This could be foreshadowing from the beginning of Alif and Dina’s burgeoning relationship. The other reason would be to juxtapose the characters of Dina and Intisar, where one would only call him by his given name and the other by his online handle. He is somewhat of an outcast, being of mixed heritage and his father not being there most of the time. In terms of Alif vs Muhammad, there are two possible reasons: the first being which where he actively seeks to reinvent himself in cyberspace to sort of negate his social position in actuality. She’s referred to as the Convert, the American and the plethora of other words referring to her as a foreigner. The Convert would seem to be the most interesting one as she’s not even give a semblance of a name any time during the story. The characters in the book that are seen to be using different names are primarily : Alif, NewQuarter and the Convert. The digital age allows individuals to have a new sort of anonymity on the internet. The main characters that use altered names are using it in a sense to reinvent themselves. where the things that are most precious, most perfect and most holy are always hidden: the Kaaba, the faces of prophets and angels, a woman’s body, Heaven.”- The Butterfly Memoir e.

This has some connotations with the argument of the Convent about Islam: “In the West,” she observed, “anything that must be hidden is suspect availability and honesty are interlinked. How the characters are attributed with personal reasons on having more than 1 name. In the East names are meanings, but in the West they don’t carry the same weight of meaning. There is this East vs West cultural issue about names. I believe it evident throughout the book that there is a sense of secrecy attributed to the true/original names of characters in the book. The question of names in Alif the Unseen: (Lecture) What is the purpose of Willow Wilson referring to the characters by their online handles? a.

Alif the unseen book