Hollow Fires

“I made a jet pack. And they killed me for it.”

This quote introduces Jawad to the reader and highlights the dissonance between reality (Jawad made a jet pack) and perception twisted by Islamophobia (Jawad made a fake bomb). The author uses simple syntax to show how one lie led to so much violence.

“Illinois State Senator Questions Lax Naturalization Process In Light Of Alleged Bomb Threat.”

Ahmed structures the novel to include in-world media (such as this newspaper headline—one of several published after Jawad’s arrest) to tell her story. This headline provides an example of how local politicians misrepresented Jawad and his family to serve a larger political agenda.

“Was it comforting for my parents and the aunties and uncles to know we’d been through worse? Maybe there was some twisted adult logic to that, but it didn’t exactly feel like a warm blanket on a cold night.”

As a character, Safiya embodies one of the story’s key themes: young people can use their voices to make change, and specifically, How Internet Media Empowers Youth Activism. In this quote, Safiya uses the simile “[not] like a warm blanket on a cold night” to contrast her views with those of an older generation.

“What? I have layers.”

As Richard convinces Safiya that he can be trusted because he is more than an archetypal high school athlete, Ahmed utilizes irony to foreshadow his true motives. It’s true that Richard has hidden depths to his personality, but it’s the white supremacist beliefs he holds, not an artistic sensibility.

“All their smiles were stolen when I was taken.”

Jawad uses a metaphor to demonstrate the devastating effect that Nate and Richard’s Islamophobic actions had on his parents. He charges Nate and Richard with “stealing” his parents’ happiness in the same way that they took his life, pointing to the Effects of Islamophobia on Individuals and Communities.

“A few of the very wealthy parents must’ve read my piece and called to question his administrative style—that was usually the only way anything got done around here.”

Safiya describes a clear relationship between The Power of Journalism and the Court of Public Opinion foreshadowing the ways Safiya will use her journalism skills to find justice for Jawad. Safiya’s efforts eventually lead her outside of traditional media, highlighting the novel’s larger discussion of How Internet Media Empowers Youth Activism. Her reference to the influence that wealthy parents wield points to The Intersection of Wealth and Race in America.

“‘The past is prologue’ was one of his favorite cryptic aphorisms, which he doled out like candy on Halloween.”

Safiya quotes her current event’s teacher, “the past is prologue,” to establish Mr. Terkel as an eccentric, sympathetic character. The quote also posits that history and social context inform current day issues, such as the United States’ history of Islamophobia influencing Nate and Richard.

“Taking away someone’s name was how you made them an object instead of a living, breathing human being.”

Safiya uses the metaphor of an object to show how media nicknames, like Bomb Boy, make victims seem less human to audiences. When a victim seems less human, it’s easier for audiences to dismiss them and not push for justice. Safiya names her hashtag #JusticeForJawad to center his name—and his humanity—in the headlines.

“Sometimes there are things in this world that logic can’t explain. Sometimes you have to look beyond what you can see. Sometimes a ghost is only a memory.

Through the metaphor, “a ghost is a memory,” Safiya’s mom encourages her to listen to the voice or intuition she hears guiding her toward answers about Jawad.

“Dead are all gods. Now we want the supermen to live.”

The text message Richard and Nate send to Jawad’s parents includes an interpolation of a Nietzsche quote, “God is dead,” and Nietzsche’s concept of the superman. The quote suggests that moral authorities—god, government, other people—are irrelevant and all that matters is power, the superman.

“Truth: Words can be terrifying. Sometimes words leave scars. Words can break you, too.”

Safiya plays on the “sticks and stones” nursery rhyme that claims words cannot physically hurt a person. Instead, she identifies how verbal threats, like those sent to Jawad’s parents, cause real harm—underscoring the Effects of Islamophobia on Individuals and Communities.

“But 70 percent of the kids who wind up dead are murdered in the first three hours of their disappearance. The Amber Alert was issued eight days ago. Jawad was nine days gone.”

Ahmed uses Safiya’s insinuation that Jawad is likely dead (given how long it has been since his disappearance) to build suspense at the close of the chapter. Safiya’s investigation into the mystery of Jawad’s disappearance—and, eventually, his murder—provides the engine that drives the story forward.

“I didn’t want to let the other kids wash all my own words out of my mouth, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

Jawad uses this metaphor to describe how bullying in class drives him to stop talking about his Mama and Baba at school in order to shield himself from abuse. Rendering him silent provides another example of the dehumanization of harassment and abuse based on bias.

“I needed a smoking gun. A single, clear, no-doubt-about-it piece of evidence for something—the hack, the swastika, the kidnapping.”

Safiya uses the metaphor of a smoking gun to describe the type of evidence she needs against Nate. That need drives her to ask Rachel for Nate’s locker combination, ultimately securing Safiya the missing page of the Nietzsche book, linking Nate to the crimes.

“The devil fooled us.”

Jawad uses metaphor to identify the way Richard hid his white supremacist beliefs from his classmates, pretending to be a kind-hearted person when he tutored Jawad, then turning around and killing him. His perspective also connects to the Ghost Skin description in which white supremacists hide their beliefs to move into positions of power.

“Richard: WTF she can be a real bitch sometimes.”

Richard calling Dakota a “bitch” is the first explicit characterization of Richard as a misogynist, signaling the beginning of his unmasking as Jawad’s killer. That this reveal comes through his language supports the novel’s larger argument about the power of words.

“My footsteps started confident, thundering against the pavement, but by the time I’d reached the edge of the prairie grass, they barely made a sound.”

Ahmed uses imagery to describe Safiya’s building anxiety as she moves closer to the spot where she’ll discover Jawad’s body. The evocative language builds a suspenseful tone signature to mystery and thriller fiction.

“My entire world felt jagged, like I was looking through a cracked lens.”

The author combines a metaphor with a simile to communicate how seeing Jawad’s dead body made Safiya feel physically—uncomfortable and disassociated. In doing so, Ahmed positions the reader in Safiya’s place, emphasizing the Effects of Islamophobia on Individuals and Communities.

“Rich. They weren’t rich. Immigrant and poor is not a good lead story.”

Safiya notes that the media will not provide quality coverage for Jawad’s investigation because he is “immigrant and poor.” This quote connects to the novel’s larger challenge to media for misrepresenting non-white, non-wealthy people, highlighting the power disparity inherent in The Intersection of Wealth and Race in America.

“My heart raced, but not for the usual reason it did when I was around him.”

The imagery of a fast-beating heart demonstrates how Safiya’s attitude towards Richard has changed now that she knows he’s been lying to her. The suggestion that Richard is not who he pretended to be foreshadows his larger betrayal as one of Jawad’s killers.

“The farther west the bus headed, the more white people got off at their stops, until there were none left.”

Ahmed describes Chicago’s geographical divisions along racial lines from east to west to provide a clear context of the world her characters inhabit. The car rental shop the killers used was intentionally chosen from a less wealthy and less white area of town to move suspicion off the white killers.

“Every look, every gesture, every word: a toxic lie. He’d been feeding me the poison they wanted me to swallow.”

Recognizing Richard’s duplicity, Safiya references the Nietzschean quote Nate and Richard threatened her with earlier in the novel: Swallow your poison for you need it badly. Safiya compares Richard’s lies to poison because they have slowly been hurting her over time.

“Adults are always saying that teenagers don’t have real perspective because we haven’t lived long enough to put miles between us and the past. But this was one moment when that would be wrong.”

Through Safiya’s perspective, Ahmed demonstrates the power of young people to address systemic injustice. Safiya points out that she and Asma understand the consequences and weight of their experience, and that other young people do the same, even if adults don’t acknowledge this.