Other Words for Home

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Vocabulary

Essay Topics

Quiz

Part 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “Hoping”

Part 4, Poems 1-6 Summary

Jude writes her fifth letter to Fatima since coming to America. Fatima has not answered, and Jude tries to not allow herself to worry about the “scary reasons” why (178). She requests that Fatima write back this time with “some happy news from back home” (178); then she will feel better about Issa. She writes in Arabic, and Aunt Michelle comments on how impressive it is to be able to write in two languages; she also says she wishes that Uncle Mazin would teach Sarah Arabic. Jude suggests that he is too busy, but Aunt Michelle thinks there is a deeper reason.

Jude accompanies Mama to her ultrasound appointment. Jude can see the baby’s features on a screen and hear the baby’s heartbeat. When the tech asks if Mama wants to know what she is having, Mama says, “Aren’t I having a baby?” (182), which makes Jude laugh. Mama learns she’s having another girl. On the way out of the hospital, Jude sees Christmas decorations and hears Christmas carols playing. She and Mama are excited to think about the baby girl. Suddenly a stranger approaches and tells Mama that she does not have to wear a headscarf anymore because in America she is free. Mama is confused and Jude leads her away, telling the woman they are happy.

Jude plans to use winter break to choose and practice an audition monologue. One morning while she and Aunt Michelle make pancakes, Sarah asks for a ride to meet friends for sledding. Aunt Michelle says yes, and that Jude should go with Sarah. Sarah agrees, telling Jude, “Just don’t be weird” (194). Jude is excited and not offended. However, just before joining her friends, Sarah again tells Jude not to be weird, this time tacking on, “Like your friend is” (195). Jude realizes she means Layla. Sarah says Layla behaves as if she is not from America; Jude protests that Layla is American, but Sarah is already headed to her friends and does not hear. Sarah and her friends Mina, Harper, and Sloane chat about the play tryouts. When Jude says she was at the organizational meeting, Sarah gives her a warning look. Jude says Layla worked on sets last year, and Harper says she’d like to do that too. Jude announces that she plans to try out as Sarah stares at her.

Part 4, Poems 7-9 Summary

Layla tries to convince Jude that she should not try out; Jude is not a native speaker, and the auditions are very competitive. Jude insists she is not scared of the challenge, and Layla tells her there is always something to fear. Layla tells Jude, “We’re the type of girls that design the sets, / that stay backstage” (206), but Jude tells Layla she wants to be under the lights.

When Mama is out of their bedroom, Jude practices her audition song, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” She chose it because Issa used to stand on the sofa and belt it loudly, and she remembers those days as fun and happy. Jude cannot decide on a monologue despite watching old favorite movies with Aunt Michelle. Sarah watches along with them but will not share what monologue she is using; Jude wonders if Sarah is afraid Jude will take it. Jude decides to use Julia Roberts’s monologue from Notting Hill explaining that her life is not as everyone assumes. Jude loves how it feels to speak uninterrupted for two minutes every time she practices the speech.

Part 4, Poems 10-13 Summary

Jude plans to write another letter to Fatima despite Fatima’s lack of response. As she hunts for paper in the bedroom, she discovers her own letters to Fatima, still unsent. She confronts Mama downstairs, but Mama does not answer. Instead Mama asks Jude to sing her audition song. Jude is surprised Mama knows she plans to try out. Jude wants to know why their family keeps so many secrets. Mama tells Jude that Aunt Amal and Fatima moved to Lebanon when Fatima’s baba lost his job. She does not know where they are and chose not to tell Jude because Jude was already so worried about Issa. Jude notices Mama is wearing an American sweater and stretchy pants; Jude realizes America is changing Mama. Mama asks about the tryouts again, and Jude sings for her.

At tryouts, Jude sees Sarah and her friends; she feels everyone’s nervous energy in the room. She realizes she has a right to audition just like everyone else there. Mrs. Bloom struggles over Jude’s last name when it is her turn. A spark of anger propels Jude to the stage where she looks boldly into the lights and sings.

Jude gets her first period overnight. She is afraid for Mama and the baby at first when she sees spots of blood on the sheets. Mama holds her close and reminds Jude that she will always “be her baby too” (225). Jude gets the headscarves she packed in her suitcase. Mama is happy she will wear the traditional headscarf. Jude picks a turquoise one, and Mama helps her fold and wrap it. Jude and Mama both admire her reflection. Jude feels that she looks older and wiser. She barely recognizes the “stranger who [she] will / get to know” but is excited to meet her grown-up self (227).

Part 4 Analysis

Near the end of Part 3, Jude accepts an implicit challenge when she learns that Issa has left home for Aleppo. She notes that it takes courage to hold out hope, but this is what she chooses to do. This courage does not drain Jude in Part 4; instead, it propels her through a series of new experiences and situations. She demonstrates bravery when confronting the woman who tells Mama she no longer needs her headscarf. She also goes sledding with Sarah and her friends and speaks out when Sarah ignorantly claims, “[Layla] just acts like she isn’t from here” (196).

Most impressively, Jude auditions for the school musical despite her nervousness and despite the advice of Layla, who says the tryouts will be extremely competitive. Jude also faces down warning stares from Sarah in announcing she will be trying out, and she probably escalates the already-present friction between Sarah and her when she watches movies with Sarah’s mother to find her own audition monologue. The choice to try out is a complex one for Jude; unusually, she keeps it a secret from Mama, concerned that she might worry herself into an unhealthy state over the outcome. Jude’s desire to protect her mother marks a shift in parent-child roles and indicates her ongoing character growth. Jude also uses the audition as an homage to Issa, both in her choice of song and in the way she bravely belts the difficult notes.

Once Jude chooses the monologue from Notting Hill—not coincidentally, a speech about incorrect assumptions about one’s character and background—she makes a turn toward proving herself; this audition is not just a symbolic gesture of hope for Issa’s well-being or a chance for Mama to be proud of her, but a way to show her peers and others that she has talent, courage, independence, and dreams. She tries to explain it to Layla in terms of relative courage:

I left home, I flew

across an ocean.

My brother is missing,

in the middle of a war zone.

What is there left to be afraid of? (205).

Layla, however, is unconvinced and simply reminds Jude there will always be another thing to fear. When Layla tries to tell Jude they are not the kind of girls who seek the spotlight and the audience’s attention, Jude tells her pointedly, “But I want to be” (206). She bravely follows through with her audition in the crowded theater and even allows herself to use her slight anger about the mispronunciation of her name to motivate her performance.

This strength, courage, and newly outspoken attitude about her identity coincide with physical evidence of Jude’s maturation: She starts her first period shortly after tryouts and before the cast list goes up. This is of course involuntary, but the choice to take her headscarves out of her suitcase and begin wearing them is entirely Jude’s own, and it reflects both her pride in her heritage and her entry into young adulthood.