Does My Head Look Big In This Culture

In the text “Does my head look big in this” by Randa Abdel – Fattah the main character Amal makes a decision to wear a hijab full time “voluntarily”. The decision to wear a hijab changes the way she sees herself, her faith and her culture. Amal’s thoughts on herself change her confidence level, her views on her faith change by the safety and connection with the world around her that she feels when wearing the hijab, which intern helps her identify her identity. The way she sees her culture changes when she starts understanding the traditions and values that the people around where raised with. Amal’s decision to wear a hijab all the time changes her confidence. Before wearing the hijab as a “full timer” Amal was confident when going out
with her friends but when she started to wear the hijab she started to “freak out” and tries to avoid going out. Amal’s confidence grows when her friends and family support her to go out and have fun. There support her by telling “(she’s) got guts” and that “it’s (her) right to wear it”. The more Amal went out the more her confidents grew but during this time of growing confidence Amal also had to face being bullied. Tia Tamos, Claire Foster and Rita Mason tried to knock Amal down but she keeps prevailing by saying to herself “I’ve got it in me to survive wearing the hijab”. This new found confidence helped Amal understand her faith and identity better. Amal’s decision to wear the hijab changes her views on her faith and helps Amal identify her identity. As Amal starts to wear the hijab she starts to feel a “connection” between her and her god.”(She) smiles to (herself), knowing god is watching over (her)”. With this connection she understand that being “Muslim” isn’t just one of life’s category that peoples are divided into but a part of someone’s identity. Another example of this is when Amal goes shopping with her mum and meets another two Muslim girls who greet her with the global Islamic getting “Assalamu Alaykom”. At...