49 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine MarshNowhere Boy
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Ahmed Nasser
Ahmed, one of the protagonists of Nowhere Boy, is a dynamic and round character. Ahmed is a 14-year-old refugee from Syria who flees the country with his father due to the Syrian Civil War. Ahmed finds comfort in his Islamic faith, which reminds him of his father, especially in how his father taught him “the importance of charity, how it [is] one of the pillars of their religion” (95). Ahmed feels frustrated that the rest of the world views his religion as “some violent religion that [is] all about attacking non-Muslims” (95). Instead, Ahmed knows that his faith would encourage people to help refugees like him, rather than fear him. However, Ahmed must face the reality that many Europeans will see him as a threat, rather than as a scared young boy.
Ahmed’s main internal conflict comes from his grief over his family members’ deaths and the loss of his everyday life as a teenager. Although he does not confide in Max immediately, the trauma of telling Max about his family’s death causes them to bond over Ahmed’s vulnerability. Ahmed feels tormented by his family’s death. He tells Max, “My father said they feel no pain. But how could he know?” (138). Ahmed knows that his father’s words are meant to comfort him, but Ahmed is old enough to know that the words do not really mean anything because no one knows what someone feels in their last moments. Ahmed experiences survivor’s guilt and despair when he thinks about how his family “[are] losers of history, names that [will] vanish and become anonymous numbers” (256). His despair makes him wish that he and Baba had been in the house with the rest of their family when the bomb hit so that they could have all died together. However, Ahmed’s despair turns to hope when he learns that his father is still alive. When Ahmed reunites with his father, he finally feels safe and protected as a child should be. When he hugs his father, he experiences a wave of memories from his childhood and the last few months, making him feel like he “[is] a small boy and an ancient traveler” (329). This moment makes clear that Ahmed lost his innocence after his family died, but also that he wants to return to a feeling of safety and security in a chaotic world. The war forces Ahmed to grow up too quickly, yet with Max’s help, he remembers what it feels like to be a kid again.
Max Howard
Max, a 13-year-old American, is the other protagonist of the novel and becomes Ahmed’s best friend. He is a round and dynamic character. Max feels homesick for Washington, DC, and experiences culture shock in his new environment in Brussels. However, Max puts his struggles in perspective once he finds Ahmed in the wine cellar and hears about everything he has experienced. Max allows his empathy for Ahmed to guide him as he realizes that Ahmed “[is] just a boy, a boy who like[s] soccer and comic book heroes” (77). Max relates to Ahmed because of their similar age, which makes him more open to listening to Ahmed’s experiences. As Max learns about the Syrian war, Islam, and the refugee crisis, he realizes that he can do his part to help Ahmed by allowing him to stay in his house and getting him into school, but also by standing up for him in conversations that Ahmed is not a part of. Max tries to combat the xenophobia he hears from Madame Pauline, Inspector Fontaine, and others by comparing Ahmed’s experience to that of Ralph Mayer, the Jewish boy who was protected from Nazi persecution by Albert Jonnart. However, Max gets annoyed when these adults “[can’t]—or [won’t]—see the connection” between these experiences (199). Max chooses to help Ahmed find his father in Hungary because for the first time in his life, he does not feel like a problem, but rather “like [he] could help” (274). Max’s learning about different cultures and problems outside of his own culminates in his final conversation with Inspector Fontaine. Although Max acknowledges that he broke the law, he also knows without a doubt that he did the right thing. Therefore, Max realizes that the law must be wrong. He concludes that “you can’t know what anyone’s worth unless you give them a chance” (327). By giving Ahmed a chance, Max exposes himself to an entirely new world that allows for a friendship he will keep for the rest of his life. Max’s newfound wisdom does not change Inspector Fontaine’s mind, but Max does not need his approval. Instead, he feels secure knowing that he did the right thing in helping his friend return to his father.
Inspector Fontaine
Inspector Fontaine is one of the antagonists of the novel. He is a flat, static character throughout the narrative. As a local police officer, he emblematizes an entire structure of authority and a system that is built to protect some people more than others. His family interest in Max’s house—which once belonged to his grandfather—demonstrates that he feels entitled to ownership over what happens there. He still “consider[s] Max’s house to be his” (40). This sense of entitlement extends to policing who is allowed to come into Belgium and Europe as well. Although Max believes that Inspector Fontaine is meddlesome and a nuisance, he does not realize how aggressive the police officer can be until he sees him detaining a man who Inspector Fontaine believes is Muslim. The scene stays with Max, “especially the anger in Fontaine’s voice and the way he wouldn’t even let the young man speak” (127). Max feels nervous around Inspector Fontaine the next time he sees him because he knows what he is capable of. However, he realizes that Inspector Fontaine never takes the same tone with him or any white European. Inspector Fontaine’s arrogance and assumption that he knows everything, despite having a small amount of experience, reveals itself when he tells Ahmed that his grandfather’s garden is unique and that there “are no gardens like this in Syria” (219). Ahmed knows that the police officer has no idea what he is talking about, but since Inspector Fontaine holds a position of power, Ahmed knows that he cannot correct him. Although Inspector Fontaine admits that he made a mistake in accusing Ahmed of being a terrorist, he refuses to change his worldview, especially when the person teaching him that he is wrong is a child. Max realizes that Inspector Fontaine truly believes that European unity is under threat and that “[m]igrants are threatening this unity” (325). He challenges Max’s assertion that the law can be wrong by asking him, “What if [the refugees] are not worth your sacrifice” (326). Inspector Fontaine attributes Max’s beliefs to the immaturity of a child, yet he refuses to see how Max’s argument allows for nuance and complexity. Inspector Fontaine’s inability to shift his perspective to allow for new information and perspectives highlights how people in authority perpetuate harm because of their refusal to see the humanity in people who are different than them.
Madame Pauline
Madame Pauline is the other antagonist of the novel and is a flat, static character who represents the fear and xenophobia that can affect everyday people, even those who, like her, have a great deal of education and life experience. Madame Pauline’s belief that “Muslims just keep flooding” into Europe stems from a fear of losing control over her world (38). By attributing blame to a group of people, she can feel more in control. The terrorist attacks of Paris and Brussels both cause Madame Pauline’s xenophobia to increase because she wants to have someone to focus her hate and fear on. Even before Max meets Ahmed, Madame Pauline’s comments make Max extremely uncomfortable, but he does not know how to respond because it seems like Madame Pauline knows more than he does. However, the more he learns from Ahmed about Syria and Islam, the more he starts to push back against Madame Pauline’s words. Madame Pauline’s belief that refugees just “want [Europeans] to support them” makes Max angry because he knows that the only thing Ahmed wants is to feel safe (112). Madame Pauline’s beliefs start to become conspiratorial as she warns Max that “one day, Europe is going to be theirs” (112). Although Max mainly ignores Madame Pauline’s ideas, it prevents him from inviting his friends like Farah over for a time because he worries that Farah will believe that he or his family thinks the same things that Madame Pauline does. However, Madame Pauline is also Max’s main source of information on Albert Jonnart and Ralph Mayer. She is clearly proud of the history of Belgian resistance to the Nazis, and of Jonnart’s actions, but she frustrates Max by her unwillingness to draw a parallel between the plight of European Jews during the Holocaust and present-day refugees, many of whom are Muslim. To a certain extent, Madame Pauline’s overt xenophobia is even more extreme than Inspector Fontaine’s because she believes that the police are not being hard enough on the refugees. She blames the police for her feelings of fear over her own safety and chooses to believe that “Europe used to be safe before [the refugees] arrived” (39). Max realizes with a feeling of defeat that Madame Pauline’s commitment to making all refugees the scapegoat for her fear and uncertainty remains the same no matter what rebuttal he tries to give her. Instead, Madame Pauline chooses to keep her beliefs because she needs them to make sense of the world she lives in.
