In The Country of Men (symbols)

MULBERRY TREE

·         This was the last surviving tree from the mulberry orchard that our street had erased – just like how Suleiman’s innocence has been wiped out due to his surrounding circumstances

·         I decided that mulberries were the best fruit God had created-childlike imagination; happy thoughts

·         Mulberries, Baba, mulberries

·         I took one and stuffed it through his swollen lips.

·         Spat it out into his hands- harsh reality that removes the childish, happy thought that the world is a place of peace.

Mulberries have a child-like joy and fantasy about them for the nine year old Suleiman. He believed that mulberries were the fruit angels brought down to earth from heaven. Yet, at the end, Baba spat the mulberries out, insinuating the harsh reality in that society during that time. This also represents the loss of innocence Suleiman faces after the incidents that occurred in the course of the novel. Something that was once magical and beautiful in Suleiman eyes changed into something spat out and became a disgusted object, because it reminded his father of the torture he endured under the Revolutionary Committee Members. Mulberries symbolises the change that made Suleiman “lose trust in the assumption that good things happen to good people”. It shows how Suleiman’s innocence as a child had vanished, having “no illusions that I or Baba or Mama were immune from being burned by the madness that overtook the National Basketball Stadium”.

URINE

·         Then a dark cloud grew out of nowhere on the man’s groin, a stain that kept spreading – As urine symbolises fear, the fact that it ‘kept spreading’ denotes that the fear that the people faced in Libya is continuous and never ending.

·         I was wet beneath my clothes and realized what I had done. The pee felt warm and cold and sticky on my skin. I could detect the swollen smell of mulberries, rotten and heavy – As mulberries represented the loss of innocence, it is Suleiman’s awareness that the world he lives in is a scary place filled with oppression and control that he starts to be afraid. The more he knows about his circumstances, things that “Children aren’t supposed to know” , the more terrified he is. And this fear is “sticky on my skin” , showing that it is hard to get rid of it.

·         Najwa: :He peed himself.. You are no longer a baby. Why didn’t you go to the toilet? Talk!’ –  Though Najwa assume only babies urinate themselves, Suleiman still peed himself, showing that it doesn’t matter how old you are,  fear is still present.

·         In a time of blood and tears, in a Libya full of bruice-checkered and urine-stained men, urgent with want and longing for relief, I was the ridiculous child craving concern”- The fact that even men urinated themselves shows that the society of Libya is one that causes great fear, that even terrifies grown adults

 In the Country of Men, men urinating themselves shows the fear that surrounds such a society. While adults are meant to have the maturity and emotional stability to conquer fear, the act of urinating themselves just goes to show how scary Libya is at that time. A grown man peeing themselves would hurt his reputation, showing how the fear the men endured demoralises his sense of pride.

BLOOD

·         Because what united Kareem and me rarely felt like friendship, but something like blood or virtue. I wanted so much to be like him – Kareem is someone Suleiman looks up to, he is a ‘hero’ in Suleiman’s eye

·         It would have made it easier on Kareem, because we all would have respected a bleeding man- To Suleiman, one is considered a ‘hero’ only when it shows physically. This shows Suleiman’s childish and immature thought at the start of the novel

·         I imagined him leaning with one arm against the door, sweating, bleeding beautifully from one eyebrow and panting- exactly like the heroes I saw in film- waiting for the door to open, to fall into the arms of his wife- Before Baba returned home, Suleiman admired him so much that he regarded his father as a hero

·         Adnan.. .if his skin were punctured he was in danger of losing all of his blood.. I envied Adnan. His illness earned him a peculiar sort of strength – Suleiman believes Adnan is brave and courageous because he too “lives under the sword” due to his illness. And because of his bravery, he is a hero to Suleiman

Blood represents heroism for Suleiman. And while there might be some blood in the novel, it is images of men urinating themselves that Suleiman fixates upon because fear is in the hearts of everyone, but not everyone is brave enough to be a hero. What Suleiman sees in his daily life is acts of fear and terror within people and not the heroic actions that is constantly shown on the television.

SCHEHERAZADE

·         I had always thought Scheherazade a brave woman

·         Najwa: Scheherazade was a coward

·         Najwa: Your heroine’s boldness was to ask to be allowed to… live”

As a child Suleiman thinks Scheherazade ‘brave’ because she has the quality that Najwa lacks of which Suleiman desires her to have. While Scherazade is a risk-taker, one that would sacrifice herself in hopes to save others, Najwa is the complete opposite. She does not intend to fight against the extreme of the revolution even though she knows how much the people are suffering. She prefers to “walk beside the wall” instead of being a hero like Scheherazade. But as an adult Najwa thinks she is a ‘coward’ because Najwa understands that in reality, it is not always happy endings. Not all heroes will be able to be victorious and many that attempt to be a hero are just doing it for their pride and end up making things worse than they were.