Home Is Not a Country

Beginning with “The Portal,” Nima returns to the present. As she is pulled into her overflowing bathtub, she worries that there is so much more she needs to know about her family, Haitham’s father, and the unrest in Sudan. Nima longs to stay and fights against returning, but she is not successful. The portal itself is hot and swirling with new photographs of her family. In every photo, Nima and her mother are together, and they seem happy. With a rush, she lands in her bathtub fully clothed, her mother banging on the door.

Reuniting in “Home,” Nima and her mother are full of love and gratitude for each other. This moment marks the culmination of Nima’s growth as she finally understands that her mother, not a country, is her true home. Furthermore, in “The Photographs,” almost all the pictures of her father have been replaced with those from the portal, and there are others she has never noticed before. These images emphasize that Nima’s journey to the past has altered their life. Her mother owns a dance studio and seems much happier and full of life, as does Nima.

After their wet embrace, Nima notices that her mother looks “less tired / less stooped around the shoulders    undefeated” (199).