An enslaved eunuch bonded fiercely with and disciplined the elite children he guarded

Evidence

When they cried, though, he wiped their tears with his handkerchief.And after that, he would play with them as if he were a child himself, allowing Sharawï to forget his severity. … Sharawï also had learned to recognize this, remembering as well that if the children were ever in danger, he would grab them to his chest and, ignoring his own safety, murmur, “O children of my master!” Saïd Agha was proud of belonging to so elite a household. Sharawï’s mother was very kind to him because he had been purchased when just a child, and Sultan Pasha had taken great care with his upbringing and his education.As Sharawï remembered, Saïd Agha “loved my father to the point of worship.” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 851

Categorization

• XREF: The enslaved guardian who loves ‘to the point of worship’ echoes The Reluctant Fundamentalist’s and Things Fall Apart’s treatments of loyalty within oppressive structures.