Social and Personal Acceptance in 'Does My Head Look Big In This?' Anonymous 9th Grade

A person’s development of identity is often influenced by the perceptions of the people around them. The novel Does My Head Look Big in This (2005) by Randa Abdel-Fattah explores how the beginning of discovering one’s identity leads to a personal journey which can be plagued by the judgements of one’s surroundings. Often, prejudice arises from misconceptions regarding what an individual actually believes. Abdel-Fattah suggests that the identity of a person should not be judged based on their traditional culture or the stereotypes associated with their religion or gender as this can have terrible effects on the individual.

Prejudice occurs as a result of misconceptions regarding somebody’s beliefs, culture or gender. In the novel, people hold negative perceptions regarding Islam as a result of the media and a lack of personal understanding towards the Muslims. This prejudice leads the main protagonist, Amal, to suffer from Islamophobic views and discrimination as seen by her hesitation to discuss things openly with her friend through colloquial language “I’m worried that she’ll think, Oh, typical Muslim nutters. Locking their girls up in the house” (pg. 281). The colloquial language has been used here to create a conversational...