45 pages • 1 hour read
Hanna AlkafThe Weight of Our Sky
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Djinn
The Djinn is a direct symbol for OCD, as well as for the stigma associated with mental health struggles in both 1960s Malaysia and still today around the world. As such, the symbol of the Djinn is split into two parts: the Djinn’s words and actions and the origin of the Djinn as a concept. The Djinn’s words and actions are the obsessive thoughts and compulsions that Mel experiences throughout the novel, such as the urge to tap and count in sets of three and the violent images of death and destruction that plague Mel. In these instances, the Djinn is essentially another name for OCD, in which the thoughts and actions Mel feels compelled to enact or obey are the product of her mental health struggles rather than of a malicious spirit. However, the idea of a malicious spirit is more palatable for Mel and her family, allowing them to address the issue of mental health indirectly through a lens that fits in easier with their present worldview.
The Djinn is also a representation of Malaysian society’s reluctance to confront mental health concerns. As noted by Mel, Salmah, and others, most patients struggling with mental health are either confined or lobotomized, neither of which allows for living a normal life. Instead, addressing the issue as one of possession moves the concern from the psychological realm into the religious, making it a situation that can more easily be addressed through traditional means. Of course, Mel notes the failures of such methods, but the image of the Djinn can be seen as a helpful tool in explaining mental health concerns to parents, family, or community members that might carry prior judgments and stigmas about mental health concerns.
The Beatles/Paul McCartney
Mel’s love of music is a topic that comes up during her time with Saf in the early portion of the novel, including her specific love of The Beatles, and as the novel progresses, Mel reveals how her father inspired her love of both music and religion. Mel’s father explains to Mel how he sees himself as Paul McCartney and Salmah as John Lennon, drawing parallels to the band members’ personalities and concluding that he and Salmah are a good team as a result. However, this story takes on greater significance after Mel’s father’s death. The Beatles’ music becomes an outlet for her feelings of grief and frustration while also reminding her of her relationship with her father in a positive light, warding off the Djinn temporarily.
In a critical moment, as Mel is preparing to confront the angry crowds of rioters, she hears a voice in her mind, noting that it sometimes sounds like Saf, Vincent, or Paul McCartney. In hearing Paul McCartney’s voice, Mel is hearing a conduit for her father’s voice, making McCartney a symbol for her father and his love for her. This symbol then acts as a means of providing Mel with her father’s support, even though he has passed away. Much like the way The Beatles’ music seems to ward off the Djinn, Paul McCartney’s voice inspires Mel, assuring her of her own inner strength. In a way, this forms a connections between music and mental health, but it also embodies the power of media to form connections and associations for individuals, reinforcing Mel’s memory of her father with the concurrent exposure to The Beatles’ music.
Self-Doubt/Self-Loathing
Throughout the novel, Mel experiences intense self-doubt and self-loathing, seeing herself as a failure, a danger to others, or as incompetent in most situations. The motif of self-loathing and self-doubt in the text relates to Mel’s struggle with mental health concerns, but it also establishes the novel as a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story. A critical component of adolescence is doubt and discomfort with one’s body, mind, and life, which is often experienced as self-loathing or self-doubt. Adolescents commonly have periods of uncertainty, where the branching pathways of life inspire a certain concern for whether or not they are choosing the right options, and Mel is no exception. In fact, Mel’s experience of these feelings is exacerbated by her mental health struggle and the ongoing racial violence of the novel, both of which provide more opportunities to feel self-hatred and a sense of incompetence, especially as Mel is confronted with death and destruction all around her.
This motif is most commonly voiced through the Djinn, who in this sense personifies Mel’s feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing, often chiding her that she is not good enough, or even that she is at fault for various events. Little of the positive elements of adolescence are seen in the novel, such as the brief encounters with Vincent that lean toward romance, but much of the novel is dedicated to illustrating how adolescence, in any situation, can be confusing and frightening for young people. For the reader, it is important to weigh these instances of self-doubt and self-loathing, asking if Mel’s feelings are rooted in reality or inflated by existing doubts and fears.
