53 pages • 1 hour read
Saadia FaruqiYusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Personal Impact of 9/11
The novel revolves around the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, showing how the sweeping historical event continues to impact people daily. The 9/11 attacks fomented dangerous levels of anti-Muslim prejudice, which both Yusuf and Rahman experience in their respective timelines. Rahman, writing his journal in 2001, faces prejudice and even violence in the direct aftermath of the attacks, but Yusuf also links 9/11 to the bullying he experiences 20 years later. While researching the hijackers, he wants to “scream at them, ‘Thanks for ruining everyone’s lives, you evil men!’” (202). Yusuf’s diction is hyperbolic. The 9/11 attacks don’t “ruin” his life, but they do challenge Yusuf and his community. Ultimately they work together with a diverse coalition—the New Horizons Church—to fight anti-Muslim prejudice and not let the Patriot Sons and associated bullies ruin their hopes and goals.
The novel also examines the way 9/11 impacts characters beyond Yusuf, Rahman, and their respective Muslim communities. For example, Jonathan O’Reilly’s uncle is missing in the Twin Towers until authorities declare him dead. The loss of his uncle irrevocably changes him, giving him, in Rahman’s words, “a wound that would never heal” (386). Unable to grapple with his emotional scar, Jonathan conveniently takes out his anger on Rahman. Jared’s life is also permanently changed by 9/11. His mom is in the military, and the War on Terror put her in lethal war zones, changing him and her. Jared gets nightmares and paints to curb them. When his mom returns for Thanksgiving, Jared notices that she’s different, which upsets him. The attacks also alter the lives of the people in the countries where America waged war, as Rahman notes in his journal: “The people in Afghanistan aren’t responsible for 9/11 any more than I am. Why should we be dropping bombs on them?” (211). Yet the Afghan people remain anonymous and impersonal. They don’t have names, indicating that many people aren’t ready to recognize their humanity.
Rahman’s ideas about the past support the theme. He tells Yusuf, “History informs the present, my dear nephew, and so it affects the future” (33). The 9/11 attacks are so significant because history doesn’t have a firm expiration date—it continues to influence people in a multitude of ways. All the characters in the book grapple with these ripple effects in various ways. Some of them react with anger and hate, like Rahman and Yusuf’s bullies and the Patriot Sons, but for others, confronting history brings them closer together and makes them stronger, better people.
Countering Monolithic Representation
Throughout the novel, Yusuf confronts stereotypes and generalizations about Muslim people. What these generalizations have in common is the assumption that someone’s race, faith, or other attribute makes them who they are. Yusuf doesn’t want people to reduce him to a race or faith, which is why he feels comfortable at the New Horizons Church: The churchgoers “could see the potential in someone, not just his skin color or religion” (364). The story shows that people are more than these two attributes. In the story, race and religion are important aspects of identity, but they’re not the only aspects. All the characters have diverse interests and self-expressions, illustrating that people are not reducible to their race or religion.
For example, while Yusuf and Danial go to Sunday school and sincerely practice and grapple with Islam, religion doesn’t subsume their identities. They are passionate about coding and robots, and their primary goal is to compete in the TRC—an event that has no specific relationship to Islam. Yusuf doesn’t want to be a hero or a “spokesperson” for Islam, but people’s generalizations and misconceptions compel him to stand up for his faith and its diversity.
With Cameron, Faruqi applies the theme to other sorts of simplification. Danial and Yusuf reduce Cameron to another kind of stereotype. They perceive him as a member of a historically marginalized group who’s ashamed of his Muslim identity and therefore assimilates and acts “white.” Cameron counters the this stereotype by joining the robotics club, competing in the TRC, and restarting his friendship with Danial and Yusuf. Cameron’s narrative arc reinforces the diversity within the Muslim community. Cameron changes his name and style because he chooses to do so—he’s exercising agency, not concealing his Muslim identity.
The novel also fractures the monolithic representation of prejudice. Ethan and Trevor Grant are anti-Muslim, yet Jared, Ethan’s cousin and Mr. Grant’s nephew, breaks the chain by befriending Yusuf and taking responsibility for writing the notes. Through Jared, the novel indicates that a person can have prejudiced family members, but that doesn’t mean they’ll espouse similar views. The mispronunciation of “Muslim” also challenges the monolithic representation of prejudice. When Ethan and Mr. Grant mispronounce the term, they do so out of spite, but when Madison mispronounces it, she does so out of ignorance. As she tells Yusuf, “I didn’t even know you’re Muz-lim or whatever” (176). Like Jared, Madison takes accountability and apologizes for her prejudice. Yusuf realizes that people who are willing to listen, learn, and change should not be lumped together with those who refuse to.
Linking Language to Action
The novel continually joins words with consequences. The notes Yusuf receives impact his physical state. When he gets the first note, he blinks uncomfortably. After the second note, his stomach lurches. Yusuf tries to downplay the notes, telling Danial that they’re a joke, but the notes bother Yusuf to the point that he can’t answer simple questions in science class. Yusuf can’t ignore the notes because they’re more than words on paper. They impact his material world, turning his locker into a frightening space. The narrator’s description of Yusuf opening his locker makes it seem like he’s about to open a portal into a terrifying world: “The lock clicked, and the door swung open slowly like something out of a horror movie” (186). The notes reflect Yusuf’s greater precarity in his prejudiced town.
Language also affects the broader Muslim community in Frey. At the contentious permit meeting, Amma tells Aleena, “Don’t listen to these people, darling. They’re just repeating the hate they hear on TV” (228). Yet Mr. Grant, the Patriot Sons, and Ethan aren’t merely perpetuating the hateful rhetoric that they consume from the media. The toxic words produce inimical actions, with Ethan physically bullying Muslim people, and the Patriot Sons impeding the construction of the Islamic Center. Hate doesn’t stay in the realm of speech but extends into the world of physical action.
For this reason, words must also produce action to defeat hate. Danial isn’t sure that Yusuf should confront Ethan, telling him, “When people persecute us, we stay silent and pray to God. We don’t rush into attack mode.” Yusuf replies, “I also remember the stories where the Prophet and his companions helped others who needed help. Like, constantly” (279). Danial tries to decouple language from action or minimize the need for action. Conversely, Yusuf believes the words of his religion require action. For Yusuf, people can’t just pray and hope: They must also do something. By continually standing up to Ethan, Yusuf challenges a source of hate and supports his community. Earlier, Yusuf tells Danial that standing up to Ethan “was [his] duty as a Muslim” (205). Yusuf defines a Muslim as someone whose faith manifests in the physical world.
The robots and the New Horizons Church bring together language, in this case computer code, and action. Code animates the robots—without the code, the bots don’t do anything; minus the bots, the code lacks meaning. Similarly, Pastor Nielson animates his congregation with a sermon about loving one’s neighbors. Nielson and the congregation activate the words when they unite with the Muslim community and dispel the Patriot Sons. Language can manifest hate and prejudice, but it can also manifest love and solidarity.
