Barriers

“Barriers” was an interesting play to read. I always knew that Muslims would get stereotyped since the September 11th attack, but I never knew that people would go so far as to beat them up or discriminate them everywhere they go. It’s crazy what people have to go through to be accepted or just to make a living in peace without getting harassed. I think this play was yet again one that would be understood better if watched since their were different scenes going on at the same time. Overall it was pretty good.
To me the strongest character in the play would be Naima. She’s strong because even though she’s going through all this harassment at home and whenever she goes out, she still does what she needs to do without being so afraid from the harassment she will put up with. An example of this was when Chris and Jeff offered to walk her to the store and she refused. Another example is that she wasn’t afraid to put on the hijab, which everyone knows is a Muslim symbol. She cared more about pleasing her husband and family than thinking about the consequences that she will go through as a result of wearing it. Although we do see some paranoia in her character with her husband Khalil, she’s still a strong character with putting up with him. I do believe he cheated because he “claims” that the lady he talked to was only a “friend”. Unlike his wife, I feel that he is not a strong character at all. He seems selfish to want Sunima to stay home from college and not care about her love for Roger. I understand that the death of his son Nabhil caused him a lot of pain, but he seems like he doesn’t know how to deal with it. He starts talking to other women, he goes to the bar and gets drunk, and kind of gets away from his religion. He also becomes very selfish with his daughter. Not only that but I kind of feel like he didn’t treat his wife very good. He always seemed to have an attitude with her.
I am kind of surprised as to why Sunima was taking a whole different attitude about the discrimination that goes on with her culture, and her brother’s death. Her character seemed kind of shady and also selfish because she only goes to visit her family just to tell them that she’s going to get married. She was never really there for them. I guess maybe she doesn’t really realize the type of discrimination her family is going through since at school she seems to be in a whole different environment but on the other hand, she too needed to deal with the loss of her brother. It’s a little weird that she was taking it so lightly, like she was in her own little world where telling her family about Roger was her only goal.
Overall, the play had a good ending. I feel by erasing Nabhil’s message, they kind of let all the grief go and go on with there lives. Especially, when Khalil started praying on his mat again. Naima also got home safely despite the harassment she had encountered and made peace with her husband.