While reading the part about Khadija and the difficulties she was facing while trying to get her education, I found the lack of resources available to her for studying to be frustrating. It's as though the detention center is essentially setting her up to fail in a new country by making it so difficult to access school websites as well as human rights websites which could enable individuals like Khadija to make progress towards making a life for themselves there.

I really liked this specific example of how this culture passed on information on how to look for food to younger people through word-of-mouth instead of through written words. Not only are they teaching a life skill, but also keeping their culture alive through the next generations, as the author did with her own children.

This line provides a bit of insight into the father's mind that wasn't apparent before. Moving to such a strange new place, more than an 'ordeal,' must have been an escape, not only from the direct consequences of his actions, but also the memory of them. Instead, the burden of this information is left on his daughter's shoulders as she grapples with the horror she feels as well as the love she still has for her father despite what he has told her.

A foreigner or a tourist coming to visit Antigua may see these things and, at first glance, only observe the natural beauty of the island, overlooking the areas that native Antiguans actually live in. They are free to enjoy the surroundings without really thinking about the corruption and poverty that pervades post-colonial Antigua. The narrator, having grown up here, has a more complete perspective of her homeland and seems to see the poverty and beauty together rather than two separate entities.

Here, Julius mentions that his relationship with Nadege had a strange effect on him, but this is pretty much all the detail we get from him about his feelings about her, and the way he conveys his thoughts still feels very distant and detached. For me, it's hard to tell whether this means the breakup had little impact on him, or whether he's just trying very hard to conceal his true feelings.

Typically, Julius only has one-time interactions with the people he meets before going on his way. It's interesting to see that so far Farouq is the only person Julius has returned to for more conversation, and he seems to be drawn in by his ideas.

I wonder if his quickness to move on with his emotions is a necessity given his life in such a bustling city. Often, city life moves at such a quick pace that one hardly has time to take a breath, let alone sit with their thoughts. It appears that the narrator is experiencing some guilt at not realizing the tragedy his neighbor was suffering, but his mind is so busy jumping from one thought or worry to another that the guilt doesn't have time to settle in.

This is the second or third time that Gloria points a racial stereotype at Kerry, insinuating that all black people are bitter by nature. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, this speech reveals how deeply such oppressive ideas have been ingrained into her beliefs. At first, she makes advances towards Kerry, making him uncomfortable, and when she can't use him for her own pleasure, she appears to try to paint him in a negative light by saying he has a "chip on his shoulder" in order to get an irritated reaction out of him, and perhaps to prove her right.

Even at this point in the novel, it's so hard for me to decipher Maru's character. Earlier, while looking at her pictures, it seemed as though he felt connected to her, but here he suddenly turned back into a calculating individual. Is he even in love with Margaret, or is he in love with the idea that being with her will spark some kind of social change? Perhaps he is trying to erase these cultural taboos against the Masarwa, but at the same time, he's playing with other people's emotions and futures in a way that's very unsettling.

It seems like Maru is almost scared by the idea of Moleka gaining this power and what it would mean for him. Before Margaret's arrival, Moleka and Maru act as two halves of a whole, represented by the sun and the moon, each balancing the other out. Moleka's love for Margaret gives him access to the gentler energy he did not have before, and perhaps Maru is jealous of this, which is why he doesn't want Moleka to pursue Margaret.

I found this to be a pretty strange reaction from a woman who had earlier displayed a lot of humanity and kindness towards this girl. However, she doesn't show any genuine emotion here towards her, even when she is parting from the child she raised and educated for years. It makes me wonder if the older Margaret Cadmore truly cared for her any more than simply an "experiment" (or perhaps she was simply hiding her emotions).

This could be an effect of the generational trauma Kapil is experiencing. I think it is often difficult for people who suffer trauma (such as perhaps not being shown much affection as a child) to display or accept love and especially displays of affection. This, in turn, becomes a generational issue when every parent in that family or culture lacks the ability to express emotions like that towards their children, who inevitably learn that same habit.

After reading through the story in its entirety, re-reading this section gave me a feeling of unease. It's pretty apparent that Sirajuddin completely trusts the words of the men searching for his daughter. This could be because his main concern is having Sakina returned to him alive, and so he doesn't consider that these men could have nefarious intentions, though that becomes clear by the end of the story. It goes to show how some people's morals and values are changed/abandoned during a period of violence and unrest.