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Malaik is an orphan that the Blacksmith is caring for when Florens shows up at his house to tell him about Rebekka’s illness and beg to stay with him. Malaik is a young child, or perhaps a toddler, with dark skin. He carries around a cornhusk doll. Florens cares for Malaik while the blacksmith is gone, but resents Malaik because she feels that the blacksmith is going to choose Malaik over her. Florens accidentally breaks Malaik’s arm while she is trying to get him to stop crying, prompting the blacksmith to cast her out when he returns.
Malaik Quotes in A Mercy
The A Mercy quotes below are all either spoken by Malaik or refer to Malaik. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 9 Quotes
Right away I take fright when I see my face is not there. Where my face should be is nothing…I put my mouth close enough to drink or kiss but I am not even a shadow there. Where is it hiding? Why is it? Soon Daughter Jane is kneeling next to me…Oh, Precious, don’t fret, she is saying, you will find it. Where I ask, where is my face…When I wake a minha mãe is standing by your cot and this time her baby boy is Malaik. He is holding her hand.
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In this quote, Florens describes a dream. She is sleeping in the Blacksmith’s house and taking care of Malaik while the Blacksmith goes to heal Rebekka. Florens fears that the Blacksmith will leave her in order to prioritize Malaik. Florens’s dream, in which Florens looks into a lake and cannot see her own reflection, seems to indicate Florens’s lack of a concrete sense of self. She cannot see her face in the water, suggesting the absence of a real identity, perhaps due to Florens’s desire to please and her codependency. This anxiety is clearly linked to Florens’s abandonment by her Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro per
I want you to go…because you are a slave…
What is your meaning? I am a slave because Sir trades for me.
No. You have become one.
How?
Your head is empty and your body is wild.
I am adoring you.
And a slave to that too.
You alone own me.
Own yourself, woman, and leave us be. You could have killed this child…You are nothing but wilderness. No constraint. No mind.
You shout the word—mind, mind, mind—over and over and then you laugh, saying as I live and breathe, a slave by choice.
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Just before this dialogue, the Blacksmith has returned to the house to find that Florens has broken Malaik’s arm. Furious, he slaps Florens and tells her to leave because she is a slave. The comment clearly confuses Florens, who sees slavery as a legal status rather than a mental one. She tells the Blacksmith she is only a slave because Jacob bought her. The Blacksmith, however, insists that Florens has become a slave because she has allowed herself to become “nothing but wilderness.” The idea that slavery makes someone “nothing but wilderness” connects slavery to the failed American pastoral. Just Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium
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Malaik Character Timeline in A Mercy
The timeline below shows where the character Malaik appears in A Mercy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
...a little boy holding a cornhusk doll. The Blacksmith tells her the little boy is Malaik, and that he cannot be left alone. The boy’s father died while driving a cart...
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...Blacksmith prepares his horse and asks Florens to water the beans and collect the eggs. Malaik sleeps behind the door of the Blacksmith’s bedroom. Florens takes off her boots (formerly Jacob’s...
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...her something. Florens tells her to go away. She hears a creak and knows that Malaik is standing near her cot. She gets up and asks him what he wants, but...
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...wakes up, she imagines that her mother is standing next to the cot and holding Malaik by the hand instead of Florens’s baby brother. Florens hides her head in the blanket.
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The next day the Blacksmith is still gone and Malaik and Florens stay far away from each other. Florens watches the horses in the pasture...
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...watches a snake crawl around the garden until nightfall and goes back into the cabin. Malaik returns to the house as well. At the dinner they are both quiet. Florens thinks...
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Florens runs outside to avoid the sounds of Malaik’s cries. When he finally is quiet, she goes back inside and finds that the doll...
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Florens hears the Blacksmith outside. He rushes inside and shouts for Malaik. When the Blacksmith sees Malaik limp on the floor, he becomes furious, pushing Florens and...
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Chapter 11
...hammer before he wrestled it away from her. Florens then tried to bite him, while Malaik screamed. Florens grabbed the tongs the Blacksmith uses to work metal and swung them at...
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