Who is Omar's foil in the memoir, When Stars Are Scattered?

Tall Ali is a foil to Omar as a child and teenager. He represents the theme of community as he is a part of Omar’s immediate friend group. The reader meets Tall Ali early on, as he is immediately identified as a bully, teasing Omar or even making Hassan cry on purpose. He is jealous of Omar and is often mean to him and his brother. Eventually, Tall Ali falls out of the memoir because he does not perform well on his school exams and is not allowed to continue on to middle school. Omar does feel bad about this though when he passes Tall Ali on his way to school, “even if he is a jerk. I remember how it felt to stay home while my friends went to school” (118).