88 pages • 2 hours read
All We Have Left
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Twin Towers
Heralded as an architectural marvel at the time of their opening in 1973, the Twin Towers, located in the heart of Manhattans’ Financial District, symbolized American achievement, power, and prosperity. Their destruction, in addition to the inestimable cost of human lives, disrupted stock market trading and phone communication for lengthy time periods. No air traffic was allowed within the surrounding airspace; airline passengers were stranded all over the world as they awaited the ability to fly home to New York.
Alia, in the description of the events of the morning leading up to her attempt to visit her father’s office, notes that “[t]he lobby is white marble, soaring windows, glass and metal” (98). A monument to contemporary design and technology, the Towers embodied achievement. Their destruction, as detailed in Alia’s narratives, takes on an almost anthropomorphic quality. The Towers die a bit at a time; initially, their computerized mechanisms malfunction; subsequently, they succumb to fires and explosions and finally, almost anticlimactically, they implode upon themselves.
The Answering Machine
All but archaic by 2016, answering machines provided a new sense of technical assistance in communication in the 1970s. Essentially, answering machines were old-fashioned tape recorders that were automatically triggered to save audio messages when no one was available to answer the phone personally. A primitive precursor to emails and texting, answering machines allowed communication by means other than oral communication or letter writing.
Travis realizes that the prospects of survival for himself and Alia are remote, but he continues to encourage her and persuade her that they will be able to emerge from the burning Tower safely. When fires break out on the top floors of the building during their escape attempt, and the pair witness people leaping to their deaths in order to escape the flames, Travis realizes that the situation is critical. He uses a cell phone found in the purse of a young woman whom he and Alia assist when her cardiac condition renders her vulnerable. Attempts to reach police lines are unsuccessful, but he is able to leave a patchy message on his family’s home answering machine. He declares his love for all of them and mentions that he is accompanied by a young woman, Alia, who wants them to contact her parents.
Fifteen years later, advancements in technology allow a friend of Jesse’s to clarify the message. This helps bring closure for the family, allows them to hear Travis’s declaration of love, and enables Jesse to find Alia, who is now a married mother of two children and a successful graphic artist. She recounts Travis’s heroism to Jesse and assists in the process of healing for Jesse’s family.
The Headscarf
The hijab, or headscarf, is worn by some Muslim women as a symbol of loyalty and purity. Despite the conflicts with her parents at the time, Alia chooses the morning of 9/11 to wear her hijab for the first time. The white scarf is “[…] covered with swirling yellow designs and delicate flowers in green and crimson” (37), and was made for her of traditional batik fabric by her beloved grandmother, Nenek.
When Mama sees Alia in the hijab, she suspects that perhaps it is being used by her daughter as a ploy to convince them to allow her to attend a film program at NYU. Because the two are arguing bitterly at the time, there is no traditional clothes shopping trip or celebration of the first day wearing the hijab. The photo used on the missing person’s poster created by Alia’s parents when she does not return on 9/11 is one taken by a girlfriend to commemorate Alia’s first day wearing the scarf.
When Alia has trouble breathing due to the smoke and dust in the air in the burning Tower, Travis tries to convince her to wet it and use it to filter the air; however, she refuses to do so and uses the bottom of her shirt, instead. Conversely, when Travis starts to wheeze during their escape attempt because the shirt that he is wearing belonged to his grandfather, and is too small to cover his mouth, Alia insists on tenderly winding the headscarf around his face, in order to protect him.
Unlock all 88 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: