TARIQ’S CHARACTER

COMPLEXITY
Alejandra Miguel

Miss Mellberg

English 10

24 March 2023

INTRODUCTION
Is a person's personality due to the decisions he makes? For most people, the answer is clear: yes. If you use someone to

get something you desperately want; you are selfish. But if you do not try to achieve your dreams; you are not ambitious.

That is how I see Tariq's character complexity. He makes a series of decisions that would make you think that he is not a

good person. But with the narrative elements conflict and point of view I will change your mind. Let me start from the

beginning. Tariq is a Muslim that lives in India when the Sikhs and Muslims are in a war. He wants to stay away from the

conflict that is going on in his country, but, one of his childhood friends, Sameer appears in his life and made him kill a

man by accident. How? He and other Muslim men found Tariq walking down the street and they took he with them into

the gurdwara when they were fighting the Sikhs. Tariq, trying to protect himself from a Sikh man, hit him with a cricket

bat and he left without checking if he was dead or alive. His dream is to go to Oxford to study, so he decided to start

working for a British man looking for a recommendation. Scared because Mr. Dursley was not going to give him one, he

started using his daughter Margaret, who had a crush on him. That did not work out and when he thought that nothing

could get worse, he saw Sameer sending a package to the Dursley's house and he took it and left it in the alley thinking it

was a simple prank for his boss. But it turned out to be a bomb that hurt a little beggar kid and broke part of the house.

When he was cleaning the alley with Anupreet, the Sikh girl that works in the house too and the girl that he is secretly in

love with, Sameer appears with two other men that grabbed Anu, and Tariq used his brother knife, the one he gave him

when Tariq was giving his last goodbyes to his family because they were leaving to Pakistan and he was staying for work

in India, and put it on Sameer's neck until they finally freed Anu. At the end, without going to Oxford and without his

family, he decided is time to leave India because now he is a "traitor". With Margaret and Anupreet's help he hides in one

of Mr. Dursley's boxes and they sent him to Bombay. The Narrative Elements conflict and point of view are the best for

describing Tariq's character complexity because he is in constant conflict with himself. He has contradictory feelings

about any decision he makes and his point of view in the chapters is important for understanding what is going on in his

mind.
CER PARAGRAPH 1

Conflict is one of the most important Narrative Elements for describing Tariq’s character complexity because he is in

constant internal conflict with the decisions he takes. Let me give you an example; Tariq was in the gurdwara in front of

the guy he just hit to protect himself, and his mind was divided. What do I mean by that? I mean that one part of him was

feeling horrible and he could not believe what he just did. When the other part was making excuses and trying to think

what the consequences of what he just did will be. In this piece of evidence, we see that Tariq’s feelings about what

happened are contradictory, what we could see in the next example. Tariq was in the car thinking about what to do with

Margaret. If he uses her to get the recommendation for Oxford, or not, he does not play with his feelings. He was

thinking: “she likes me, she could be helpful, she is his daughter after all. A word from her on my behalf could not hurt.”

(Bradbury #67). In this evidence, there is a clear example of how Tariq has trouble differentiating what is right and what

is wrong. But even if conflict is one of the main Narrative Elements for describing Tariq’s character complexity, it is not

the only one. Here is when point of view comes into scene.

CER PARAGRAPH 2
As I said before, point of view is another Narrative Element that describes Tariq’s character complexity. Because his point

of view in the chapters help us understand what he was thinking and what made him do it. Let's put some context to the

subject; Tariq was going to the Dursley's home after stopping by in this house and he saw Sameer pointing at his boss

house to a man and giving him a package. Suspecting that the package was some kind of prank for Mr. Dursley, he asked,

“who is it for?” and when he told him that it was for his boss, he said, “I’ll take it” and he put it in the alley next to the

trash can. Fearing what Sameer would do to him, he decided not to tell anyone about that package. (Bradbury #207). In

this piece of evidence Tariq's point of view makes us see the situation from a different perspective, and understand why he

did not say anything, and why he thought that what he was doing was a clever idea. Another example is when Tariq was

in his house giving his last goodbyes to his family because they were leaving to Pakistan, and he just told them that he

was staying and that he was going to try to go to Oxford. But his father, disappointed, tells him “We are khabdaam, there

is no need greater than that, is there?” Tariqs answers “I can't go to Pakistan there is nothing there for me, go to Oxford is

my dream.” His parents that still not understanding said “You are breaking this family.” (Bradbury #166-167). This is a

clear example of how people have different points of view than others. Tariq was proud of his decision to stay and trying

to achieve his dream. But his family was disappointed and did not agree with his decision. That is how I see point of view

in Tariq’s character complexity. Changing a little the subject I want to talk about how people can see Tariq vs how he

really is.
COUNTERCLAIM/ REFUTATION

PARAGRAPH
Some may say that Tariq is a bad person because of the decision he took in base to protect himself or for achieve his

dream of go to Oxford. That he is selfish. Let me give you an example: Tariq took some bad decisions like starting to use

Margaret to get a recommendation from her father, leave his family and he hid the package instead of telling someone

because he feared what Sameer would do to him. Let's put one example Tariq was in the car thinking about what to do

with Margaret. If he uses her to get the recommendation for Oxford, or not, he does not play with his feelings. He was

thinking: “she likes me, she could be helpful, she is his daughter after all. A word from her on my behalf could not hurt.”

(Bradbury #67). This evidence shows that when Tariq was thinking about what to do with Margaret, he was thinking only

about himself and forgetting about other people's feelings. However, the narrative element point of view in Tariq’s

chapters help us to see what is going on with a different perspective; his own. Then we can see that he felt bad about what

he was doing and his true feelings about it. Tariq also did remarkable things that shows that after all, he is a good person.

Like when he saved Anupreet from Sameer, even if his life is in danger. A little context: Sameer and other two men

grabbed Anupreet because they were mad because Tariq took the package and they decided to take Anu instead. And even

if he is only one and they are three, he puts his knife in Sameers neck thinking “My family would want me to do the right

thing” (Bradbury #242). This shows how Tariq thinks about other people and is not selfish. He saved Anupreet when he

could just run and save himself. But he decided to stay and his own life at risk for her. So, summarizing, Tariq’s character

complexity is hard to describe and to analyze, that is why they may have different opinions about it.

CONCLUSION
As I said before, Tariq is always having internal conflict because his main goal is to achieve his dream of going to Oxford,

and to do that, he needed to take tough decisions. Choose the hard way and achieve his dream, even if he must hurt some

people, or just give up. In this essay I tried to explain Tariq’s character complexity through the narrative elements conflict

and point of view and how some people may see Tariq’s personality. But this also teaches us a lesson: don’t judge people

because of the decisions they took if you don’t know the context or if you don’t have that person point of view. When

about searching online, I found this: “The saying "never judge a book by its cover" or "don't judge a book by its cover"

means that you shouldn't judge someone or something based only on what you see on the outside or only on what you
perceive without knowing the full situation. It means that the outward appearance of something is not an indication of its

value or worth.” (“Never Judge A Book By Its Cover” by Britanica Dictionary Inc. September 14, 2017.) I think it

describes perfectly what I meant before and the difficulty of Tariq’s character complexity.

RESORCES
 Website where I found the article: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/qa/Never-Judge-A-Book-by-Its-

Cover-meaning.

 Book “A Moment Comes” by Jennifer Bradbury (published June 25, 2013).