The Family as a Micro Representation of the Country

Bethany Douglas

In the first chapter of Beneath the Lion's Gaze we are immediately introduced to the revolution occurring outside the hospital walls and the failing health of the doctor Hailu's wife, Selam. Further on in the novel the revolution protests and Selam's health takes a fatal turn, "The family knelt around Selam's body. Hailu reached across his wife to grab Dawit's arm and squeezed it. Their hands settled on her chest. 'She's gone,' Hailu said. He kept his focus on Yonas. 'She left us'" (106). This passage uses beautiful language to place the reader with the family at the time of their loss, but more importantly Mengiste uses language to show the strength of the family when connected around Selam which I believe is symbolic of the strength of the nation when connected around the emperor Selassie.
The emperor's reliability as a leader has been kept almost ambiguous throughout the novel, conflicting with the protestors belief that he is evil. The reader is led to have empathy for the fallen emperor and I do not believe it is a coincidence that the emperor is killed the chapter after Selam dies. The family represents a micro version of the country, with Selam as the emperor that connects them all. The difference is, of course, everyone in the family loves and cherishes Selam whereas the family has varying views on the emperor and the government, which pulls the family apart. However, in this scene the family is connected over Selam's passing, they are focused on each other as exemplified in Mengiste's word choices, "Hailu reached across his wife to grab Dawit's arm and squeezed it. Their hands settled on her chest. 'She's gone.'" When Hailu reaches across his wife to grab Dawit's arm we see the two connected in a way we haven't seen the entire book, physically and emotionally. Hailu's focus on his son Yonas also further portrays the families connection through Selam's passing. The lines "she's gone" and "she left us"represent the passing of the old way of government, the passing of the emperor, which is further portrayed in the following chapter which shows the actual death of the emperor.