The Named and the Unnamed

Saeed and Nadia are the only named characters in this text, which emphasizes their status as the protagonists of the story. Everyone else exists and is named in relation to these two characters. This literary device emphasizes that characters, and perhaps people outside the fictional world as well, exist in relation to one another. Instead they have names like “preacher’s daughter,” “Saeed’s mother” and “Nadia’s father.” Even Saeed and Nadia, who are named and therefore seem to stand alone as sovereign individuals, are shown to be relational beings deeply implicated in one another’s lives. After all, one of the major plotlines in this book centers on Saeed and Nadia’s evolving, intertwined relationship, which shifts from a connection forged between lovers to a more sibling-like dynamic. Through the novel’s near-universal refusal to name its characters individually, the...