Hidden Girl
Infographic
Shyima goes through a lot in this book, her family sold her as a slave, she is beaten, she is barely fed she goes through a lot. In my opinion the worst thing she goes through is that she is in constant torture trying to figure out why her family sold her into slavery, shes dying on the inside wondering if her parents even love her.
Historical Connection
In 2000 Shiyma moved to America with her captors family. Shiyma had never really been religious but her captors family was genuinely latched on to their Islamic religion. During 2001 when Al'Caida launched attacks on the U.S. the family was in horror by what people of their religion had done.
Historical Connection cont.
The family had always been proud of their religion until the tragic event of 9/11. They were ashamed and tried to keep their religion hidden. They took off the head scarfs and stayed behind closed doors for along time.
Culture
Culture is the way of life of a group of people, the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, and they are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
Captor
A captor is a person or animal that catches or confines another.
Before life as a Slave
Before Shyima was sent away to her captors she lived a life of poverty in Cairo, Egypt with her mom, dad and many siblings. Life was hard they lived in a one bedroom apartment which meant they were all cramped and sleeping in the same room. They had very poor living conditions.
Life as a Slave in Egypt
When Shyima was sent to live with her captors, she lived in a huge mansion far from her family in the capitol of Egypt. She was forced to live in the attic with all of the other workers and was only fed the family's leftovers. So, her living conditions did not improve that much although she lived in a much better house.
Life as a Slave in the United States
Shyima was the only slave that was taken with them to America. The house in America was a fairly decent size but no where close to the size of the house in Egypt. Shyima was kept in the garage, she had a bed and a bucket to wash what little clothes she had. She was locked in the garage at night so that she could not get out. There was only one light bulb in the garage and it soon went out meaning it was pitch black dark day and night. She was only allowed to go out sometimes to take the boys to the park or the water park, or maybe even Disney land, she was not treated any better when she came to America.
Man vs. Society Conflict
The family that held Shyima as a slave were strong Muslims, when 9/11 struck everyone in America was shocked. The family was shocked that some one of their religion would do that. After 9/11 America grew very uneasy with anybody who even looked like they were from the Middle East. This caused the family to have a very low profile, the mother and her youngest daughter even went as far as taking their head scarfs off, the oldest daughter refused to do so. This conflict kept the family in the house much more.
Man vs. Self
Shyima goes through an internal conflict in the book. She always thought her parents loved her and they would never do anything to decieve her, but when her parents just left her with some random people in the 4 hours away from her home to be a slave, she didn't know what to think. She thought what did I do to deserve this, and she started feeling really bad about herself, her captors physically and verbally abused her making her feel like she was worthless and like she was nothing, and even when she called her parents to come get her, her mother told her to stay, she felt like her family didnt love her anymore