Why do you think Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is mentioned? What is jarring or unusual about that reference in this context? (chapter 12)

"It is Shakespeare.” He showed me the cover. “Julius Caesar. Have you heard of it?”

Both Lieutenant Jabati and Corporal Gadafi use emotional arguments - the desire for revenge and fear of a cruel, inhuman enemy - to motivate the villagers to remain and support the military. His display of the corpses is an interesting parallel to the scene from Julius Caesar in which Mark Antony shows the commoners Caesar’s assassinated body; Beah foreshadowed this connection when he describes Lieutenant Jabati’s love of Julius Caesar prior to this moment.