Ask Me no Questions by Marina Budhos

In the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos, the author makes you think more deeply on the issue of illegal immigration. In the story, Nadira Hossein lives in a nondescript neighborhood in Queens. They are illegal “aliens” from Bangladesh and they escape in the middle of the night to apply for asylum in Canada. Using expired visas, her father unfortunately is detained. Her mother stays in Canada, waiting for Abba (her father) to get out of jail. Nadira and her sister, Aisha, go back to Queens where they now live at their aunt’s and uncle’s apartment. But when Aisha comes down with some kind of post traumatic stress disorder, Nadira determinedly goes to Vermont, where her mother is. The trial is held, and the judge starts giving illicit accusations about her father, saying he had joined a terrorist group. Nadira realizes that they have the wrong name and clears it. But they still have to go to court to get legal housing. Aisha is still a bit traumatized, but she is okay. The judge grants them legal housing and Nadira describes her feelings for it in this passage: “When the gravel cracks, wood on wood, the air seems to explode with light. Abba turns around and I see he is crying silent tears. But he says nothing”. The book made me think about the conflict on illegal immigration, and now I seem to look at illegal immigration differently.

There are many themes and issues explored in this book: illegal immigration, which Nadira and her family are [illegal immigrants], post traumatic stress, which Aisha has, poverty, and prejudice against Muslims. All of these issues are explored differently, like how Nadira describes Aisha’s post traumatic stress: “After that, something shifts between Aisha and me. It’s like she’s opened the door and wriggled over into her own private world.” Whereas on prejudice against Muslims, She describes it as a thing she doesn’t pay a lot of mind to, but it still haunts her. Aisha’s post traumatic stress, it’s a thing she can’t ignore and she is frightened and disappointed in Aisha. But illegal immigration, the main issue in the book, is explored in depth to the reader. Nadira lives and breathes illegal immigration, and the thought of being deported or being wrongly convicted of being in a jihadist kind of group is everywhere: in her dreams, her school life, and the lies that she always has to tell in order to keep her identity secret. It really made me think differently of illegal immigrants.

In the book, the author (Marina Budhos) tries to make you think more highly of illegal immigrants. She sneaks her opinions in through passages of Nadira’s thoughts: “We heard of hundreds of deported Iranians from California and others from Brooklyn, Texas, upstate New York. We watched the news of the war and saw ourselves as others saw us: dark, flitting shadows, grenades blooming in our fists. Dangerous.” There are many issues in America right now, but she brings us back to the subject of illegal immigration. It is actually a very big issue. The author tries to show us that illegal immigrants are not evil, sadistic people who are associated with terrorism and drugs. They just want a better life for themselves. She also shows that the media exploits illegal immigrants by painting them as bad people. Marina Budhos really made me think more supportively about illegal immigrants.

The book Ask me No Questions by Marina Budhos really deepened my thinking about the issue of illegal immigration. A lot of people are unsure where they stand in the issue of illegal immigration, but the author tries to show that it may seem like illegal immigrants are overpopulating America and taking up all our jobs, but they just want a more prosperous future, because a lot of the time their countries (Bangladesh, in Nadira’s case) are corrupt: “Then one day Naseem disappeared, gone to join the Mukti Bahini, “Freedom Fighters”, who wanted their own nation. Every day my grandmother pressed her forehead against the window gate, praying her eldest son would walk down the dusty street. But it was not to be. The more Grandmother prayed, the worse the news became. They heard about university students shot and professors murdered on their pillows. They heard about Freedom Fighters mowed down in dirt pits, Hindu villages riddled with gunshot.” Marina Budhos is trying to say that illegal immigration is actually a really big issue in America and these people are normal people like you and me. Reading Ask me no Questions really deepened my thinking on the issue of illegal immigration.

In conclusion, there are many issues in the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos, but illegal immigration is the main issue. She goes very deep and personal into the issue, which really makes you think about illegal immigration in a different light, and how the media abuses the issue of illegal immigration. It is a very serious conflict in the United States, and the book Ask me no Questions by Marina Budhos really made me think more deeply about illegal immigration.