Road to Chlifa

Section Three returns to Karim’s diary as he stays in the hospital after his fight with Dave. He returns to the moment when he first came to Quebec with Jad. He reveals that he gave his parents little detail about the Tabarra family’s death, or his journey with Maha. Upon his arrival, he “lived in a total vacuum. In a bubble that isolated [him] from everything” (134). However, this was not a contemplative period—it was a vegetative period. His classmates’ treatment of My-Lan woke him up.

Karim’s diary also tells us that My-Lan now visits him every day. Her black hair, frail body, and the things she says remind Karim of Maha. Although others assume their relationship is romantic, he maintains that he is not in love with her—yet. Learning about her immigrant experience, he realizes that he does not have “a monopoly on unhappiness,” and he resolves not to “wallow” (136).

In his diary, Karim addresses Maha, telling her that she was right, that he now understands the feeling that a statement and its opposite can both be true. He lives with both pain and hope. He resolves to go on and live his life because she and Nada are dead, and so that he can tell their story to Jad.