In some senses, Yusuf is the stand-in for the reader, somewhat of a blank slate upon which the events of the novel are etched. There are very few occasions when the narrator or author provides Yusuf’s opinions or judgments upon what he sees or experiences, and as a result, readers are encouraged to fill in the blanks, presumably from what they imagine would be their own reactions. Khalil characterizes this hollowness in Yusuf when he explains why others find him unsettling: “anyone can see that your miserable eyes are open and that you desire nothing to escape them” (194). This pronouncement comes as explanation of his remark that Yusuf makes the seyyid “feel that he’s behaving badly” (194). Whether or not this is true, the comment reflects on Yusuf’s quiet demeanor and watchfulness, paralleling the stance of a reader towards a novel.

Traits that serve Yusuf from his early days are his ability to handle solitude and his ability to learn a variety of things. When the neighborhood children don’t allow him to play kipande with them, he plays on his own, becoming quite good at playing solo what is otherwise a team game. He learns numbers and the ways of the shop from Khalil, reading and Islam study from an imam, garden care from watching Mzee Hamdani, and mechanical tasks from Kalasinga.