Genre
Fiction
Setting and Context
New Prospect, America - mid-aughts (after September 11 but before recession)
Narrator and Point of View
Free indirect discourse, third person
Tone and Mood
Tone: foreboding
Mood: dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Ahmad Mulloy; Antagonist: Shaikh Rashid
Major Conflict
Ahmad holds his religion above all but lives in a society that seems to be opposed to it; meanwhile, ideological influences around him seek to turn him against the country in which he lives
Climax
Ahmad must decide whether or not to carry out the action of a terrorist
Foreshadowing
We can tell that the novel approaches terrorism based on increasingly-radicalized statements, and the novel's name also foreshadows this
Understatement
Many of the characters around Ahmad do not realize how radical he is becoming
Allusions
The novel alludes to elements of Islamic culture and to a shared perception of 9/11 which Americans would be aware of; it also alludes indirectly to Flight 93
Imagery
The novel provides imagery of the shops around Ahmad's mosque and the crumbling city in which he lives; it also provides imagery of Ahmad's home and the location of his new job as a trucker
Paradox
The world that distracts Ahmad from his religion is also one he is inextricably a part of
Parallelism
As the Department prepares for a possible terrorist attack, we see it unfold from the other side
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Metonymy: Jorylee as part of the choir
Synecdoche: workers as a machine
Personification
The truck Ahmad drives is personified throughout the novel
