Malik: The Minor Character

 Malik was a translator for soldiers Bartle and Murphy in the war. Spoiler alert, he got killed. Even though he didn’t really participate completely in the war, the enemy still viewed him as a soldier of the enemy, and he was shot and killed. Here’s the catch, he was killed right in front of Bartle and Murphy. Tragic way to die, isn’t it? 

Malik was introduced right in the beginning or the story, though we kind of forget about him until later on, for obvious reasons. He was very helpful and dedicated to assisting the soldiers in translation. He was Bartles friend, companion, safe haven—whatever you will. They confided in each other. We know that they were close because Malik’s death was the first one Bartle described and told to the readers, maybe to get it out of the way because it was the most painful? We don’t really know, but it’s a pretty good guess that’s why.

Something interesting about Malik is that he was from Al Tamar, which is where they were fighting majority of the time, which is a good factor for the enemy to kill him. I mean, he betrayed his own country to assist the USA in defeating them.

Malik was a minor character, sure, but his impacts were great on Bartle and the book as a whole.