“Arab, Muslim” - Rasha
Bayoumi explicates, “ She eventually learned the differences between religions and nations and about where she came from. Her mother was her guide, and she taught Little Rasha how to be a proper Arab Muslim girl in the United States.” Being “Arab and Muslim” are prime components of Rasha’s identity which her mother ensures that she is cognizant of. Accordingly, Rasha is expected to comprehend the differences between her identity and the identities of other American-born girls.
War - “Sami”
According to Bayoumi, “ Sami is still something quite rare in the United States today. He’s an Arab-American soldier, an accidental fighter-turned-proud marine who has been away from his formal education for four years because he has served two tours in Iraq.” Sami’s companions at college ridicule him for participating in the war although he did not kill anyone in the duration of the war. The comrades assume that all who went to war including Sami were involved in the murder of Arabs in Iraq. Accordingly, the friends covertly insinuate that Sami betrayed Arabs by war to the Iraq war.
