Home Fire

Describe how Shamsie blurs the line between black and white, exploring the complexity of individual experience beneath the surface of sensational newspaper headlines.

In Sophocles’ Antigone, the eponymous main character puts the notion of “philia” (one’s obligation toward family) above obligations to one’s homeland. Analyze episodes in the novel where Aneeka mirrors this attitude and when she diverges from it. 

Although the Pashas and the Lones share a similar background, they have vast differences in terms of values and beliefs. How do the two families represent two contrasting attitudes toward assimilation?

In the novel, Aneeka poses a rhetorical question: “What would you stop at to help the people you love most?” (248). Does her deep devotion to Parvaiz give her a carte blanche to resort to Machiavellianism? 

Discuss the title of the novel, Home Fire. Does it refer to the World War I classic song “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” or does it imply inevitable destruction? 

The opening scene of the novel, when Isma is interrogated at the airport, evokes Riz Ahmed’s essay “Typecast as terrorist” from the collection The Good Immigrant. How does Ahmed’s experience of “being handed a necklace of labels to hang around your neck, neither of your choosing nor making” mirror Isma’s experience? 

Analyze the passages in Home Fire where Shamsie juxtaposes the official rhetoric of the British state about inclusivity with legal practices that induce the feeling of otherness. 

Throughout the novel, trace the references to signature elements of Sophocles’ Antigone (for example, the dust storm), and describe their function.