyal. Isma has always felt closest to Aneeka, describing later how Aneeka feels more like a child than a sister to her. Aneeka, on the other hand, has always been most connected to her twin brother. And so, even when they are trying to protect their family, they have different priorities of who to protect most within that family, and that creates the tension between them.
Themes
A news story emerges quoting Isma, “the 28-year-old sister of London-born terrorist Parvaiz Pasha,” as she says that she and Aneeka were horrified upon learning that Parvaiz had gone to join ISIS. She notes that they informed Counter Terrorism Command immediately. She thanks the Pakistan High Commission for returning his body to Pakistan, where relatives will bury his body. She says that she and Aneeka have no plans to travel to Pakistan.
The article quoting Isma again makes the same kind of generalizations that the first article did, even if it is slightly more accurate. Isma’s quote also emphasizes how she viewed turning Parvaiz in to the police as necessary in order to maintain their own safety. People already question their loyalty to Britain (as shown in the opening chapter) and reporting Parvaiz to the police gives her some insurance against more of the same suspicion. This news story also highlights how Isma’s character parallels that of Ismene in Antigone. Like Isma, Ismene opts to side with the government to avoid getting in more trouble after her brother’s death, even though doing so causes her sister pain.
Themes
The article goes on, explaining that Parvaiz was carrying weapons at the time of his death. It reports that Parvaiz was working with the media wing of ISIS, which is responsible for the recruitment of fighters and “jihadi brides.” It also says that an Immigration Bill is due to go before parliament that will make it possible to “strip any British passport holder of their citizenship in cases where they have acted against the vital interests of the UK.”
The description of the media wing makes the novel’s depiction of Parvaiz even more complicated and nuanced. Even though he didn’t participate in the violence directly, he was still a bystander to many incidents and served to recruit more unsuspecting people to ISIS’s ranks, much like himself. Thus, Shamsie again emphasizes the importance of having a full story and not judging a person based on other cases or with incomplete information.
Themes
Aneeka is sleeping at their old home now, after the renters who were there moved out in the wake of the news. She doesn’t let Isma stay with her in the house, and she starts having delirious nightmares about David Beckham, the Queen, and Zayn Malik trying to get in and board up the broken windows. Later, Aneeka tries to sort through Parvaiz’s recordings, but she can’t find any of his own voice.
Aneeka’s dream shows how she is starting to descend into a kind of frenzy due to the death of her brother. The characters in her dreams are telling, as all are British icons. Though the dream’s meaning is ambiguous, it could be interpreted as an illustration of how her British identity is protecting her, but like her home, it is soon to be abandoned.
Themes
Another article breaks the story that Parvaiz’s father, Adil, fought with jihadi groups in Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s and traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight with the Taliban. An unnamed classmate of Parvaiz says that this doesn’t come as a surprise. A retired Special Branch Officer who interviewed the family in 2002 remembers the photo album he took away from Parvaiz, with the inscription “One day you’ll join me in jihad.” He says that Parvaiz was already being taught to idolize his father. The article continues, “it’s a cause of profound concern that the children of jihadis are not closely watched by the state.”
So much in this article is in direct contrast to what Shamsie is arguing throughout the book. First, it shows how people are judging Parvaiz based on the sins of his father—which highlights the difficulty of escaping the legacy of one’s father. But the article also illustrates the public’s willingness to play into stereotypes, and to create stories which serve people’s assumptions rather than challenging them. The Special Branch Officer misquotes the inscription on the album (making it much more explicit), and he incorrectly states that Parvaiz was being taught to idolize his father, when in fact the opposite was true.
Themes
Aneeka orders a Pakistani passport. Meanwhile, another article comes out entitled “Ho-Jabi! Pervy Pasha’s Twin Sister Engineered Sex Trysts with Home Secretary’s Son.” It describes Aneeka as Parvaiz’s accomplice, saying that she hunted down Eamonn to try and convince Karamat to return her brother home. That morning, his office issues a short statement in the interest of transparency.
This article is another example of characters being evaluated based on stereotypes. Because Aneeka doesn’t adhere to the typical vision of a conservative Muslim woman, she is treated as being sexually promiscuous and manipulative. The article’s appearance also makes it clear thatn another betrayal has taken place, as Karamat revealed this information of his own volition in order to end the affair and protect Eamonn.
Themes
The chapter includes lines of poetry, which appear to be Aneeka’s thoughts about Eamonn: “He looked like opportunity / tasted like hope / felt like love.” She describes him as “A real / actual / straight from God / prostrate yourself in prayer / as you hadn’t done since your brother left / miracle.”
These lines illustrate not only the real depth of Aneeka’s love for Eamonn, but also how he enabled her to regain a faith that she had lost—particularly because he represented a hope that she might be able to bring her brother home.
Themes
Aneeka packs a suitcase and leaves her house for the first time in days, facing police, cameras, and microphones. She gets into a cab and heads to the airport. When she is given permission to go through, a journalist calls out to her, asking her why she is going to Pakistan. “For justice,” she replies.
Even after his death, Aneeka plans to try to protect her brother’s body and return him to his proper home. Like any other British citizen, Parvaiz deserves to be buried in his homeland, and she recognizes the injustice in the fact that only Muslims are given this discriminatory treatment.
Themes
Aneeka arrives in Karachi. She is picked up by her cousin, who drives her to a hotel and explains that Parvaiz’s body is arriving the next day and that they’ve arranged a funeral plot. Aneeka protests, saying that she is taking Parvaiz’s body home. Her cousin objects, saying he doesn’t want to be mixed up in any more of their problems. He asks her if she “[stopped] to think about those of us with passports that look like toilet paper to the rest of the world who spend our whole lives being so careful we don't give anyone a reason to reject our visa applications?” Aneeka assures him she doesn’t want to involve his family.
Aneeka’s determination to see Parvaiz honorably buried in Britain is the novel’s most pointed parallel with Sophocles’s Antigone. In the play, Antigone secretly buries her brother’s body, even though the king has ordered her to let the body rot and Antigone’s sister has warned her to obey. Antigone remains fixated on justice for her brother even though she knows that doing so might destroy her, and Aneeka does the same thing here. Aneeka’s cousin’s argument reminds readers that discrimination isn’t solely found against British Muslims; people from other countries are also stereotyped simply for the fact that they practice Islam. Additionally, they are judged particularly harshly because of public depictions of people like Parvaiz and how Karamat is associating him with Pakistan. It’s as if by associating Parvaiz with another country, Karamat can separate Britain even further from terrorism, but he is inherently associating Pakistan with terrorism, which is harmful as well.
Themes
Aneeka finds the British Deputy High Commission compound, which is guarded with barbed wire, vans, and guns, but a few minutes’ walk away there is a park. She thinks, “here she would sit with her brother until the world changed or both of them crumbled into the soil around them.”
Aneeka’s resolution emphasizes her conviction to find justice for her brother and the other Muslims who might face the same unfair treatment. But ultimately, as this line foreshadows, Aneeka dies alongside her brother because of terrorists protesting Karamat’s policies, illustrating how the conflict between faith and patriotism has tragic consequences for all of the book’s protagonists.
Themes
