Plus One by Karuna Riazi
Plus one is a story about a girl named Hafsa who is chosen to go on a pilgrimage in Hajj. She has an anxiety disorder that she refers to as "it". “It” is Hafsah’s companion which to her is the plus one and the event she is attending does not feel like the one you bring along a plus one. She hopes that “it” will get lost at some point along the pilgrimage.
Hafsa takes part in the pilgrimage to remember and know who she is and how to deal with “it”. She struggles with her religion feeling like she does not pray hard enough. She feels inadequate after not having experienced a huge transformation by the end of Hajj. Figuring out how to live with the plus ones requires the length of a lifetime (Leslie 1). Hafsa is empowered by her experiences with her community and questions about her religion and faith. She continues to figure out the things that she is told can be dismissed from her experiences and what she can know. This is the start of this process and her spirituality can be a source of strength.
“It” is a source of humiliation, not only for Hafsa but for her family. It reveals itself through negative self-talk, distracted mind, and being clumsy (Leslie 1). When a medical opinion is pursued, it is said to be a symptom of adolescence that will go away. Hafsa believes that her inability to be a good Muslim is the cause of “it”. Hafsa’s character is placed in the history of seeking through prayers and reflecting on her relationship with her creator.
In conclusion, Plus one depicts the story of a Muslim girl who is struggling with an anxiety disorder. She believes it exists because of her inability to pray enough. When she is invited to attend the pilgrimage where she believes that the plus one should not attend. She attends the pilgrimage hoping that she would leave the plus one behind but on the contrary, she has to know how to live with it.
Works Cited
Leslie D. Unbroken (in parts) 2, 3rd April 2019 Retrieved from https:// contemplatrix.
wordpress.com/ 2019/04/03/unbroken-in-parts-2/
