Language
Harun asserts, “The story we’re talking about should be rewritten , in the same language, but from right to left…So one reason for learning this language was to tell this story for my brother, the friend of the sun…You drink language, you speak a language, and one day it owns you; and from then on, it falls into the habit of grasping things in your place, it takes over the mouth like a lover’s voracious kiss.” Language is contributory in transmitting stories. Minus language, effective communication would be unmanageable. Harun’s enthusiasm to apprehend an alien language arises from the desire to transcribe a story on behalf of his brother, who cannot do so for himself.
Whores
Harun recounts, “Now there were a few skirt-wearing, firm-breasted Algerian women who shuttled between our world and the world of the roumis, down in the French neighbourhoods. We brats used to call them whores and stone them with our eyes. They were fascinating targets, because they could promise the pleasures of love without the inevitably of marriage. Those women often inspired violent passions and hateful rivalries.” Referring to the women as whores infers that they were slighted due to their sexual approaches. Such womenfolk desecrated the Algerian ethos by indulging in casual coitus.
Ageing
Harun explicates, “These days, my mother’s so old she looks like her own mother, or maybe her great grandmother, or even her great-great-grandmother. Once we reach a certain age, time gives us the features of all our ancestors, combined in the soft jumble of reincarnations.” The form of Harun’s mother supports the idea that she is unquestionably timeworn. Ageing is foreseeable; when it ensues, it appears in a physical form which depreciates noticeably.
