Zainab's Introduction: Shaping Identity Through the Past and Present
Hend constantly creates parallels between her past in Egypt and her present in America as she struggles to establish a new home for herself in a foreign country. She tries to hold on to her memories desperately to try to define her identity, which proves to be ambiguous. She introduces herself as Egyptian, but as she recalls, others view her as a solely Bedouin. She lives in America now, but she doesn't think of herself as American yet. She is a Muslim, but she shrinks from religion and prefers to talk of the zodiac.
Other people's journeys are embedded in the memory of Hend's past, which relate to her own history. The histories of three people in Hend's life- the Guest, Zuba, and Hend's father- reflect journeys made to a new place (either in location or lifestyle or a combination of the two). All three show how their past and origins are not completely lost or forgotten with the change of time and place.
