Ground Zero Ch 17

Brandon
Bananas & Pink Grapefruit

Open Ended

How is Brandon able to save Richard?

Richard sings, "This Land is Your Land" and Brandon hears him and follows the sound. Richard is buried under drywall. Brandon refuses to leave without Richard.

Open Ended

How does Brandon use his senses other than sight to help them?

Brandon is trying to move carefully by feeling in order not to fall into a hole. He smells a distinctive small which tells him their location and allows him to orient their position and head towards an exit.

Open Ended

What is the significance of the Nokia phone ringing?

The phone ringing in the rubble with its owner buried under the rubble makes the death real. Someone is calling a person who will never come home.

Reshmina
We're Here Because We're Here

Open Ended

What does Reshmina find in the secret room? What does she call it?

She discovers a trove of relics from conquerors from the past. Everything from a Greek statue to Soviet land mines. She calls it a shrine or a memorial to all the countries that conquered Afghanistan but couldn't hold it.

Open Ended

What does "we're here because we're here" mean to you?

It suggests a pointlessness, a sense of being pawns in a greater game that you don't understand. It also seems like an acceptance of events out of one's control.

Open Ended

There is Pashto writing on the wall:

We are content with conflict. We are content with fear. We are content with blood. But we will never be content with a master.

What do you think content means in this passage?

It seems like content does not mean happy in this passage. It is more of acceptance of what the Afghan people are willing to endure in order to be independent.