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Chapter 8
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Very Large Expanse of Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Islamophobia
Friendship and Community
Prejudice, Division, and Isolation
First Love
Summary
Analysis
In Shirin’s Global Perspectives class, her teacher Mr. Jordan asks her to participate in an “experiment” with Travis, another student in class. In front of everyone, Mr. Jordan commands Shirin and Travis to look into each other’s eyes, then asks Travis to tell everyone what he thinks when he looks at Shirin. When Travis reveals that he “doesn’t see anything” when he looks at Shirin and that she almost “doesn’t exist” for him, Shirin walks out of class, hurt. Ocean, who Shirin didn’t realize was also in this class, follows and tries to comfort her. Ocean convinces Shirin to let him skip class with her.
While no one purposely means to hurt Shirin, Mr. Jordan’s exercise ultimately humiliates Shirin by forcing her to publicly reconcile with the fact that she’s invisible to some of her peers, like Travis, who view her this way despite having never spoken to her before. Unlike Shirin’s first day of school, when she fearlessly talked back to the teacher who assumed she couldn’t speak adequate English, this moment underscores Shirin’s vulnerability. Even though she’s established herself as a tough character, Travis’s comment almost makes her cry, causing her to leave the room.
Themes
