In The Country Of Men - Take home Essay
In Hisham Matar's exceptional first novel, In The Country Of Men, Matar narrates the story as a nine-year-old boy, who goes through the hardships of living in Libya in 1979. Throughout the novel betrayal operates at many different levels. Betrayal is one of the major themes in the novel that takes place in both private and public life, between friends, family member, and citizens. Matar uses betrayal to give the readers an idea that disloyalty and mistrust is like living under a domineering government such as Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, where people are under constant surveillance and there is political and social pressure to obey the rules.
The novel takes place over the summer of 1979, the narrator, Suleiman,
Throughout, the narrator turns his questioning in on himself. It is here that one of Matar’s most powerful themes, the convoluted roots of betrayal, slowly takes shape. The boy betrays his best friend, his mother and his father’s closest friend — and would, if not for developments elsewhere, also betray his father. Alongside his faithlessness, his capacity for sadism particularizes. He throws a rock, and although he denies he aimed at a seriously impaired friend, a boy he respects, he nonetheless badly injures him. He tries to save the neighborhood beggar from drowning, then inexplicably finds himself kicking the man in the face.
Over the summer of 1979, the narrator, nine-year-old Suleiman, is witness to and participates in several instances of betrayal. Much of the novel is this young boy's quest to make sense of the confusing private and public politics around him. The line between public and private life breaks down in a regime where politics can enter, even invade, a private household. This is represented by the huge portrait of Gaddafi that Moosa hangs in the reception room, replacing a smaller portrait of Suleiman's father, Faraj. It is Gaddafi who becomes the titular head of the "house" – he is the father figure or "The Guide", instead of
The novel takes place over the summer of 1979, the narrator, Suleiman,
Throughout, the narrator turns his questioning in on himself. It is here that one of Matar’s most powerful themes, the convoluted roots of betrayal, slowly takes shape. The boy betrays his best friend, his mother and his father’s closest friend — and would, if not for developments elsewhere, also betray his father. Alongside his faithlessness, his capacity for sadism particularizes. He throws a rock, and although he denies he aimed at a seriously impaired friend, a boy he respects, he nonetheless badly injures him. He tries to save the neighborhood beggar from drowning, then inexplicably finds himself kicking the man in the face.
Over the summer of 1979, the narrator, nine-year-old Suleiman, is witness to and participates in several instances of betrayal. Much of the novel is this young boy's quest to make sense of the confusing private and public politics around him. The line between public and private life breaks down in a regime where politics can enter, even invade, a private household. This is represented by the huge portrait of Gaddafi that Moosa hangs in the reception room, replacing a smaller portrait of Suleiman's father, Faraj. It is Gaddafi who becomes the titular head of the "house" – he is the father figure or "The Guide", instead of