1. Iqbal Novel Study Name: Kim Lontoc 8-73
Quotable Passages Date: January 21, 2012
TOTAL: ________/15 marks
There are many quotable passages from chapter 7 in Iqbal. Below are four
important quotes.
You must respond critically to Passage 1 and Passage 4. Then choose either
Passage 2 OR 3 to reflect on.
In your response, consider commenting on some of the following: special
meaning, connection to a character’s thoughts and feelings, or why this quote
makes you think and want to know more.
You can write your response directly beneath the passage.
* PASSAGE 1
“It means that this kind of life isn’t right. We should return to our families; we
shouldn’t be chained to our looms and forced to work like slaves.” Page 50
RESPONSE:
The significance of this quotable passage is that the kind of life the children who are
involved in child labour is never right. In my opinion, child labour is not fair and it
shouldn’t even exist because every child deserves to be a child. The reason being is
because children should not be forced to work, especially at a young age where they are
not strong enough. Children should not be experiencing child labour because they
should be playing and learning instead of having to work from dawn until dusk with little
food in their stomach with fatigue and not enough rest. The children should return to
the warmth of their families because it is where they receive happiness, are loved, cared
for, nurtured, and get enough to eat. Every child is entitled to having a family, and
should be learning and playing instead of tying knots and selling a variety of materials on
the streets. The children should return to their families because being in the presence of
your family gives you hope that someday your life will become better. The children
should definitely not be chained to their looms because we are all human beings that
should be treated equally and fairly. Instead of picking needles and sewing clothes for
other company’s, their fingers should hold pencils to write, and books to read instead of
having their hands with scars and bruises from working all day and night.Not a single
one of us should be treated like animals and chain us just to work and do things we do

2. not want to do. Lastly, we should not be forced to work like slaves because everyone
has the right to have basic human rights, and to speak what they feel, and to have the
freedom to do what they want, because at the end of the day, we are all humans. No
one should be bought or sold, because we are worth so much than what we think we
are. We’re worth more than a million dollars, because we all have something no other
person has. No one is the same person as someone else, and that is what makes us so
valuable.
PASSAGE 2
‘There was a precise rule among us: Never talk about the future. Not a single one of us
dared to say, “next summer,” or “in a year,” or, “when I’m grown up.” Oh yes, we
talked about things we liked to do, and we talked about the day our debt would be
cancelled. We talked that hope into the ground. But nobody really believed it. It was
sort of litany, a way to feel good. Otherwise what was left to us?’ Page 53
PASSAGE 3
“Fatima,” he said in a low voice, “next spring you and I are going to fly a kite.
Remember that, whatever happens.” Page 54
RESPONSE: PASSAGE 2
The significance of this quotable passage is that they never wanted to talk about the
future because it hurts them too much to be even thinking about the future that they’re
not sure they are possibly having. It gives us a glimpse of how the workers felt about
how it hurts to dream and how it feels to be positioned in their shoes. It will crush their
souls because dreaming about the possibilities is already a struggle, getting their hopes
up will bring them down even more. The reason why they did not say “next summer,” or
“in a year,” or, “when I’m grown up,” was because they have been working at the carpet
factory for 3 years, and everyday the slate that they worked tirelessly on never changes,
even though they knew Hussain Khan would always take a line off for a long days worth
of work. They believed that they won’t ever experience a difference because they know
that there is a possibility that they may never return home again because the lines on
the slate may never disappear. They had started to give up that someone will actually
have the heart to save them. They talked about the day their debt would be cancelled
and what they liked to do because it takes their mind off of the unending days of slavery
and hard effort that they wasted energy on everyday for the making of the carpets
Hussain Khan wanted them to pursue on creating. It was for them to gain hope and to
feel better, and have the confidence to even believe that they would return to their

3. families. Nobody believed their dreams and took it as a litany to make themselves feel
good because if they never had anymore hope, there would be nothing else in them to
give them an urge to wake up every morning and start their regular labouring days.
When the passage at the end had said “Otherwise what was left to us”, I think this
means when they have no more dreams and run out of energy to get motivated into
believing that there will be a brighter future ahead of them, I think it means that
without the extra push, they can’t get through the day and would just eventually just
give up.
* Chapter 8 - PASSAGE 4
‘Before Iqbal’s arrival I had been resigned to my life. I couldn’t even imagine a
different one. Iqbal had sown the seeds of hope in all of us.’ Page 62
RESPONSE:
The significance of this quotable passage is that Iqbal had changed the view of the
children’s lives working in the carpet factory. Before Iqbal had arrived, the children had
no idea that together they can get out if they really wanted to, but the day he had told
the children that they could become free, they had hope to a brighter tomorrow and
that the never ending days of slavery would finally stop. Iqbal had risked his life so they
could spread their wings and become free to fly away from their hard work that they
put too much on. He had not only gone against the master for him, but for his friends
too. Fatima can’t imagine a different person that would step up to what he believed in
like Iqbal because Fatima knows that everyone working is scared of the punishment
Hussain Khan would do if they even dared escaping or done something to rebel against
Hussain Khan. There was no other person like Iqbal who would not stop until the
children had the strength to become stronger and more courageous, to step away from
the life of the dark days, and step to the near future where they could be happy and
start their lives the way they wanted to. Iqbal had sown the seeds of hope in all of them
because like a farmer, Iqbal had taken care of the seeds (children) and wants them to
grow and sprout from the dirt and face the ray of sunshine that would come their
way.He gave them the seed of confidence.My meaning of this is that Iqbal wants the
children to be brave because not everyone can hide all their lives, sometimes you have
to step up and do what you want to do.Iqbal was a tree to the tree of freedom. Iqbal had
gave them the idea and opened their eyes into believing that you shouldn’t be working
at a young age, and that together, you could gain freedom.