"The mosque, the humblest of the several in New Prospect, occupies the second floor above a nail salon and a check-cashing facility, in a row of small shops that includes a dusty-windowed pawn shop, a secondhand bookstore, a shoe-repair man and sandal-maker, a Chinese laundry down a little flight of steps, a pizza joint, and a grocery store specializing in Middle Eastern foods—dried lentils and fava beans, hummus and halvah, falafel and couscous and tabouli moldering in plain printed packages that look strange, in their lack of pictures and bold lettering, to Ahmad's American eyes."
Throughout the course of the novel, the narrator provides details of how isolated and hidden away the mosque Ahmad chose at 11 is. He is the only student by the time the novel takes place, and the surrounding community is different than the one in which he exists everyday. The presence of the mosque in different types of commercial enterprises shows how little attention it attracts from people on the street and emphasizes how uncomfortable he becomes in his translation exercises with Shaikh Rashid.
"Her outfit is staid enough—eggshell-colored linen suit over a white chemise—yet colorful touches suggest a free spirit, an artist as well as a mother."
Theresa Malloy, Ahmad's mother, dons a scarf to attend his graduation ceremony according to his wish. This description of the rest of her outfit shows her being noticed by Jack Levy, the guidance counselor who takes special interest in Ahmad. Her complicated identity cannot fully be considered outside of her ultimate journey as a single mother; she has touches of her personality in her outfit, but she consciously alters her stance in the world to mother Ahmad.
"You see [kids] come into the ninth grade with a little hope left in them, a trace of that eagerness second-graders have, a belief that if you learn the rules and do the drills you'll be rewarded; and by the time they graduate, if they do, we've knocked it all out of them."
In this quote, we see Jack Levy's exhaustion with the job he does for thousands of students at the high school. He talks to students like Ahmad for the first time when they are about to graduate, and this quote echoes the similar frustration of Ahmad's mother that his interest in the student occurs only right before Ahmad will leave high school and thus Mr. Levy's purview. We also see a different perspective to the upsetting side of secondary school development that helps cause Ahmad's separation from the rest of his class.
"That day in Wayne, she flirted with the elderly man, this miserable minion of the state, who administered the exam."
The attributes given to the person working the exam for Ahmad to obtain his Commercial Driver's License in order to begin his new job as a trucker extend to his mother, Teresa. By flirting with someone so sad, she places herself at a lower level than she would be as an impartial yet supportive onlooker to her son's certification. Her intention is obvious and pathetic because it is toward someone who is not only required to be there, but who is additionally unhappy about his position.
"Ahmad regrets his mother as a mistake that his father made but that he never would."
Ahmad looks down on his mother from his place of aloof and pure belief, and her financial reliance on him causes him to be even more disparaging. His existence is because of her, but he views her choice to bestow upon him her last name selfish and unnecessary. As he becomes radicalized, his viewpoint toward women becomes extremely jarring. He holds this belief without knowing much about his father outside of one scattered memory and photographs.
"I am with those," Ahmad says slowly, "who are with God."
Ahmad proceeds cautiously after he discovers a scheme in which he is encouraged to take part. He pauses before saying statements such as this quote because he can discern he is agreeing to something but cannot understand what. The nature of his religious education is such that he answers affirmatively to all of the terrorists' probes; he puts himself on the side of God and a nuanced study of the Koran, so he does not disagree with the men's leading questions.
"Ahmad can grieve, if not for himself, for the truck--its cheerful pumpkin orange, its ornate script lettering, the vantage from its driver's seat that puts the world of obstacles and dangers, of pedestrians and other vehicles, just on the other side of the tall windshield, so that clearances are easier to guage than when driving an automobile, with its long and bloated hood."
At this point, Ahmad is aware of the terrorists' desires. He has become attached to his truck because it has marked his signfiicant post-high school experience and made him interact with the world from a perch. This quote emphasizes how sad the transition has been over the course of the novel for Ahmad's thoughts to become twisted; this is the first time since he begins the job we receive such a stunning description of his aesthetic perceptions of the truck.
"He is blushing, stupidly, hating his own hot face. But he must get this out: 'I mean, all those years, there I was obsessing about my father, and you were the one taking care of me.'"
Ahmad is about to carry out drastic action, so he expresses conclusive emotion to his mother. He is embarrassed to do so because he has denigrated her throughout his life, but recent events have caused him to recalibrate his feelings about his childhood. In fact, he turns the photos of his father in his room upside down. We also see his youth from the first sentence in the fact that he cannot control the physical response to his emotions.
"It seems that every sleazy reporter and headline-grabbing House Democrat who wants to can triumphantly brandish knives, blackjacks, and loaded revolvers which have successfully ridden through the X-ray scanners of carry-on luggage."
A plot thread throughout the novel is how the Department attempts to ward off terrorist threats. They adjust the threat level so that they can show action was made if they do not catch a plot, and they are acutely aware of the public perception of terrorist-prevention methods and how the agency will appear if an attack occurs. This quote shows the frustration of this issue and also delineates examples of things individuals would think of to prove the ineffectiveness of the Department.
"This prospect of a new, slim presentable sister is something they both could be giggling about, the way they used to when sharing their own room in the Pleasant Street house, sharing the sheer joy of being alive."
Hermione, a spinster who works to prevent terrorism, calls Beth on the phone. Their relationship is adversarial because Hermione embarrasses Beth, who retaliates. This quote provides context to a conversation in which Beth, who is obese, expresses measured excitement about a new diet and Hermione minimizes this effort. For a moment, we get a glimpse of how things could have been different.
