In what I like to call the chaotic climax in Ali’s Brick Lane, Nazneen visits her friend Razia to talk about her expected departure back to Bangladesh. 

“There were three more days to go. Three more days to take action, if any action was to be taken. Chanu had bought more suitcases. The girls and Nazneen gathered around them as at a graveside. The knocking grew louder. It became a pounding. Razia got up. She rubbed her arthritic knees. Approaching the door, she walked against an unseen drag, as if wading in chest-high water. Nazneen felt the bubble expand. Her collarbone would snap. She breathed carefully”(356).

This quotation stands out to me, because both characters are experiencing two completely different situations, but they are experiencing it together. Nazneen is having anxiety about finally having to tell Chanu she will not be leaving London. In comparison, Razia is dealing with her issue head on by locking her heroin addict son in his bedroom to kick the habit. To me, Razia is a role model and sort of foreshadow to Nazneen because she deals with  the struggles that come in her life with courage.

This dramatic part in the book is important because it parallels the two characters’ situations and ties it together to make a climax in the next chapter. I believe after Nazneen sees Razia struggle with her son, and then experiences  her own with Shahanna, she finally builds the courage to tell Chanu the trip to Bangladesh will never happen.