All We Have Left

In these chapters, the concept of the unlikely alliance between Alia and Travis, who are both in the World Trade Center on 9/11, is explored. Their relationship starts off on an adversarial note when Alia believes that Travis is attempting to pickpocket the maintenance man in front of him on the elevator line. While she is upset by this behavior and calls out in an effort to stop it, Alia is nonetheless attracted to Travis.

Her last attempt to persuade Ayah to allow her to attend the NYU program is thwarted when his colleague, Mr. Morowitz, advises Alia that her father has left the office to vote and to attend a seminar. She realizes that she will be penalized for arriving to school late. Upon entering the elevator to descend down the Tower, Alia finds herself left alone with one other passenger: Travis. She realizes that he has been crying. They have a short conversation about which of them had started to stare at the other first when their elevator drops into free fall. At this point, the story is pitched into both physical and emotional crisis as it becomes clear that the pair have happened into a catastrophic situation. The reasons for Travis’s presence in the Tower has yet to be revealed, while Alia is still reeling from the morning’s confrontation with Mama and her inability to meet with Ayah.

Chapter 14 depicts a rising anti-Islamic sentiment on the part of Nick and Dave; by extension, Jesse is swept into this mindset. The young men become enraged when they observe students posting fliers for an Islamic Peace Center in the high school gym. Although Jesse is not pleased with her own thinking, her first reaction is to think that Muslims had hijacked planes, destroyed the Twin Towers and killed her older brother, Travis. On an elementary level, the author explores some of the elements of an emotionally-abusive relationship by analyzing that of Nick with Jesse. Nick behaves in an increasingly proprietorial fashion toward her, assumes that she will abide by his decisions, and has isolated her from her friends while involving her in illegal activities.

Her conflict regarding Nick is intensified when he becomes embroiled in an argument outside the Peace Center that culminates with him inflicting pain on a young Islamic woman, Sabeen, when he tears off the hijab pinned to her head. Jesse, ashamed of this behavior, retrieves the beautiful scarf from the gutter and returns it to the girl. Jesse is further humiliated when the girl’s older brother is identified as Jesse’s former climbing partner, Adam, who defuses the situation by making it clear to Nick that he will defend his sister physically. Nick retreats, but devises a plan to graffiti the Center by making use of Jesse’s climbing skills. After returning home to the scene of her father, passed out while gluing new photos of Travis in the photo album she had found in the shed, Jesse is overcome with feelings of anger and hate. She agrees to spray-paint hate messages on the Center. The author uses this opportunity to explore the incentive of both young people for engaging in this activity. Nick, who has been abandoned by his mother as a result of his physically-abusive father, has had an older brother return from Afghanistan with an amputated leg. Jesse, who cannot really recall her late brother, Travis, has endured the emotional wounds wrought upon her family by his death. She has been further injured by her father’s refusal to allow Travis to be discussed at home.

Chapter 16 succinctly details the events that occur when Jesse spray-paints the words ‘NOTHING’ and “Terrorists go home” (127) on the Peace Center. In her haste to escape an approaching police officer, she descends the rope too quickly and breaks her ankle. She is apprehended easily and handcuffed. Her humiliation is only increased by the fact that Nick, whose name she had called out upon realizing that she was hurt and vulnerable, is nowhere to be found. Her sense of emptiness and isolation is increased. Conversely, this event serves to illustrate Nick’s essential lack of integrity and dependability to Jesse, and is therefore a turning point in the development of her own ability to assess character.