In the Sea There Are Crocodiles – Fabio Geda
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Lektionsnotizen
The book and its context
- ×In the Sea There Are Crocodiles×(2010) by Italian writer Fabio Geda, translated into English by Howard Curtis (2011).
- It is based on the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari, a Hazara boy who travelled alone from Afghanistan to Italy over about eight years.
- The Hazaras are an ethnic minority in Afghanistan, mostly Shia Muslims, persecuted by the Pashtun majority and the Taliban.
- The journey passes through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Greece to Italy; the book's six parts are named after these countries.
- Set for 2026 and 2027.
Form: a told story
- Enaiat narrates in the first person, in a plain, conversational, often understated voice.
- Short italicised exchanges between Enaiat and Fabio, the writer, break into the narrative: Fabio asks questions; Enaiat answers, corrects or refuses to dwell.
- The dialogue reminds us this is a remembered testimony, shaped by memory and by the act of telling.
- Enaiat often reports terrible events without sentiment — the flatness itself is powerful, suggesting survival required him to switch off feeling.
- He frequently does not know dates, ages or place names: a child's partial view of vast events.
Afghanistan and Pakistan
- In his village, Nava (Ghazni province), Enaiat's father was forced by Pashtun businessmen to drive goods from Iran; bandits killed him and stole the load, and the Pashtuns demanded payment — threatening to take the children.
- Enaiat hid in a hole in the yard; the Taliban closed his school and shot his teacher in front of the pupils.
- At about 10, his mother takes him to Quetta in Pakistan. On their last night she makes him promise never to use drugs, never to use weapons, and never to cheat or steal — and tells him about the importance of dreams.
- In the morning she has gone. Rahim, owner of the samavat (a hotel/holding centre for migrants), lets him work for board.
- A kind shopkeeper, osta sahib, makes him a street vendor; Hazara boys, including Sufi, defend him. Facing sectarian hostility, he decides to go to Iran.
Iran and Turkey
- Smuggled with Sufi to Iran, Enaiat works on building sites near Isfahan to pay the traffickers, sleeping on sand in bare concrete rooms; the workers fear the prisons Telisia and Sang Safid. Hamid looks out for him.
- He sees the 9/11 attacks on television without grasping their meaning — his concern is missing Sufi.
- Police raids deport him to Afghanistan more than once; each time he returns. In Qom he cuts stone in a factory and buys a watch — which a policeman later steals: time and control taken from him.
- At about 14 he sets out for Turkey: a group of 77 crosses freezing mountains for 26 days; twelve die. Enaiat takes shoes from a frozen body.
- They travel to Istanbul crammed in a hidden compartment under gravel in a lorry; Enaiat forces a man to share water with a crying boy.
The sea, Greece and Italy
- With four younger boys — Hussein Ali, Rahmat, Liaqat and Soltan — he crosses to Greece in an inflatable dinghy. Hussein Ali fears crocodiles in the sea (the title) and is mocked by Liaqat.
- The wake of a huge ship throws Liaqat overboard; he is never found. At dawn the survivors reach a Greek island.
- Alone, Enaiat is found in her garden by an old Greek woman, who feeds him, gives him clothes and 50 euros; clean and dressed, he can buy a ferry ticket to Athens, where he meets Jamal and works on 2004 Olympic building sites.
- From Corinth he hides in a shipping container for three days, reaches Venice, and travels via Rome to Turin, where his childhood friend Payam helps him.
- Danila and Marco take him into their family; he learns Italian, returns to school, and is granted asylum after telling his story to a commission in Rome.
- At the end he pays a man to find his family; on the phone he and his mother, too moved to speak, listen to each other breathing.
Themes
- Migration and home: home is lost, longed for, and finally rebuilt — not as a place but as safety and belonging.
- Kindness of strangers: Rahim, osta sahib, Hamid, the Greek woman, Payam, Danila and Marco — small acts change a life; Enaiat also passes kindness on.
- Childhood and coming of age: a boy forced into adulthood at 10; his childish moments (coins, football, the ice-cream tourists) stay poignant.
- Language: accents mark Hazaras out; languages divide and connect; he builds his new life in Italian.
- Time: without a watch or dates, Enaiat cannot measure his lost years — the stolen watch is a key symbol.
- Morality under pressure: his mother's three promises are tested; he sometimes bends them to survive.
Writing about the novel
- Analyse the voice: understatement makes horror land harder (Liaqat's loss, the frozen bodies).
- Use the Fabio interjections as structure: they slow the story, raise questions of memory and truth, and let Enaiat reflect.
- Trace symbols: the mother's promises, the watch, shoes, the hole in the yard, the sea.
- Consider how Geda makes a political subject personal, avoiding lectures.
- Useful essay foci: Enaiat's mother; kindness; the sea crossing; the ending; how Geda presents danger.
Folien
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Übungsfragen
Gratis-Vorschau — 8 von 45 Fragen. Registriere dich, um alle zu sehen.
1.Who wrote In the Sea There Are Crocodiles?
Easy- AFabio Geda
- BKhaled Hosseini
- CEnaiat's mother
- DHoward Curtis
2.Which ethnic group does Enaiat belong to?
Easy- APashtun
- BBaluchi
- CTajik
- DHazara
3.In which city does Enaiat's mother leave him?
Easy- ATehran
- BIstanbul
- CQuetta
- DKabul
4.About how old is Enaiat when his mother leaves him?
Easy- AAbout 14
- BAbout 10
- CAbout 16
- DAbout 6
5.Which is NOT one of the promises Enaiat makes to his mother?
Medium- ANever to leave Pakistan
- BNever to use drugs
- CNever to use weapons
- DNever to cheat or steal
6.Why was Enaiat in danger in his village?
Medium- AHe had stolen from the Taliban
- BHis father was a Taliban leader
- CHe had been caught smuggling
- DPashtun businessmen blamed his family for goods lost when his father was killed
7.What happened at Enaiat's school in Nava?
Medium- AIt moved to Pakistan
- BIt became a mosque
- CThe Taliban closed it and shot the teacher
- DIt burned down in a storm
8.Who first gives Enaiat work in Quetta?
Medium- AHamid
- BRahim, owner of the samavat
- COsta sahib
- DPayam
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