Contemporary International Writers

I really enjoyed this story, and the character crafted by Al-Shaykh. The dwarf, as he is referred to throughout the entirety of this story is a very unique and misunderstood man. All he wants is to become a part of the convent, which at first I believe is very honorable and pure of him, but by the end I begin to question his motives and the obsessiveness in his behaviors. I completely understand how someone can latch onto something and let it become their entire life, and manipulate the entirety of their thoughts, but I feel as though the dwarf has taken it to an unhealthy level. I believe that he has some psychological issues that are causing him to become paranoid in regards to the occupants. For example, when he believes that the convent’s occupants and even his own family are  in cahoots to lie to him, that screams red flag at me. In the very beginning, much as Amber said, I thought that he was a very innocent and pure man whom I felt very badly for. By the end though his character leaves a bad taste in my mouth, he makes me feel a little unsettled because I feel that he is not as pure as we thought and has a much deeper issue going on. That being said, I liked the development of his character to a sweet innocent man whom we take pity on, into this character that we begin to question and re-evaluate by the end. The route the author took to get there is very successful in my opinion, and flowed with the action of the story.