Home Fire Background

Protagonist Aneeka

 Written by the British writer Kamila Shamsie (7th book).

 Written in between 2014 to 2017 in London.
 Genre romantic fiction, political fiction, domestic fiction
 Published on 15 August 2017 (by Riverhead Books)

The book won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018. In April 2019 the book was
serialized for BBC Radio 4 and later listed by BBC News on its 100 most
influential books

The novel is split into five sections mirroring Antigone‘s five acts with each
dedicated to a character in the five different location settings.

HOME FIRE CHARACTER LIST

Aneeka Pasha (protagonist)

This novel is something of a modern reinterpretation of Antigone, the ancient

Greek tragedy by Sophocles, and Aneek is the latter-day incarnation of the title
character. She is nineteen, a law student, and a Muslim woman who wears the
traditional hijab. At the same time, however, she is notably flirtatious and thus
comes under stern judgment by more rigidly conversative Muslims. And, in a
reflection of her classical counterpart’s tale, the focus of most of her story is
specifically devoted to her efforts to facilitate the safe return of her brother to
England following his ill-conceived decision to enlist in ISIS at the height of their
power.
Parvaiz Pasha

Parvaiz is the brother who is a little more than gullible and a little less than kind.
The direction connection between the Sophocles and the novel gets a little sketchy
here because in the play Antigone’s brother is dead to begin with and his sister’s
story is concerned with trying to get him an honorable burial. Parvaiz gets sucked
into the propaganda of ISIS because his alternative options seem to more limited
than he had expected: scholarships did not exactly come flooding his way.

Isma Pasha

Isma is sister to Aneek and Parvaiz. As her name suggests, her counterpart created
by Sophocles is Ismene, Antigone’s sibling. She is older than both Aneek and
Parvaiz and has essentially taking on a maternal role in the wake of back-to-back
deaths of their mother and grandmother. Although deeply loving toward and
concerned about both siblings, she makes the decision to protect the only one she
can by informing the police of Parvaiz’s flight to ISIS, a decision seen by Aneek as
nothing less than a betrayal.

Eamonn Lone

Eamoon is the twenty-something son of the British Home Secretary Karamat Lone.
His counterpart in the classical tragedy is Haemon. Karamat’s counterpart is the
antagonist, King Creon, with whom Antigone butts heads throughout the drama.
The complexity of his father’s politics relative to his powerful position is the
driving force that sends Eamonn on a path to a tragic reckoning that includes
romantic entanglements with both the Pasha sisters as well as a somewhat ironic
attempt to establish his dependence from his father’s political views through a very
public criticism of the treatment of Parvaiz following his rejection of ISIS
propaganda and his attempt to get back home.
 HOME FIRE THEMES
• Identity, nationality and religion – in her novel, Shamsie explores how identity
is perceived by others through a person’s religion and nationality, and how narrow
this view is. The Pasha family are British but their ‘British-ness’ and identity is
constantly questioned due to their faith. When Isma is at the airport, she is accused
of not being British despite her British passport and papers for travel. Likewise,
both Aneeka and Parvaiz have their British citizenship revoked and are unable to
return to the country of their birth due to a law introduced by Eamonn’s father,
Karamat Lone, the Home Secretary. Lone is also a character who has his identity
and views linked to religion. He feels that in order to be accepted into the British
establishment that he must renounce his faith and distance himself from the
customs and practises of his religion. Shamsie, through her depiction of Isma and
Lone and their differing stances on their faith is trying to underline that religion
and nationality are not mutually exclusive and should also only make up a small
part of somebody’s individual identity. Shamsie also investigates the idea of
grooming and radicalisation through the identity of Parvaiz. As a young man who
feels he does not have a lot of opportunities, he is desperate to shape his own
identity. Farooq uses Parvaiz’s insecurities and lack of identity to recruit him to his
cause. He is able to use Parvaiz’s father as a tool and convince him that Jihad is the
answer, and that joining ISIS will allow him to be just like his father and to carve
an identity for himself.

Family, love and duty – the strength and power of family and duty is apparent in
all of the relationships within the book. Shamsie depicts two very different families
to illustrate the importance, and inherent difficulties, of family life. The Pasha
family are portrayed as a close family from the outset. Isma, as the eldest, has had
to support and bring up her younger siblings when their father died, and she is very
protective of them. Whilst she is away, she tries to keep up with Aneeka whilst
worrying about her brother, Parvaiz. Everything Isma does is to protect her family
but she is unable to prevent the deaths of both of her siblings, which are arguably
caused, in part, by familial love and duty. Parvaiz is encouraged to join Farooq in
Syria as Farooq knew and fought with his father in Bosnia. Parvaiz feels he is
following in his father’s footsteps and continuing his legacy. Aneeka, from the
outset, is devoted to getting her brother home from Syria. She tries to convince
Eamonn to talk to his father and allow Parvaiz home and, when he is killed, she
travels to Pakistan to retrieve his body and is also killed. The Lone family also
depict a family struggling with family love and loyalty. Eamonn clearly admires
his father, but, like Parvaiz, fears he is failing him in some way. Eamonn is grateful
to his mother for allowing him to pursue his own ideas and life but wants to make
his father proud. He struggles with his father’s controversial views and seems to be
caught in a cycle of trying to please his father and wanting to develop his own life.

HOME FIRE SYMBOLS

Hijab

The attire may have several meanings to the wearer as it entails both religious and
cultural connotations. In modern discourse, it is usually assumed to be a means of
showing modesty since it is part of the Islamic doctrine. While some may view it
as a symbol of traditionalism that represses females, for Muslim women it can be a
form of female empowerment. In the novel, the female siblings don this religious
attire to show pride in their faith and also embrace their womanhood and sexuality.
However, the novel opens with a negative scenario that involves profiling the
hijabi woman from the piece of clothing. Despite the fact that a hijab represents
pride in one’s faith in the novel, it also indicates the stereotypes that tend to be
used to misjudge Muslim people.

Parachutists (para-shoot)

Through the skylight window of the apartment, Isma observes parachutists and
concurrently contemplates the story of Daedalus and Icarus. The famed myth tells
of the son—Icarus—who died from flying too close to the sun and could not be
rescued by the father. In the same manner the male characters—Eamonn and
Parvaiz—go too far with their endeavors to either honor or defy their fathers. As
well, the other twin Aneeka also flies too close to the sun by rebelling towards
Isma and her wishes to be more watchful. That said, the parachutists Isma see
forestall the eventuality that will be the result of their actions against authority.

COMPOSED BY: M MAZHAR RAFIQUE