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Page 4 Qoutes

"She has been trying to protect both children from knowing too much. But what if they don't know enough? What if they say the wrong thing?" (120) Yasmeen is troubled by the thought of what will happen if her siblings tell the social workers the wrong thing. She is concerned that by protecting them from what was really happening to them in America, they may something wrong about there past or where they came from. "Yasmeen does her crying at night, after the children are asleep. But lately she has started wondering how she makes it through the day." (116) Yasmeen's life is divided between her school life where she is trying to gain an education to be able to work towards a better life in America and at home where she spends all of her time being a mother figure to her sibling. This quote shows how Yasmeen struggles to keep the two lives separate because of her hardships. "/Not long ago, when men in her family were busy making plans on her behalf, Yasmeen made a promise to herself: she vowed to go to college, regardless of how difficult her responsibilities were at home/" (294) Yasmeen is a living embodiment of the American Dream. This quote shows that she came to America from a foreign country to gain an education and to work hard, and she won't let anything stop her from achieving her goals. "Not long ago, Yasmeen had thought she wouldn't make it this far. But almost six months since she posed for her yearbook portrait, she wears her cap and gown for real, and this time they are not just borrowed props, nor is her diploma." (277) This quote shows that despite her troubles Yasmeen came to America to get her education, so she could make a better life, not only for herself, but for the rest of her family. She is well on her way to accomplishing this goal when she graduates from high school. Yasmeen is the American Dream.

"--despite losing her parents, the new found responsibility of raising her siblings, and her brothers' plans for her--she still has options. She is a citizen. She can go to school, work and take care of her sibling" (112).