Language and Style

In the Country of Men – Hisham Matar

First person narration

• Internal monologue of an only child– allows for readers

to understand things that Suleiman does not

Genre

Names and Naming• Characters exist in

relation to Suleiman• Suleiman = Emperor

of the Ottoman Empire– expanded the empire – instigated social and

cultural developments– enemy to the Faith

who suffered defeat under the Christians.

Poetry of language

• e.g. description of Rashid being dragged to the gallows – ‘He reminded me of the way a shy

woman would resist her friends’ invitation to dance, pulling her shoulders to her ears and waving her index finger nervously in front of her mouth’ (p. 186).

setting

• Lepcis Magma – symbolically a fallen civilisation

Heat / Summer

• represents Hell, as Suleiman tries to avoid Hell by practising running over the bridge to Paradise.

• Its glare stupefies the people leaving only the children to jostle each other around outside.

• No school allows Suleiman to have the freedom to observe adults

Sea

• Calm - just at the end of the road. • Suleiman looks to be cooled and

cleansed from the dirty activities he faces day-to-day.

• Tries to take Kareem into it to seek some solace from his grief but Kareem resists.

• almost drowns Bahloul , exerts power and gives in to the base urges

The Guide

• symbolism of replacing the picture of Baba– loyalty to the

regime and the strains on family

Children’s Games

• ‘My Land, Your Land’ – represents the political ‘games’ of the

older men

• squabbles and fights -a microcosm for the violence in the country.

Words

• Nasser and his Typerwriter– Subversive pamphlets

• Burning of the books– Violent oppression – removal of

intellectuals who might questions

• Democracy Now• Moosa – poet and lover of language

Storytelling

• Scheherazade– Najwa condemns S for being ‘a

coward who accepted slavery over death’ (p. 15). over time.

• Suleiman and Najwa – storytellers in their own right

• Ustath Rashid – scholar of history