The Grandfather in Girls That Never Die: Character Analysis

Overview

The grandfather is a minor but resonant figure in Safia Elhillo's Girls That Never Die. He appears in only a handful of chapters, yet each appearance carries symbolic weight. He is first introduced in Final Weeks, 1990 as one of the grandparents waiting at the hospital for the narrator's birth. Later, in Summer Triangle, his blind left eye becomes part of a ritual purification. In Harder/Border, milk pools in his hopeful eye, and the speaker calls herself his girl. In For My Friends, in Reply to a Question, the speaker looks up his pixelated smile online and tries to replicate it.

The grandfather is not a protagonist or even a consistently present character. He exists at the edges of the narrative, a figure of origin, lineage, and inherited meaning. His appearances cluster around questions of birth, naming, purity, and belonging—the same questions that animate the book's central themes. Much of his significance is interpretive; the text gives us only a few explicit details, and the analysis below distinguishes what is stated from what is suggested.

Plot role

In Final Weeks, 1990, the grandfather is placed in the hospital waiting room while the narrator's mother gives birth. The narrator describes him as elegant, in that old overformal way of immigrants, with a collared shirt and an afro. He paces the hallway. The narrator notes both grandparents are older than the independent state of Sudan, and the grandfather's recorded birthday is twenty-six years before Sudan's independence. This detail establishes him as a figure of displacement—someone whose official identity was recorded by colonial offices, whose birth predates his country.

In Summer Triangle, the grandfather's blind left eye is invoked in a ritual washing. The speaker constructs a body from clay, dried blood, dirt, and water, then purifies it through ritual washing involving the grandfather's blind left eye and the grandmother's feet in ablution. This is a striking image: the grandfather's impaired eye becomes part of a purification ritual, suggesting that what is broken or damaged in the older generation is nonetheless incorporated into the speaker's attempt to cleanse or remake herself.

In Harder/Border, the grandfather appears in a poem about borders, citizenship, and language. The speaker recalls milk pooling in his hopeful eye—an image that suggests both nourishment and spoilage, connecting to the poem's extended metaphor of citizenship as spoiled, curdling milk. The speaker later calls herself his girl, described as pure, citizen, and born backward. This is the most direct identification of the speaker with her grandfather: she claims him as her own, and herself as his.

In For My Friends, in Reply to a Question, the grandfather appears in a more mundane but poignant way: the speaker looks up childhood acquaintances online and observes her grandfather's pixelated smile, trying to replicate it. This suggests a desire to connect with or embody something of the grandfather, even through a degraded digital image.

Motivations and traits shown through actions

The grandfather's motivations are largely opaque—he is not a character who acts in the narrative so much as a figure who is observed and remembered. But his actions do reveal traits:

• He paces the hospital hallway (Chapter 2): This suggests anxiety, anticipation, restlessness—a man waiting for a birth.

• He wears collared shirts (Chapter 2): This suggests formality, dignity, a certain immigrant elegance.

• He is a placid companion to the grandmother, their courtship cooled amicably into a sort of siblinghood (Chapter 2): This suggests a marriage of companionship rather than passion, or at least one that has settled into comfort.

• He has a blind left eye (Chapter 37): This is a physical trait, not an action, but it carries symbolic weight.

• His smile is pixelated in an online photo (Chapter 42): This suggests distance, mediation, the passage of time.

Chronological arc

The grandfather's appearances trace an arc from the narrator's birth to her adulthood:

1. December 1990: He waits at the hospital for the narrator's birth (Chapter 2).

2. Childhood/adolescence (implied): His blind left eye is invoked in the ritual purification of Summer Triangle (Chapter 37).

3. Adulthood: The speaker recalls him in Harder/Border (Chapter 39) with milk pooling in his hopeful eye.

4. Adulthood, present day: The speaker looks up his pixelated smile online (Chapter 42).

This arc moves from physical presence (the hospital) to embodied memory (the ritual) to mediated memory (the online photo). The grandfather becomes increasingly distant and digitized as the speaker ages.

Relationships

With the narrator: The speaker identifies as her grandfather's girl (Chapter 39). This is a direct claim of belonging. The grandfather's presence at her birth, his blind eye in her purification ritual, and his pixelated smile that she tries to replicate all suggest a deep, if understated, connection. The speaker tries to replicate his smile, suggesting she sees something of herself in him, or wants to.

With the grandmother: The grandparents are placid companions whose courtship cooled amicably into a sort of siblinghood. The narrator has never seen them touch. This suggests a marriage of companionship rather than passion.

With the mother: The grandfather is the mother's father. In Final Weeks, 1990, he waits at the hospital while the mother gives birth. The mother's name, Safaa, shares a first syllable with the narrator's name, marking a matrilineal connection, but the patronymic surname Hilu on the birth certificate records the paternal line.

Key decisions and consequences

The grandfather's key decisions are mostly implied rather than shown. The most significant is his presence at the narrator's birth—he is there, waiting, pacing. His presence establishes him as part of the narrator's origin story.

The anglicization of the surname from the original to Hilu is recorded on the birth certificate. This is a decision made by the family (or the immigrant context) that affects the narrator's identity. The narrator notes the surname is rarely used back home, but in the new country the paper demands a patronym.

Theme/symbol connections

Displacement and the search for home: The grandfather is older than the independent state of Sudan. His recorded birthday is twenty-six years before his country is born. This makes him a figure of displacement—someone whose identity was recorded by colonial offices, whose sense of home is complicated by the fact that his country did not exist when he was born. This connects to the book's theme of displacement and the search for home.

Language, naming, and the inadequacy of words: The patronymic surname, the anglicized name, the missing names that form a border in Harder/Border—the grandfather is connected to questions of naming and identity. This connects to the book's theme of language, naming, and the inadequacy of words.

The policing of girls' bodies and the demand for purity: The speaker is identified as her grandfather's girl, pure, a citizen, born backward. This connects to the poem's critique of purity as an invention, and to the book's theme of the policing of girls' bodies and the demand for purity.

Silence, shame, and the unspoken: The grandfather's blind eye and the milk pooling in it suggest things unseen, unspoken, or spoiled. This connects to the book's theme of silence, shame, and the unspoken.

Survival and intergenerational inheritance: The grandfather's blind eye is incorporated into the speaker's purification ritual. What is damaged in him is passed down and transformed. This connects to the book's theme of survival and intergenerational inheritance.

Questions and answers

1. In which chapters does the grandfather appear, and what role does he play in each?

The grandfather appears in four chapters. In Final Weeks, 1990 (Chapter 2), he waits at the hospital for the narrator's birth, pacing the hallway. In Summer Triangle (Chapter 37), his blind left eye is invoked in a ritual purification. In Harder/Border (Chapter 39), milk pools in his hopeful eye, and the speaker calls herself his girl. In For My Friends, in Reply to a Question (Chapter 42), the speaker observes his pixelated smile online and tries to replicate it.

2. What does the grandfather's blind left eye symbolize in Summer Triangle?

In Summer Triangle, the speaker constructs a body from clay, dried blood, dirt, and water, then purifies it through ritual washing involving the grandfather's blind left eye and the grandmother's feet in ablution. The blind eye is incorporated into a purification ritual, suggesting that what is damaged or impaired in the older generation is nonetheless part of the speaker's attempt to cleanse or remake herself. The eye's blindness may also suggest partial vision—a way of seeing that is incomplete but still generative.

3. What does the image of milk pooling in the grandfather's eye mean in Harder/Border?

In Harder/Border, the speaker recalls milk pooling in her grandfather's hopeful eye. The image of milk pooling suggests both nourishment and spoilage. This connects to the poem's extended metaphor of citizenship as spoiled, curdling milk. The grandfather's hopeful eye, with milk pooling in it, becomes an image of hope that is also curdling—a hope that is nourishing and spoiled at once.

4. Why does the speaker try to replicate her grandfather's pixelated smile?

In For My Friends, in Reply to a Question, the speaker looks up childhood acquaintances online and observes her grandfather's pixelated smile, trying to replicate it. The pixelation suggests distance and mediation—the grandfather is accessible only through a degraded digital image. The speaker's attempt to replicate his smile suggests a desire to connect with or embody something of him, even through this imperfect medium. It is an act of reaching toward lineage and belonging.

5. How does the grandfather's age relative to Sudan's independence shape his role in the book?

The narrator notes that both grandparents are older than the independent state of Sudan, and the grandfather's recorded birthday is twenty-six years before Sudan's independence. This makes him a figure of displacement—someone whose identity was recorded by colonial offices, whose birth predates his country. His age relative to Sudan's independence connects him to the book's themes of displacement, citizenship, and the search for home. He is a figure who carries the weight of a history that predates the nation itself.

For further discussion of the grandfather's role and the book's broader questions, see the ending explained and questions and answers pages.