All We Have Left

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

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Chapters 55-58Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 55 Summary: “Alia”

Alia relates the horror of being surrounded by fires, and the realization that they are close to the bottom of the staircase. She is comforted by the fact that there are now other people attempting to escape the Tower with them; she looks behind her at Travis and “[…] his face is focused, grim” (332). Suddenly, she hears the same rushing sound as that made by a thousand trains – the same sound made prior to the collapse of the first building. She and Travis run and hear a sound like a “[…] gigantic metal ball bouncing down the stairwell above us” (333), as the building shakes and concrete falls from the walls. Travis tries to open a stairwell door, and the pair are pushed to a corner of the landing as the building falls. Travis uses his body to shield her; Alia says “I love you, Mama” (333) and hears Travis praying.

Chapter 56 Summary: “Jesse”

Jesse relates that she is enjoying the last weekend prior to the start of senior year at the lake with her girlfriends, Teeny, Emi and Myra. She joyously anticipates the upcoming arrival of her older brother, Hank, from Africa. He will be accompanied by his wife, Deka, and their son, Joshua.

While Jesse and Adam have attempted to come to emotional terms with their newly-evolved comprehension of 9/11, they have been unable to do so. Conversely, her parents have re-established contact, and her father has agreed to see Hank. Jesse continues to reside with her mother in their small apartment above a friend’s garage. While her father has asked to speak to Jesse, the young woman is not yet ready to do so. When her friends tease her about Adam’s good looks and ask if they are dating, Jesse responds that “It’s complicated” (336). This is a reference to the fact that Adam’s faith prohibits dating, although he has advised his parents of his feelings for Jesse. Her continued search for Alia has been futile thus far.

Adam arrives home from college to visit for the weekend and encourages Jesse to contact her father. She confesses that she was afraid to tell her father her true feelings for Adam during her last conflict with him, and is afraid to negate their relationship by having this happen again. While they are unable to define their complex relationship, Adam says, “What I feel for you…that can’t be wrong” (938). Jesse relents and visits her father. She advises him that she can no longer keep “[…] everything locked up inside” and that he should love her “[…] just the way I am” (339). Her father assures her that he does love her, expressing remorse that she ever doubted this. She ends the encounter with a sense of hope about their future relationship.

Chapter 57 Summary: “Jesse”

As Jesse had expected, the family reunion involving Hank and her father is not easy; nonetheless, it is worthwhile to see her father bond with his 3-year-old grandson, Joshua. She stays with her mother, who tells her that she is proud of her, “For being you” (342).

Jesse continues to research the name “Alia Susanto”; one night, she is led to a recent news article about a Muslim graphic artist who has authored a comic book about 9/11, featuring a young female Muslim superhero. The character is wearing a “[…] a white scarf covered with swirling red and green flowers” (342).

Chapter 58 Summary: “Jesse”

When Adam advises his father that Jesse has found Alia, the older man is able to contact associates who can provide a street address in Brooklyn for the 9/11 survivor. Alia tells Adam’s father that she wants to see Jesse as soon as possible; upon meeting Jesse, she immediately hugs her and says that she looks just like Travis.

Alia, who is now the married mother of two young children, had taken her husband’s surname of “Peterson,” which is why internet searches under her maiden name had produced no results. She explains that she had taken over her parents’ Brooklyn apartment upon their return to California, adding that she had always continued to think of Jesse as a baby, rather than a young woman. Jesse returns Alia’s flowered scarf to her–the same hijab that she had wrapped around Travis’s face as they tried to escape the burning building. Alia starts to tell Jesse everything she knows about Travis, and the story of 9/11.

Chapters 55-58 Analysis

Alia’s description of her attempted escape from the burning Tower takes on a tragic overtone. When they are close enough to the bottom of the staircase to hear rescue workers extolling those who have exited the Towers to “go,go,go!” (332), the same thundering sound of a thousand trains approaching is heard again. She recognizes the identical din to that which preceded the implosion of the other Tower; and it becomes apparent that the likelihood of both characters escaping from this situation is remote.

Travis, who is now a tragic hero, uses his own body to shield Alia’s when the building starts to crumble around them.

When the reader next meets with Alia, she is a married woman, professional graphic novel illustrator, and mother of two young children. Her Brooklyn address was found by Adam’s father when Jesse’s relentless internet searches found an article describing Alia’s most recent work involving a young female Muslim superhero helping to overcome the repercussions of 9/11. Jesse has come to visit at Alia’s invitation, and asks to be told everything about Travis.

The concept of forbidden young love continues to be explored as the relationship between Jesse and Adam unfolds. While his Muslim faith forbids “dating” in the traditional sense, he is conflicted between adhering to his religious tenets and the intensity of his feelings for Jesse. He knows that what he feels for her “[…] can’t be wrong” (338); as to future plans, he admits he doesn’t know. Jesse assures him that they will determine this as a couple, and resolves to enjoy the present moment of their relationship.

At Adam’s urging, Jesse converses again with her father. During this exchange, she acknowledges her love for Adam and requests that her father love her, as a daughter, “[…] just the way I am” (339). Her father, filled with emotion, tells her that he does love her, and always has. Later in the week, Jesse’s older brother, Hank, visits home for the first time in years, accompanied by his wife and child.

In this section, we see the impact of Adam’s sense of spirituality and family loyalty upon Jesse. Despite the fact that her father’s animosity toward Adam due to his Muslim background was the root of the terrible argument between the two, Adam reminds her of the larger context of the family relationship. He reminds Jesse that she should heal the rift in the relationship merely because “[h]e’s still your dad” (338).