Explore the theme of moral ambiguity in "A Handful of Dates". How does the protagonist grapple with qesting of right or worng, and how do his Actions reflect the complexities of human nature?
Loss of innocence is a dominant theme in "A Handful of Dates." In the first third of the story, the narrator establishes his innocence by outlining his daily routine as an untroubled boy who performs well at the mosque, swims in the river, lets his imagination wander, and idolizes his grandfather. As the story progresses, the narrator is forced to make sense of the fact that his grandfather has been taking advantage of their neighbor's financial ruin. The innocent boy thinks it doesn't matter who owns the surrounding land, as long as it remains the playground of his imagination, but the grandfather sees the land as something to take from a man whose former privilege he resents. By the end of the story, the narrator is disgusted by his association with his grandfather: as he vomits up the dates the grandfather takes from Masood's harvest, the narrator defines against his grandfather, forging a new identity that lacks his former innocence.
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