Thami Beidaoui
A Moroccan man from a prominent family who rejects its respectability, guides Dyar, and joins his escape.
To obtain a motorboat and prove he can live independently of the family that looks down on him.
The book
At a glance
- The Beidaoui family
- Hassan and Abdelmalek
- Acquire a motorboat
- Dyar’s partner and victim
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeThami comes from an elite Moroccan family whose wealth could have provided a conventional future. He has broken with its expectations, married a woman from a poorer background, and built a life around drinking, cafés, and smuggling plans.
His brothers Hassan and Abdelmalek regard him as an embarrassment and will not finance the motorboat he wants. Thami believes a boat would give him an independent way to make money. He resents family judgment, but his own plans are often reckless.
Thami becomes Dyar’s most important Moroccan companion. He knows the city, shares intoxicants with him, and helps him cross into Spanish-controlled Morocco. Parts of the novel follow Thami’s thoughts, revealing tensions Dyar fails to understand.
How the book draws them
- From privilege, outside respectabilityThami has elite connections but lives apart from the role his family expects.
- European dressOther characters notice his Europeanized appearance, while Thami rejects their easy conclusions about it.
- A practiced guideHe moves among family houses, cafés, smugglers, and foreign visitors.
- Proud and easily insultedFamily contempt and foreign condescension provoke sharp replies.
- Focused on the motorboatThe boat represents money, movement, and a business he could control.
- Given an inner lifeReaders see his frustration with family, marriage, religion, drinking, and compromised ambitions.
Thami helps Dyar leave Tangier with the stolen currency, but the partnership is never secure. Money gives each man reasons to distrust the other.
Dyar murders the sleeping Thami with a nail and hammer. The act erases Thami’s plans and relationships in favor of Dyar’s need for a decisive gesture.
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