In Chris Abani’s novella Song For Night, a young protagonist, My Luck’s complex relationship to his father’s memory shapes his religious identity as he comes of age amidst a war. My Luck’s father is a Muslim convert who went on to be the local Imam as well as the man in charge of circumcision, a controversial position in a country divided by religion. It becomes apparent as the novel progresses that much of My Luck’s trauma is interconnected with his unresolved feelings of resentment and discontent he holds toward his father. My Luck learns to reconcile with his anger with his father for the pain he caused as it mixes with his desire to keep him close through objects such as his robes and his circumcision knives. On the job, it’s extremely …show more content…
The statement from a mob member, when My Luck is stopped while crossing predominantly Muslim territory, that “They have murdered our children, so we must murder theirs”(89), is particularly striking in the case of My Luck, as he is both Igbo and Muslim, and represents “our children” as well as “theirs”. For a child as young as My Luck, religion can be an intangible concept, overridden by the painful reality of his day to day struggles. When My Luck attempts to reflect on his life, it becomes clear that his perception of religion is so interconnected with his familial relationships that his skepticism toward Islam is directly correlated to the resentment he feels toward his father for giving up his life and moving north, and toward the war in the. He questions the Five Pillars of Islam and asks “Why didn’t it say, all Muslims must never take another life, particularly one of their own, particularly an imam -- just because his wife is a Catholic, and his son, undecided?”(100). This quote is significant for a number of reasons. The subtlety of the language mimics a dialogue common in people without a deep understanding of Islam, and those with an internalized bias against accepting Islam. It’s a desperation to understand why the principles of Islam didn’t prevent his father’s murder, because his understanding of the principles have been altered by the political bias in his country. This is also the first time that he self-identifies as undecided about his