Refugee Character Trait

Mahmoud watched as these two boys attacked the boy with the bread, a boy he didn’t even know. He felt the stirrings of indignation, of anger, of sympathy. His breath came quick and deep, and his hands clenched into fists. “I should do something,” he whispered. But he knew better.​ ​ (a)  

• coward
• Whimpy
• Brave
• Pessimistic
• responsible

“Please!” Mahmoud cried. He sobbed with the effort of fighting off the man’s fingers and hanging onto the dinghy. “Please, take us with you!”

“No! No room!”

“At least take my sister!” Mahmoud begged. “She’s a baby. She won’t take up any room!”​ ​ (a)  

• brave
• dull
• selfish
• mischievous

“Thank you! Thank you!” Isabel cried. Her heart ached with gratitude toward these people. Just a moment’s kindness from each of them might mean the difference between death and survival for her mother and everyone else on the little raft.​ (a)  

• grateful
• unappreciative
• responsible
• artistic

The vacationers dropped their voices, and even though Mahmoud couldn’t understand what they were saying, he could hear the disgust in their words. This wasn’t what the tourists had paid for. They were supposed to be on holiday, seeing ancient ruins and beautiful Greek beaches, not stepping over filthy, praying refugees.

They only see us when we do something they don’t want us to do, Mahmoud realized.​ (a)  

• disappointed
• loving
• loyal
• bossy

“I wish from the bottom of my heart that you will land soon, Little Man,” Officer Padron said again. “I’m sorry. I’m just doing my job.”

Josef looked deep into Officer Padron’s eyes, searching for some sign of help, some hint of sympathy. Officer Padron just looked away.​ ​ (a)  

• hopeful
• obnoxious
• shy
• adventurous

“We’re not criminals!” one of the other men in the cell yelled at him.

“We didn’t ask for civil war! We didn’t want to leave our homes!” another man yelled.

“We’re refugees!” Mahmoud yelled, unable to stay silent any longer. “We need help!”​ ​ (a)  

• demanding
• jealous
• immature
• wise

“Don’t you see?” Lito said. “The Jewish people on the ship were seeking asylum, just like us. They needed a place to hide from Hitler. From the Nazis. Mañana, we told them. We’ll let you in mañana. But we never did.” Lito was crying now, distraught. “We sent them back to Europe and Hitler and the Holocaust. Back to their deaths. How many of them died because we turned them away? Because I was just doing my job?”​ (a)  

• regretful
• timid
• polite
• playful

Whether you were visible or invisible, it was all about how other people reacted to you. Good and bad things happened either way. If you were invisible, the bad people couldn’t hurt you, that was true. But the good people couldn’t help you, either.​ (a)  

• wise
• cruel
• curious
• tolerant

or as much as he’d wanted to grow up, Josef wished now that he could join them. Be a little kid again, cheerfully oblivious to what was going on around him.

But he wasn’t a kid anymore. He had responsibilities. Like keeping his sister and his mother safe. ​ (a)  

• responsible
• persuasive
• lonely
• afraid

bed and becomes so scared that he wets himself. The soldiers grab Josef’s six-year-old sister Ruthie by the hair as she screams. They then destroy everything in the room as Josef...​ ​ (a)  

• nervous
• tolerant
• greedy
• humble