A Struggle for Identity: Motifs and Symbols in The Sand Child Trinity Jackson 10th Grade

The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun communicates and explores both the struggle and overall sense of identity through the heavy use of motifs and symbols throughout the book. As the story progresses and elaborates, these remain consistent throughout and follow the life of Ahmed as he questions his gender identity in a country with firmly rooted traditions and stereotypes. In The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun, the recurrence of mirrors and cages mentioned throughout the text act as both motifs and symbols for Ahmed’s struggle with tradition and his identity, and reinforce how this intertwines with his varying mental and emotional state.

As The Sand Child begins by describing the birth of Ahmed, the storyteller frequents the use of gates to symbolize his journey initially from a chronological standpoint, but then expands to a more emotional perspective, which allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of Ahmed’s life from a more personal and mental viewpoint. The first mention of a gate occurs in Chapter 2 when the storyteller states, “Today we take the path to the first gate, the Thursday gate.” (Jelloun 8), symbolizing the birth of Ahmed and the significance around the event for both his controlling father who played the...