chapter 20

Ishmael arrives in New York with conceptions of the city coming from his rap music. He expects it to be dangerous to walk the streets and so isn’t really looking forward to it. He is also surprised when he arrives in the middle of winter, because he doesn’t even know what the word winter means. He is wearing the light summer weight suit of his country, but it is absolutely freezing outside the airport, and it is also snowing. For some reason, Dr. Tamba has a jacket, but he and Bah do not. Nonetheless, when they enter the city, it seems to glitter with all its lights and the falling snow. Ishmael is completely overwhelmed. Furthermore, there are many, many people walking the streets, so Ishmael knows it is not as dangerous as he thought. They arrive at the hotel and he has a room of his own for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand how to adjust the radiator and since it is set at its highest setting, he is soon roasting. He doesn’t understand a country where it is freezing cold outside and extremely warm inside. The first person he meets at the conference is a girl from Norway named Kristen who gives him a nametag. Unfortunately, in spite of her winning personality welcoming him to the conference, he cannot adjust to the food and wishes he had brought his own. life becomes difficult over and over for ishmeal and i think he feels that there is hope for things to get better.