Home Fire

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. Where is Isma going?

2. On what day does Isma arrive?

3. Who called the police on Parvaiz?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did Isma raise her twin siblings?

2. What happens at the airport in London?

3. Why doesn’t Isma reach out to Parvaiz when she sees that he is online on Skype?

4. Why does Isma’s family dislike Eamonn’s father?

Paired Resource

“4 Tips for Writing a Modern Retelling”

• This is an article by Nikki Payne from Writer’s Digest discussing four important elements of a retelling.
• Connects to Home Fire as a retelling of Antigone
• What might we look out for in Home Fire after having read this article?

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. With whom does Aneeka Skype in the bathroom at Eamonn’s?

2. What does Aneeka think will happen if she boards a plane?

3. What happens when Eamonn brings up Parvaiz with his father?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did Eamonn’s father begin visiting Eamonn’s great uncle alone on Eid?

2. How does Eamonn recognize Aneeka at Aunty Naseem’s?

3. What advice does Karamat give Muslim students?

Chapters 5-6

Reading Check

1. Why do Parvaiz and Aneeka have to move in with Aunty Naseem?

2. What does Farooq take from Parvaiz?

3. To what city does Parvaiz need to travel so that he can escape from ISIS?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is it surprising that Isma’s student visa was approved?

2. Why does Parvaiz start hanging out with Farooq?

3. What are the effects of Farooq’s relationship with Parvaiz on Parvaiz’s family?

Paired Resource

“Kamila Shamsie Discusses Updating Antigone With a British-Pakistani Family in Home Fire”

• An interview by Bethanne Patrick with Kamila Shamsie for the Los Angeles Times
• Discusses the Crisis of Masculinity and Its Consequences
• How is this novel also a personal story for Shamsie? What are the stakes of telling a story like this?

Chapter 7

Reading Check

1. Who killed Parvaiz?

2. Who does the media think killed Parvaiz?

3. Why can’t Aneeka attend Parvaiz’s funeral?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why hadn’t Aneeka been able to reach Istanbul?

2. What does it mean that Parvaiz is denaturalized?

3. Why is Aneeka’s cousin contemptuous toward her and Parvaiz?

Paired Resource

“Mapping Home”

• A poem by May Yang about home and its connection with physical bodies
• Connects to the theme of The Intersection of Birthplace and National Identity
• How does the image of home that Yang paints connect to the vision of home for Aneeka, Parvaiz, and Isma?

Chapters 8-9

Reading Check

1. From whose perspective are the last two chapters told?

2. What official supports Aneeka’s protest against the Home Secretary?

3. From what two countries does Aneeka have a passport?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Karamat’s wife mad at him?

2. Why doesn’t Karamat act when he realizes that Eamonn has flown to Pakistan?

3. Why does Isma go to see Karamat?

Paired Resource

“An Antigone for a Time of Terror”

• A review of Home Fire by Peter Ho Davies discussing the update to Antigone via Home Fire for The New York Times (May require subscription)
• Shared themes include Crisis of Masculinity and Its Consequences and The Intersection of Birthplace and National Identity.
• Why might so many authors be trying to update Greek tragedies for modern times?

Recommended Next Reads 

Year of the Dog by Deborah Paredez

• This collection of poetry recounts how Paredez’s father served in the military during Vietnam and the aftermath of the war.
• Shared themes include Crisis of Masculinity and Its Consequences and The Intersection of Birthplace and National Identity.
• Allusions and other connections include references to Greek tragedies and national identity.

Antigone by Sophocles

• This is the Greek play on which Home Fire is based.
• Shared themes include Loyalty to the Family Versus Loyalty to the State.
• Antigone on SuperSummary