Previous
Mona’s Mother/Bebe
Jidu is Mona and Mark’s father, Bebe’s husband, and Layla and Nina’s grandfather. He’s portrayed as a loving, hard-working, yet often mournful man who worked hard to make sure his family could achieve in the “American Dream.” An engineer and metallurgy expert who found success at General Motors after moving to the U.S. to escape the violence and tumult of Ba’athist Iraq, Jidu never stopped longing for his homeland. He was always passionate about history and genealogy, and over the years he worked hard to uncover many surprising connections within his family (including ties to the famed public health pioneer Paul Shekwana). Growing up, Mona watched Jidu despair over the human rights horrors taking place in Iraq—and she learned through his example that fighting to protect the integrity of human life was of the utmost importance.
Mona’s Father/Jidu Quotes in What the Eyes Don’t See
The What the Eyes Don’t See quotes below are all either spoken by Mona’s Father/Jidu or refer to Mona’s Father/Jidu. 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:
).
Prologue
Quotes
The road behind my family disappeared too. The Iraq they knew was lost, replaced by war and ruins. In my mind, this lost Iraq is a land of enchantment and despair. But its lessons endure.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
Now, as the press conference loomed, I was beginning to see that my family’s saga of loss and dislocation had given me my fight—my passion and urgency. […] I grew up with dismay and knew how wrong leaders could be, how cruel and negligent. They have to be held accountable, have to be challenged, because power corrupts, and our moral sensibility can be so dulled that we let atrocities happen right around us, unless we manage to stay constantly vigilant, sensitive, aroused, and ready to take a stand.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I was drawing on something deep inside me. Maybe it was the letters my mom received from Haji in Baghdad, or the pictures I’d seen of the gassing of the Kurdish babies. Maybe it was the tenacity and optimism of Mama Evelyn or the strength and integrity of my dissident parents. Maybe it was the inspiration of my heroes, fighters like Alice Hamilton. […] Or maybe there was even something in my DNA, an ancestral inheritance of persistence and rebellion and activism, handed down to me from the generations of prolific scribes who had hoped to keep Nestorian traditions alive, or from Nuri […] with his brave rebellion, or from Paul Shekwana with his passion for public health.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire What the Eyes Don’t See LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mona’s Father/Jidu Quotes in What the Eyes Don’t See
The What the Eyes Don’t See quotes below are all either spoken by Mona’s Father/Jidu or refer to Mona’s Father/Jidu. 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:
).
Prologue
Quotes
The road behind my family disappeared too. The Iraq they knew was lost, replaced by war and ruins. In my mind, this lost Iraq is a land of enchantment and despair. But its lessons endure.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
Now, as the press conference loomed, I was beginning to see that my family’s saga of loss and dislocation had given me my fight—my passion and urgency. […] I grew up with dismay and knew how wrong leaders could be, how cruel and negligent. They have to be held accountable, have to be challenged, because power corrupts, and our moral sensibility can be so dulled that we let atrocities happen right around us, unless we manage to stay constantly vigilant, sensitive, aroused, and ready to take a stand.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I was drawing on something deep inside me. Maybe it was the letters my mom received from Haji in Baghdad, or the pictures I’d seen of the gassing of the Kurdish babies. Maybe it was the tenacity and optimism of Mama Evelyn or the strength and integrity of my dissident parents. Maybe it was the inspiration of my heroes, fighters like Alice Hamilton. […] Or maybe there was even something in my DNA, an ancestral inheritance of persistence and rebellion and activism, handed down to me from the generations of prolific scribes who had hoped to keep Nestorian traditions alive, or from Nuri […] with his brave rebellion, or from Paul Shekwana with his passion for public health.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
