A Rough Review

A passage from Michael Mohammed Ahmad's The Tribe (pages 33-35)

This is a remarkable passage, because, it reflects the distinctive qualities that are illustrated throughout the book.  Literally, it describes a typical family squabble. Uncle Osama shouts at Mum: ‘Your kalb of son! Where is he?’ (Ahmad 33).  This is an interesting dialogue, considering the insulting word of ‘kalb’ means (dog) as an unclean and aggressive animal in Arabic culture.  Uncle Osama is not just complaining with Mum about her son’s “aggression” toward his daughter, but he also contends that the mother, herself, is a female dog.  Finally; no human being can ever produce a dog. 

The story is told from the perspective of the first person. His name is ‘Bani’, a young member of The House of Adam. A narrator who is young - presumably in the second decades of his life - along with appropriate using of metaphor, has allowed the author to create a unique way, by which a binary characterisation of two Arab men appeared to happen in the same sentence. ‘He’s wearing old leather boots that my dad gave him’ (Ahmad 33). It will be wondering what will happen if the Dad replaced Uncle Osama.  Putting father in Uncle Osama’s shoes, does he do the same shouting? This is rather a rhetorical question.  Certainly, his father does feel and react the same in a similar situation.  In fact, when it comes to yelling at a woman, almost all men are the same in The Tribe.  On the other hand, the Mum repeatedly says ‘There’s no one here. Go back upstairs, there are no men here, there’s no one to fight’ (Ahmad 33). However, Mum has been exposed to Uncle Osama’s anger, but she is not going to fight.  Apparently, Mum, in her very own idea is “no one” to be fought with.  And, Uncle Osama is also agreeing on this. That is why he shouts for several times at Mum. ‘Call him. I’ll fight your husband. Go call your husband!’ (Ahmad 34).

Throughout this passage, the narrator switches between subject matters in a very eloquent approach of storytelling. ‘I told her that day, that very moment – while she moved prayer beads and recited words from the Qur’an – that I used to watch Uncle Ibrahim through the keyhole at night’ (Ahmad 34).   Watching into Uncle Ibrahim’s private place, while he intimates with his girlfriends, and recounting it to Tayta (grandmother) during her citation of the holy book, creates a deep allusion. Tayta’s religious norm is challenged by Uncle Ibrahim’s immorality and furthermore by her grandson’s indecent act of looking through a keyhole.

The narrator’s point of view about his identity is a major issue discussed throughout the book, particularly in this passage. As a comparison with all those girlfriends that Uncle Ibrahim bring them in; Bani finds his hands ‘neither black nor white’ (Ahmad 34).  Even, his hands do not match perfectly with the hands of the rest of the family. However, the colour of his skin is quite similar to his father and Uncle Ibrahim’s hands, nevertheless; they are unlike ‘I was ashamed of Ibrahim’s hands because of where they’d been, and ashamed of mine because they’d been nowhere’ (Ahmad 34). Bani’s does have a sense of identity, it is a limbo personality, just like his hands ‘nothing from anywhere’ (Ahmad 35).  Perhaps, this is the identity of the new generation of immigrated Arabs in Australia.

Reference:
Ahmad, Michael M. The Tribe. Sydney: Giramondo, 2015. Print.