Ground Zero

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-14

Chapters 15-22

Chapters 23-30

Chapters 31-38

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Power of a Single Day

Alan Gratz shows the power of single day in a couple of ways in Ground Zero. Both Brandon’s and Reshmina’s storylines take place on a single day, so the novel’s own form reflects this theme. Both Brandon and Reshmina experience multiple life-altering events on that single day. In Brandon’s case, on September 11, 2001, his dad dies, and he survives a terrorist attack. He learns how to survive without his dad and to help and rely on others. He forms a bond with Richard, who becomes his adoptive father. Living through the attack and losing his dad both change the trajectory of his life because they lead him to joins the Army and serve multiple tours in Afghanistan. In Reshmina’s case, on September 11, 2019, she loses her twin to the Taliban, and her village is destroyed.

When Pasoon leaves, Reshmina loses her best friend, and on the same day, she loses her home. On that same day, though, she saves Taz’s life, as well as her neighbors’ lives, when she tells everyone to hide from the Taliban in the caves. These actions strengthen Reshmina’s independence and courage. For both Brandon and Reshmina, one day is life altering.

Additionally, the novel shows the power of a single day by illustrating the ripple effect of September 11, 2001. This day has had tremendous consequences, and Reshmina’s life in 2019 makes that point clear. At that point, the United States has been in Afghanistan for 20 years. The Taliban are no longer in power, but there is still constant fighting and death. For villagers like Reshmina, stuck in the middle of the fighting, the situation is dire. Taz says that “9/11 is…it’s the whole reason I’m here […] The whole reason any of us are here” (277). September 11 is cited as the reason for the American invasion of Afghanistan, but two decades later it does not feel like a good enough reason to Reshmina. The terrorist attack one day in 2001 has had ongoing effects.

Refuge Over Revenge

The danger of revenge is an important topic in the text. In Chapter 1, Brandon’s dad reprimands him for taking revenge and punching Stuart. This plot point sets the tone for the rest of the novel, in which taking revenge is repeatedly shown as wrong. Reshmina chooses to help Taz when she could have left him to die. Letting him die would have been badal, or revenge, for her sister Hila’s death. Instead she chooses to follow nanawatai, or refuge, and allows Taz to follow her home for safety. Reshmina’s actions are put in positive contrast to Pasoon’s. Pasoon is consumed with his need for revenge against the Americans. He has become angry and hateful, even turning his back on his own family.

On a larger scale, the Americans and Taliban are depicted as seeking revenge without end. The fighting will never end because each side wants revenge for the last attack. Reshmina says, “[t]here’s nothing left to rule” in Afghanistan because the missiles, guns, and drones have destroyed everything (135). She tells Pasoon that all the fighting is pointless: “Look! All that shooting, all that fighting, and for what? Neither side won anything, and neither side lost anything—except lives” (159).

Additionally, she realizes that “revenge was something the [Americans] knew and practiced as well” (279). However, since the American invasion of Afghanistan is depicted as unsuccessful, taking for revenge for 9/11, it is suggested, was not the proper course of action. The last line of the novel, when Reshmina says she has “found another path” (304), emphasizes that revenge is not the right path.

Survival Requires Teamwork

Brandon and Reshmina both fight for their lives in their storylines. For the majority of the novel, Brandon thinks that he cannot survive without his dad. Since his mom died, he and his dad have told each other that they survive as a team, so when he is separated from his dad, he thinks he cannot survive. However, throughout the novel he shows resourcefulness and bravery that keep him alive and help him keep others alive. He works together with others in the North Tower, such as when he returns to help those trapped in the elevator, and when Richard accompanies him up the stairwell to look for his dad. He doubts himself and his ability to survive without his “team,” his dad. However, by the end of the day he realizes that survival requires “everyone, working together” (294).

Brandon, as Taz, tries to live this way and initially insists that he is in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people. Reshmina does not see it this way, though. When he tells her, “It’s all of us, together. For each other,” she wonders “how could he not see it?” (299). He may want to work together with the Afghan people to help them survive, but the way the army is operating, they are causing too much destruction to do any good. He concludes that he “want[s] to be able to help with both hands” by leaving the army and returning to help rebuild (301).

Reshmina faces several dangers throughout the day, including getting caught in a battle between the Americans and the Taliban and having to hide in a poppy field from an armed man. Although she mostly saves herself from these dangers through quick thinking and quick running, what keeps her going is her motivation to save her family and neighbors. She tries to stop Pasoon from telling the Taliban about Taz, knowing that it will lead to violence. When she is unsuccessful, she runs to the village and helps everyone hide, knowing an attack is coming. Through her initiative, her family is able to work together to protect Taz, and the villagers are able to work together to survive the Taliban attack by hiding in the caves.