Arab of the Future

The Arab of the Future depicts Riad, the child of a French mother and Syrian father, growing up in a family of mixed cultures and customs. This memoir follows Riad and his family through France, Libya, and Syria as they try to settle into a place they all three can call home.

The primary focus of this story seems to be on the father in particular, Abdel-Razak Sattouf, and his struggles to be both a well educated man of Arabic decent and a proud loyalist to his country and cultures customs. It seems that throughout this memoir we see Abdel-Razak constantly struggle in defending his family from the cruelness of his own culture as well as defending his culture and customs to his wife and children.

Abdel is a smart man who knew the dangers of moving his family to Libya and Syria to become a teacher despite having many offers to teach elsewhere, why do you believe he chose to bring his family to these places despite the opportunity to have a better life that he worked very hard to achieve? Additionally, do you sense that his attitudes towards education and his culture shift as the story goes on?

Where do Riad and his mother fit in amongst his father’s story? Despite being in almost every frame, his mother seems to be a secondary character in this memoir, her only true defining scenes being in opposition to her husband’s culture and the things happening around her. Of what importance is her character?