Campus News

During this time in Algeria the state was in shambles. The country was trying to find a identity for themselves. The country of Algeria was a fairly new independent country. Coming off of the war of Algerian Independence with France which lasted 8 years. Making Algeria new to its own self rule. With this new power a lot of people were lost and many politicians didn’t have the answers to help them find their identity as a nation. More so focusing on the novel and the social context in the book you can see how the men and woman in Algeria lived. The city of Ghachimat was a rather poor town but most of the character had reasonable jobs such as Allal the policeman, Osmane he worked for the Mayor, Tej was a mechanic, and Kada was a school teacher. This town was also very religious which also played a huge part in everything. It seem that in this society the men were the sole workers and providers and also leaders. There were no women working in this novel. they were more so used to show the male’s characters masculinity. The small town was ok and seemed normal until a few of the people in the novel began to feel displeased and started hating on one another. Many of the younger men in the town started to not like the way the country and their town was headed toward and felt that it need to change. while a few  people did not like the way that they were viewed in the society. which in the end called out for a civil war.

There were a lot of techniques used in the Book “In The Name Of God” one that stood out was the way the author could showed and develop each characters views and hatred towards one another. In the beginning you can see who was relaxed with the way things were and you can see the people who wasn’t. Allal and many of the elders of the town was somewhat ok with how things were. But people like Kada, Jafer, Tej, and Zane were among the people who hatred how things were. Each person had their own reason for the hatred they carried. Kada hatred the fact that he was a school teacher and that he couldn’t have the woman of his dream. Not only that he couldn’t have her but his friend would have her, which in turn made him more furious with his self and his friend Allal. Jafer didn’t have the drive to work nor the ambition to live. He hated everything. Tej was really doing good for his self. He was a hard working mechanic with his own shop. But the one thing that drove him mad was the fact that he was the son of Issa the disgrace and everyone since he was young kid looked down on him and his family. This build a uncontrollable rage within Tej towards everyone. Zane the dwarf, I would say had it the rough. He was a dwarf and everyone in the town resented him. in the book they talked about how some people would even send the dogs on him. No one would even take him serious because of his condition. He hated everyone for not accepting him and taking him for a joke. This technique was useful for showing why these characters were the way they was and it help the read foresee where they would stand doing their war.

The way gender was constructed in the novel were that men was the first class citizen and women were second to them. the novel was very male driven. The males had all of the jobs and did all of the providing. While the women were look more so as a possession. You can look at for the fact that everyone one to be with Sarah. They did not say if many people knew her or not, but she made out to be the hottest girl of the town and that everyone wanted her so they can probably parade around showing her off. Another example would be Issa the disgrace wife having to endure the shame of what her husband had done and not being looked at as her own person. They where very harsh on Zane because of his disability. They made sure to make him feel less of a man because he was very short. Another social division within the book were the religious ranking of people (all were men). These people was older and looked at as wiser then the rest. People who had visited a certain place were moved further up in this religious ranking and they were seen as the leaders of the community.

The message that was sent from this presentation show that the way a community treats people can very well drive them to bring destruction and pain to his/her very own community. Another thing that is showed is that hatred it a powerful filling that can cause people to do the harshest thing. I feel that in showing or presenting thing this way can very well give an excuse to the wrong doers. 

I do agree with the message that people are made from their environment and that hatred can cause a person to do some of the most horrific things. This can of reminds me of the beast in “Brother Hood of The Wolf”. The Lion didn’t truely want to kill them people but the people who took it as a cub raised it in a hostile environment and taught it to kill people so that was all it knew. Yes, I believe everyone is a product of their environment.    

The image that I used is of a big fist and on the knuckles spells out hate. I used this picture to symbolize what every character in this novel used to fuel why they started to fight which is hatred towards one another. Everyone hated something or someone and in return they fought against one another even killing each other.