Riad Sattouf's The Arab Of The Future

The various elements of one’s identity are not isolated, rather they run together to the point where one element becomes indistinguishable without the presence of another. In Riad Sattouf’s graphic novel The Arab of the Future, this occurrence is challenged as a young Riad attempts to meld two identities that conflict with one another. As Riad travels from Europe to the Middle East, his background and heritage are consistently brought into question, resulting in the formation of boundaries between the individuals he interacts with in France, Libya, and Syria. Through his presentation of the intersection of bodily and cultural borders, Sattouf illustrates the difficulties of defining both his and his father’s “Arabness” as they frequently navigate the space between Europe and the Middle East. The first source of conflicting identity readers are presented with is young Riad’s physical appearance. In the first panel, Sattouf presents his young caricature as perfect with long blonde hair and delicate features (3). Solely through this depiction, readers are able to grasp that the infantile Riad’s physical qualities directly …show more content…
After Riad’s mother expresses how disturbed she is after watching young children torture a puppy, Abu Riad justifies the children’s behavior and demands that Riad forget his French heritage for the sake of being on the side of his father (142). As Abu Riad invalidates his wife’s concerns, he again expresses his desire to filter any European remnants from both him and his son and preserve the facade of an untarnished Arab. Rather than understanding his wife’s viewpoint, he takes the side of the people he chose to leave for more than a decade. By doing so, he has officially constructed a metaphorical wall built upon a foundation of guilt to isolate the two ethnic identities that have melded together to create his