- How does leaving the Chaâba disrupt the sense of community according to the mother? What will become difficult for them to do, to celebrate?
- What is the Aïd? (check in dictionary)
3.How is the father portrayed during this transition? How would you qualify his masculinity?
4.Comment on the division of space on p.127. How does Messaouda’s reaction confirm this division?
5.FYI: “We moved house the first weekend of August 1966” (133); Azouz was 9 when they moved. He spent the first 9 years of his life in a shanty-town. His father arrived in Lyon in 1949. His family joined him in 1950; then the cousins did, to shape the Chaâba as it is described in the first part of the book.
6.How does superstition manifest itself when they arrive in their new apartment? What is it called in Arabic? Do you remember another example of superstition at the beginning of the book?
7.From a socio-economic perspective, what is the father afraid of when he moves in this new apartment with his family?
8.After Zidouma’s visit, the narrator points out that the mother has not yet transitioned to her new surroundings. What does he notice?
9.FYI: Languages play an important part in The Shanty-town Kid. It serves to show the important of languages in a multicultural society. Remember during the lesson on hygiene, both French pupils (including the French teacher, Monsieur Grand) and Arab pupils learn from one another (see p. 78). When Azouz arrives in Lyon, he is confronted with an idiolect he does not know (152).
10.How is social and racial violence expressed in the class of Madame Vallard when she first engages with Azouz? (151)
11.Azouz’s identity changes gradually as he gets accustomed to his new surroundings. Who is he now? (154) And why is it important when we think back of the identity struggles he went through when he was living in the Chaâba?
Sample Solution
