Yuko Character Analysis in Zeitoun

Kathy’s best friend. The two of them grew up together and shared an apartment for a while after graduating from high school. Yuko converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, thus introducing Kathy to the faith. Yuko and her husband Ahmaad host Kathy and her children at their home in Phoenix, Arizona for weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

Yuko Character Timeline in Zeitoun

The timeline below shows where the character Yuko appears in Zeitoun. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...any single women who might be appropriate for him. Ahmaad had married a woman named Yuko, an American whose family was Japanese and who had converted to Islam. Yuko had a... (full context)

Faith, Perseverance, and Dignity Theme Icon

...told Ahmaad that he needed to meet Kathy. They agreed to meet at Ahmaad and Yuko’s house. Kathy immediately found Zeitoun attractive, though too conservative and too old for her. She... (full context)

...was picked on in school, and often ran away from home, usually to her friend Yuko’s house. The two were among the only non-African Americans in the neighborhood. Yuko’s mother Kameko’s... (full context)

After high school Kathy and Yuko worked together at Dunkin’ Donuts. Kathy rented her own apartment and felt a quiet order... (full context)

...she could cover health insurance for her and her son, but life was still hard. Yuko, meanwhile, seemed peaceful and happy. Kathy began borrowing books about Islam, curious to know what... (full context)

...working-class group that gave what it could. That night, she turned to the materials that Yuko had given her, recalling how Yuko was the most sensible and grounded person she knew,... (full context)

Talking to Yuko, Kathy realized that this preacher didn’t understand how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam were all branches... (full context)

Finally Kathy converted, pronouncing the shahadah, the pledge of faith, in front of Yuko and other women from the mosque. “I bear witness that there is no deity but... (full context)

...for leaving, and Kathy, exhausted, wonders if she should drive to Phoenix to stay with Yuko. She asks if Adnan and his wife could stay for one night, and Mary Ann... (full context)

Frazzled, Kathy pulls into a rest stop and calls Yuko, who tells her to stay there. Yuko arranges for them all to spend the night... (full context)

Yuko, meanwhile, has arranged for Kathy and the kids to sleep at the home of a... (full context)

Crime, Justice, and Injustice Theme Icon

Meanwhile, Yuko’s husband Ahmaad arrives in Houston to drive Kathy and her family to Phoenix. Though Ahmaad... (full context)

...the kids arrive in Arizona midday on Saturday, where the kids immediately start playing with Yuko and Ahmaad’s five children. Kathy tries to distract herself and not think of where her... (full context)

Kathy worries that Zeitoun hadn’t called her the day before, but Yuko tells her not to worry. At 9 a.m., Ahmad calls from Spain, and tells her... (full context)

Terrified, Kathy calls the Claiborne house again and again. Yuko tries to reassure her that the phone must have finally died. Yuko takes the kids... (full context)

...like animals. Kathy turns off the TV for good. In the afternoon the kids return. Yuko again tries to comfort her friend. (full context)

...call, but she still calls Claiborne periodically. After noon, she grows frantic again, and tells Yuko she needs to go to New Orleans. Yuko talks her out of this idea. (full context)

Kathy has overheard her daughters talking to Yuko’s kids about their dad being lost and their house submerged underwater, and she decides she... (full context)

...that for the first time a stripe of white hair is rising from her forehead. Yuko forbids Kathy to answer the phone when there’s a call from Syria. Yuko answers instead. (full context)

That day, Yuko and Ahmaad take Kathy and the kids to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the Red Cross... (full context)

Ahmaad and Yuko reassure Kathy that Zeitoun is stubborn and plucky—it’s normal for him to be out of... (full context)

...the closest public school. The girls are nervous to start in a new school, but Yuko and Ahmaad try to cheer them by buying special school supplies. Kathy can’t bear to... (full context)

...about having to find a house in Arizona, and about the burden she’s being on Yuko’s family. (full context)

...and he just needs to call Kathy, who can call a lawyer. But he needs Yuko’s number, which is on the hall table by the phone. He asks the soldier if... (full context)

Kathy praises God and embraces Yuko. They make plans to get the kids out of school early, and Kathy immediately decides... (full context)

...go in person and demand to see him or be told where he’s been taken. Yuko and Ahmaad are unsure: Kathy isn’t certain that Zeitoun is there, or if she’ll be... (full context)