What are Mahmoud's thoughts about his inner self?

Gratz uses the theme of invisibility to help define Mahmoud’s character, and to alert the reader to their own contribution to the invisibility of the people of Syria. Mahmoud evolves from believing he needed to be invisible to survive, to realizing he had to be visible to survive. As the Syrian crisis continues to unfold, while the rest of the world turns a blind eye, Mahmoud is also a symbol of how the world treats Syria as a country - invisible. If it is invisible, it is not a problem that anyone has to deal with. The first sentence of Mahmoud’s perspective is, “Mahmoud Bishara was invisible, and that’s exactly how he wanted it. Being invisible was how he survived” (12). But towards the end of Mahmoud’s story, when it feels as if his family has been defeated and are forced to stay in the detention center, Mahmoud realizes, “It was better to be visible” (282). He confronts his fears and the rest of the world, pushes open the door, and marches through Hungary to Austria. They literally stop traffic as they march, and gain international attention - showing the rest of the world that the crisis is no longer something they can ignore. As this story takes place while the crisis is still unfolding, this invisibility also forces the reader to confront their own treatment of the Syrian crisis, and their own role in participating in the invisibility of the Syrian refugees.