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The Moor 's Account By Laila Lalami

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In the novel “The Moor’s Account” by Laila Lalami, the author stresses how the main character Mustafa is effected by his family and how that relates to the future he has in the New World. This is most identified by how he feels about his father, the giving up of his name, and his struggle to fight for a new life. Unlike other slaves in the New World, Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori chose his fate for the possibility of a better life. He had the opportunity to try to work for himself and his family while still in Morocco. In fact, his father had even wanted him to do that. But Mustafa knew that he was confident in his decision to sell himself into slavery so that his family can be better off from there. In the story, the reader sees how Mustafa struggles as he journeys from Morocco and across the New World in search of the possibility for a new life. Overall, the reader sees how Mustafa struggles with not following his father’s guidance, his loss of humanity from his name being taken away, the quest to avoid changing his entire humanity in his new life, and how everything changing has affected him and changed him as a person. In terms of his father’s idea for Mustafa’s future, it is mentioned in the book that his father had wanted him to become a notary or a carpenter. However, Mustafa had decided to become a merchant. In fact, he was a slave trader himself, running segments of the slave trade inside Morocco. Once he realized that his income was not enough for

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