Beneath the Lion's Gaze

Nicole Gilmer

In Maaza Mengiste’s novel Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, just after the chapter in which Hailu’s wife passes away, there is a chapter focusing on the emperor. In this scene, Emperor Selassie is being held prisoner and reflecting on his life just before he was arrested. Mengiste writes: “Every minute was accounted for, every need anticipated by invisible bodies who tiptoed in and out of his presence noiselessly, their swallowed thoughts escaping only through their eyes, discernible if he’d been concerned enough to notice. But he hadn’t been. We did not see the beast, he whispered into the endless quiet punctuated only by the guard’s whistle. It stood before our eyes, but we did not see” (107, emphasis added). What I like about this is the way in which Selassie’s life pre-arrest parallels Hailu’s life pre-Revolution. While Hailu was in the hospital, he was solidly in control while the nurses and other workers worked silently in the background. Almaz was quietly respectful of Hailu and his abilities as a doctor and surgeon but he could tell by looking in her eyes what the situation truly was. Working in his hospital, it was hard for Hailu to understand the impact that the impending revolution would have on his life. Even while tensions were building, Hailu “did not see the beast”.

I think being able to compare Hailu and Selassie is important because it presents opposite views of a situation but in ways which the reader can be empathetic to. This makes it harder to put blame on either character or either side of the revolution.