In the country of men

Visual symbols in In the Country of Men.

As a nine-year-old child, Suleiman curiously observes the world with his childish interpretation. As he lays eyes on things happening around him, he builds up his understanding of masculinity through various visual symbols. During Ustath Rashid’s arrest, he is punched by the Revolution Committee men and bleeds, then Suleiman commences,’It would made it easier on Kareem, because we all would have respected a bleeding man’. Along with his imagination of his father, Faraj, ‘Leaning with one arm against the door, sweating, bleeding beautifully’, Suleiman associates ‘heroism’ with blood. Blood is a sign for hero, and a bleeding man is honorable and respectful. For Suleiman, bleeding is what a man must been through to show their masculinity and it associates with manhood. Beside from blood, games are important for Suleiman as it shows a man’s power and strength. When Kareem tries to fight Suleiman for him calling his father ‘a traitor’, Suleiman says’If you are a real man, you should prove it by playing My land, Your land’. The neighbourhood boys and Suleiman regard that by wining game, it would show their strength and masculinity. Thus they could proudly announce that they are a ‘real man’ full of bravery. In opposite, Suleiman considers urine as a symbol of recreance and cowardice. For Rashid’s televised execution, Suleiman notices Rashid urinates himself and says’He didn’t cry honorably, he cried like a baby’. Suleiman describes Rashid as a crybaby here, the urine contradicts with what Suleiman expects from a hero, it does not match his imagination of a hero with blood. Thus he’s disappointed and sees Rashid as a man lack of masculinity in that