In The Country Of Men Betrayal Essay

In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, Suleiman is a young boy growing up in Libya during the time of Qaddafi’s reign. Being raised by parents who are dissidents, Suleiman often finds himself surrounded by confusing situations where the line between loyalty and betrayal is blurred. Problems within the family only aid the struggle to determine the difference between betrayal and loyalty. Loyalty and betrayal go hand in hand, often getting confused with each other. Most people do things in the name of loyalty when it reality it betrays the person they are trying to be loyal to. People decide to betray or remain loyal to others for the greater good of their cause; unaware of the morality of their decisions nor of the effects their decisions have on others. In Hisham Matar’s In the Country of Men, the object of betrayal within the book is subject to the betrayers’ idea of

When it seems that someone is betraying the other, that very person might believe that they are in fact being loyal. In many of the situations that happened in the book, when someone was betrayed, there was often an opposite perspective which thought they were in fact being loyal to that person. When Najwa was betrayed by her family and forced to marry a complete stranger, her family believed that they were being loyal to her virtue and the culture’s traditions where she could have a safe, prosperous life with a man who could support her. When Suleiman betrayed his family thus betraying the dissidents, he felt he was being loyal to the family’s views unaware he was giving them up over to the government. The betrayal of people are sometimes given with the gift of loyalty. Unfortunately, it is hard to see the different perspectives due to the bitter taste of betrayal being stronger than loyalty. It is up to the subject to decide whether they have been betrayed or rather been