Paradise

To some readers, Yusuf’s choice to run off with the German army at the end may come as a surprise, as he never expresses interest in the military, politics, or even in Europeans in general. However, when viewed through the lens of freedom and agency, his decision becomes more understandable. In a sense, his decision is understandable largely because it is his decision, something he has not been able to make for most of the story.

At the start, Yusuf is a 12-year-old boy, too young to have much in the way of agency. His parents control where he lives and what he eats, even who he can play with. This is normal in childhood, but sending him away as a repayment of debt is not. At first, he is busy with learning the life of the shop, but much later after the caravan’s departure from Chatu, Yusuf realizes that he has had no say in where he goes, finding that there is “nothing he could think of to do which would unshackle him from the bondage to the life he lived” (175). He is not even able to find out how his parents are, whether alive or dead.