I want to discuss how a narrator can reveal plot elements while being personally oblivious to what's "really" happening (this happened also in Lucky Boy regarding Soli and Silvia. It seemed like the reader knew Silvia was taking advantage of Soli while Soli was naive to her motives).
I was interested in the way Nour reveals that Huda is severely sick with a fever through the detail of her forehead fogging up the AC window on the bus, on page 200:
Huda leans against the window and winces, shivering, before she closes her eyes. Her forehead is so hot that it fogs the air-conditioned glass.
Umm Yusuf has that look grown-ups get when they want to protect you, the look that says: Don't let her see.The nature of Nour's character is that she sees details around her with precision and curiosity. She's almost stunted by a deeper read of how others interpret the world, that she has not yet developed analytical skills of those details she sees. And why would she? She's still a child. She's also quite dreamy and unfettered by specific rationale for adult decision-making (side note: people like this do really well with others who have anchored personality types, those whose Jungian outer traits are organized and apt at planning. Not that I'm match-making Nour...).
Page 216:
"What's wrong?" I ask.Still, Nour isn't actively worried about Huda. Other plot elements unfold around this time to stave off directly addressing Huda -- Zahra and Nour make up, Nour gets closer to Yusuf.
"It's just hot out," Mama says.
The rosy brown of Huda's lips has gone ashy, and the thin skin under her eyes has turned gray. I ask, "Are you sure?"
It isn't until page 239 that Mama seeks medical attention for Huda, and she sends Nour and Zahra off on their own. Between the first hint that Huda is developing complications from her injury to something being done about it, there are at least 40 pages.
I also want to float this out there before class on Wednesday: we've discussed how child narration functions in certain texts, such as Persepolis and Monsoon Mansion. I feel as though Nour's character being through the lens of a child has many of the same attributes as these other texts... she gets to be politically neutral if she wants, she gets to narrate atrocities of war in ways that hit the reader especially hard because of her innocence, and she gets to ask a lot of questions.
My question is, in what ways does Nour being a child influence other characters' actions around her? I am thinking of all the advice the adults impart around her at every given opportunity. Is that a function of her being a child, or a function of it being a war, and adults are desperate to pass on knowledge and wisdom before it is too late?
It's so interesting how we are complicated by the level of knowledge of the child narrator -- you came closest to bringing it to light. I remember talking pretty endlessly in class about the narrator's level, vs the child's observation and how they can be at different levels emotionally, intellectually and linguistically. (so that every book doesn't have to read as YA). You give a good example here on how Joudakar accomplishes that.
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Nour is an interesting balance, she is really perceptive, but how sick Huda is doesn't hit her until later, and it's believable because of what everyone around her, including Huda herself, tells Nour. It's interesting to watch adults try to protect Nour, all the while they are forced to ask a lot of her over the course of their journey.
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