A Place for Us

Hair coverings and styles are a recurring point of focus. Hadia and other women at the wedding are identified as either wearing a hijab or leaving their hair uncovered, and we often receive insight on why the viewpoint character observes these differences. Hadia dyes a strand of her hair blue when she’s a teenager; this seems like an act of rebellion, as she makes sure her hijab covers this when she’s at home. Later in the novel, when she is a doctor at the hospital where Rafiq is being treated, her father admires the single strand of silver in her hair and how well it becomes her—an obvious parallel and a symbol of how their attitudes toward traditional religious presentation have changed over the years. There is a similar focus on men’s hair and beard styles in the narrative, including when Rafiq takes Amar to get his hair cut as a child and when Amar begs his father to shave off his beard in the wake of 9/11. Characters’ hairstyles consistently serve as visual cues indicating personal values and how those values change over time.