Ambiguity Of Man And Animals In The Book Thief By Al Koni

Al Koni's novel is about the isolated desert in the southern side of Libya, an endless space of sands, rocks and burning sun. Representing the relationship between good ,evil, man and animals is through the use of a number of limited elements. The novel centers around Asouf, a herdsman who lives alone with his goats in a desert region and isolates himself after his parents' death. Spending most of his time with goats and the sensuous gazelles keeps him afraid of people, and on the contrary ,the character of Cain , who is tall, hard-tempered, rigid and his one concern is to eat meat .Combining the 'magical realism' into the spirituality of the North African Sufi is essential to give further explanation for the events. Moreover, it incorporates the natural and supernatural story ,when a human takes the form of animal. The mystery of the relationship between Asouf and waddan shows the ambiguity of the important value of this animal, which is obvious as " the spirit of the mountain ".

The use of three forms of quotations, religious, literary and mythological ones, lead to a whole understanding of the old story of Cain and Abel "in Quran" where one brother is a traveler, and the other brother a farmer. The purpose of the mythological is to show the fear of the magic spells and the curse of the waddan if it is being chased and killed in the desert . The desert is a place of freedom , in which time is mythical. And where Present and past merge into an eternal moment and also is rich with spirituality and emotions. The philosophy of Sufi spirit is about the idea of protecting the animals from hunting . Moreover, the word Bleeding signifies life-giving value of sacrifice which is a dominate theme in the