Anna Cai Ms. Filice ENG1D0-C December 20, 2022 Independent growth in the characters of Bifocal Fear of the unknown translates into racism. Islamophobia, a sect of racism, skyrocketed after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Ultimately, this affects schools, especially high school students. Islamophobia infects the young, impressionable minds of high school students. In the novel Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters, the characters Jay, Haroon and Zana are impacted by Islamophobia, it is through their independent growth that they have hope to dismantle and fight Islamophobia in their high school. They are able to grow independently because of their bravery, maturity, and perseverance. First of all, the main characters of …show more content…
To start, Haroon shows bravery when he stands his ground and talks back to the police instead of staying quiet. “‘Arrest me then,’ I say ‘Charge me with something, or quit bothering me. I have nothing to tell you, and I'm done talking to you. Charge me and give me due process or let me out of this car.’” (Ellis, 264) In this quotation he is fed up with the police specifically asking and threatening him over and over again, he is sick of the prejudice against him, so he speaks up. This is important in portraying his individual growth because it demonstrates how he has changed. At the beginning of the novel, Haroon was threatened inside a police car by the officers, and he didn’t stand up for himself. Whereas at the end of the book, he encounters an almost identical situation, except this time, he did not back down. He did not let the officers threaten him anymore and this shows …show more content…
For instance, Haroon uses his maturity to make an important decision. “‘So, are you going to tell?’ he asks me. ‘No.’ I wasn’t either. ‘Do you think I should?’ he asks, then answers the question himself. ‘I should.’ ‘No, you shouldn’t,’ I say. ‘What would it help? It would just make more people hate each other more. More anger, more hatred, more problems’” (267) Haroon is told who vandalized his home. Jay, one of the people involved, was even going to turn himself, and the rest of the crew, in and tell. Instead of letting his anger get to him, he acts very mature. He tells Jay that he wouldn’t tell anyone and that Jay shouldn’t either. Haroon makes a very selfless choice, thinking of the bigger picture, instead of just himself. Not only does Haroon use his maturity to grow independently, Jay does so too. “‘You don’t understand,’ he said. ‘You’re through.’ ‘I’m through with you. I’m still part of the team’ I turned and walked away… ‘What happened?’ Haroon asked. ‘Nothing worth wasting time on. Where do you want to sit?’ ‘Somewhere in the middle’ I followed him as he threaded his way through the tables and chairs. I knew it was just my imagination, but it still felt like everybody was staring at me-at the two of us. I hoped they were.” (273) Jay matures and realizes that Kevin isn’t a good influence, and he decides to end things with him. He understands that he can still be on