Friday, November 6, 2009

Coming of Age

This section saw the coming of age Hasan. There are many events that occur that help make Hasan a man. He goes on an embassy with his beloved uncle Khali and after his tragic death - becomes the leader of the caravan and the diplomatic mission. Hasan also becomes a man by his beautiful slave Hiba - with whom he has his first sexual encounter. Hasan gets married to his cousin Fatima and by doing so takes responsibility for his family as a man in that culture is supposed to do. He also does his duty to Mariam as a brother and as a man of the family by getting her freed from having to marry the evil Zarwali and also frees her from the leper place.

I found the transformation of Hasan into a man very interesting, especially the concept of giving a slave as a "present." This is very foreign concept to me. In addition, the parallels between Hasan and Mohammed his father were uncanny as both become stuck between a pretty slave and a crying cousin. This parallel was very ironic.

One thing I did not understand was why Harun wanted to all of a sudden want to marry Mariam? Maybe he felt a obligation as being Hasan's good friend?

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