Almost every character in the novel retrospectively realizes that they could have handled certain interactions differently—and to the benefit of all involved. When Hadia and Amar are in school, Amar cheats on a spelling test; Amar does this because he wants the shoes his father promised him as a reward for a perfect test score, and Amar also longs for a personal triumph within his family and his father’s praise. Hadia becomes jealous and spitefully tells their father that Amar cheated on the test. Because of this, Amar loses his reward, his personal triumph, and his father’s pride.

However, it isn’t until Hadia and Amar are both adults that Hadia realizes she sabotaged her brother’s successes to further her own. Upon Hadia and Amar’s reunion on her wedding day, Hadia reflects, “She should have been kinder. Three years [the length of Amar’s separation from his family] had changed her brother, lent seriousness to his features, shadows pressed beneath his eyes […]” (10). Hadia notices negative changes in Amar’s physical appearance and demeanor as an adult—he appears withered, both emotionally and physically: A slouch denotes his loss of confidence, and his bones show through his clothes.