In a society which has no room for mistake at the time of revolution in Libya in which it can be very conservative. Najwa does not fulfill the role of a mother. In fact,she mostly irresponsible as a mother, resulting in the overlooking her child, Suleiman. Najwa, expresses her distaste in motherhood and fails to realize that being a mother is an ongoing responsibility she must handle until her child can handle herself, but because of her immaturity she asserts a burden to Suleiman. For example Suleiman’s mother shows her afflict when she said “‘What do you want from me?... I have given up everything for you. You’re not even satisfied’” (Matar 19). This quote shows that as a mother she doesn't quite grasp the concept of her position and forces Suleiman to feel like he shouldn't exist knowing that he was not supposed to be born in the first place (Matar 12). Furthermore, Najwa has certain mannerisms which shows her …show more content…
Since Suleiman's Mother is not typically always “there for him” he must step in for his mother because his mother is just as helpless as a single ant on New York Time Square. Suleiman must step in to provide his mother support emotionally which gives him an unnecessary weight to carry.One example of this, when Suleiman thought to himself “how the world might change if even for a second I was to look away, to relax the grip of my gaze” (Matar 20-21). In this part of the plot, Suleiman must keep after her in order to feel like Najwa is going to be “ok”. He behaves like a mother to a child who is incredibly ill. This is a classic example of Suleiman having to be the adult in this situation and Najwa behaving like a child. In addition, Suleiman had to still think about her even though he was abroad in Egypt. He was sent there by his parents in order to focus on his academics not his parents small fulfillments. This is an instance when he began to think, “I began to consider this, consider it seriously. Particularly because Mother began to sound depressed” (Matar 237).He now has to divert his attention rom his studies to focus on his mother’s problem, resulting in a higher responsibility he has to take on,as he must continually worry about Najwa, hi studies and entertain the thought of checking in over the phone knowing that he