Chapter 3: Fairy Tale and the Collective Unconscious in Abu
3.3 Analysis of the Novel
3.3.3 Themes and Motifs
also the collective unconscious of all human beings. Because of the inner conflict that the protagonist experiences, given that he does not arrive at convincing answers, he decides to abandon people and all the thoughts and reminiscences that have burdened him for so long and stays on an isolated island.
On the island, Fayrouz faces Nabhan, who is Fayrouz’s split personality.
Fayrouz reveals to Nabhan his struggle and asks him about the truth of Umm al- Duways. Nabhan clarifies to Fayrouz that in order to overcome his struggle, he needs to stop living in ignorance and to stop following the beliefs that indicate mere ignorance, one of which is the fear that resulted from the tales created around the Umm al-Duways character. Nabhan continues that in order to know the truth there is a need to falsify an existing truth and create a new truth instead. This is because truths are created by human imagination, and when we accept a particular imagination’s truth, it turns into a truth inherited throughout generations (Abu al- Reesh 325). Nabhan takes Fayrouz on a sea journey to discover the unknown and to reach the truth of Umm al-Duways. As we read more, we understand that Fayrouz has undergone such psychological trauma that he has developed a split identity, and Nabhan is just a separate character in his mind. Nabhan embodies the protagonist’s conscious, and Fayrouz symbolises the unconscious. The trip that Nabhan takes Fayrouz on is one into his own unconscious in order to unravel Fayrouz’s early struggles.
3.3.3.1 Settings
The setting is an essential feature in the Gothic novel. In his correspondence about writing his novel, The Castle of Otranto, Walpole states that when he woke up from a dream, all he could “recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle . . . and that on the uppermost bannister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour” (qtd. in Clery, “Introduction” vii). Two main characteristics of the Gothic can be seen in this correspondence: the first concerns the setting, the ancient castle, which connotes the past and the gloomy atmosphere; the second is the feeling of terror induced by the sight of “a gigantic hand in armour.” E. J. Clery proposes that few critics notice “that the gothic castle is the main protagonist of Otranto, and that the story of usurpation, tyranny, and imprisonment could be seen as an extension of the mood evoked by the setting” (“Introduction” xv). The castle, therefore, governs the novel’s atmosphere both physically and psychologically (Clery,
“Introduction” xv). The setting’s impact on Gothic works becomes conventional for the succeeding novels that contain Gothic features, although it may not necessarily be a castle. Wuthering Heights, for instance, is set in two gloomy places, which are Thrushcross Grange and the Heights itself. Thrushcross Grange is an isolated place in Yorkshire, whereas Wuthering Heights is a mysterious area that is surrounded by moors.
Umm al-Duways is part of this tradition of centralising the setting in the Gothic novel. The novel repeatedly celebrates the effect of the setting in order to convey the Gothic side of the protagonist’s psyche to the reader. In Abu al-Reesh’s work, there are two types of settings. One is the external, physical settings which are the landscapes and landmarks that Fayrouz visits, while the other I would call the
pseudo-inward setting, which inhabits in Fayrouz’s psyche. It is known that the setting needs to be something that is physical and can be seen. However, this novel reveals a strong connection between the physical setting and Fayrouz’s psyche and the two become intertwined. To explain this idea, the landscapes and landmarks in which Fayrouz visits are indeed empty areas, and there is nothing that arouses the sense of horror and terror. Nevertheless, the protagonist associates these areas with earlier stories he knows and with some of the crises he experienced during his childhood. This is in contrast to what is conventionally known about most Gothic novels, in which the desolated and gloomy settings have a significant impact on the psyche of the characters, not vice versa. Therefore, these two types of settings are inseparable since the dreary physical setting is a reflection of the protagonist's inner feelings. This means that without his psyche, there is no presence of the Gothic setting in the novel, primarily because other characters are not experiencing Fayrouz’s condition. It could be claimed that Fayrouz’s psyche is as much the setting of the tale as the physical surroundings. Moreover, the physical settings that are
‘Gothicised’ vary in the novel and are not confined to a specific place – they are all the places in which Fayrouz rambles.
The novel opens with a flashback narrative of the protagonist’s struggle at the age of fourteen, and by the age of forty, the struggle has developed into the fear that occupies Fayrouz’s personality into his adulthood. The childhood incident occurs at the beginning of the 1970s on an island that belongs to Ras al-Khaimah. The island comes under Iranian occupation, and the families are obliged to leave the island for the city of Ras al-Khaimah. The novel conveys the submissive atmosphere of both the people and the island itself. The protagonist is powerless and entrapped by the Iranian soldier’s abuse of him at the age of fourteen and his inability to defend
himself. His inner self is injured: “I was moaning, and my inside was shrieking, and I heard my inner screams like a person calling for help from inside a deep well” (Abu al-Reesh 5).
( "ةقي ش رئ لدي ن اجن ضن ك للدالد لدرص ع سأو ،قشزن للديو ،اوأاأ ا أو"
5 .)
Both the island’s occupation and the soldier’s abuse of Fayrouz are incidents that destroy Fayrouz’s dreams for his life, as he describes it as “a moment of dream assassination”20 (5). These incidents depress him and make him feel hopeless. He states in adulthood that he could not, at that time, reveal the secret of what happened to him, justifying this by asking, “What is the point of revealing a secret when no being can solve its riddle?”21 (Abu al-Reesh 8). Fayrouz is aware that the fear that prevents him from disclosing his early secret is part of the community’s beliefs.
Therefore, he “remained alone, swallowing the child’s bitterness, recalling the nightmare details, and resisting my debacle with some patience that does not cure but rather delays sometwhat the feeling of the final death”22 (8). The Iranian occupation and the soldier’s rape of Fayrouz implant a fear within him, and he relives his childhood trauma. Thus, Fayrouz’s mind is full of fear and melancholy and subjugated by gloomy thoughts.
Every place Fayrouz goes to is dreary, darkened, and haunted by these thoughts. Jerrold Hogle proposes that “a Gothic tale usually takes place (at least some of the time) in an antiquated or seemingly antiquated space” (2). Fayrouz is
ظلللد سلا ف" 20
ة ك ، لللد لاي غد ةظلل ،ة غال لد اضج ف رجن ا ل ًداج ًايشدو تن
"
( 5 .)
لن نأ ئاك عيي ضن لا رس ش ح فأ نأ ىواج ا ف ،رضلد فركأ نأ هسو ف هن ل" 21
( "ثااقش 8 .)
لا ذلد رل لد ن ء ر راضه د مواقأو ،وو اهلد تاقل ايه سأو ، ليلد ةردرن عرجاأ ا و تيق "22
( ".. ئاهنلد تو لا واض لإد ن ،ان ًائيك جؤن ثنهل ،ىلرن 8
.(
uprooted from his home, and his body is polluted by the occupier. The move from his island to the city becomes the first stage of a “diasporic journey” for Fayrouz (Abu al-Reesh 9). He feels that he comes from outer space, “not deserving of having a life on earth” (10). Many people he knew have died, and even the places where he used to find pleasure in the city have either become ruins or been replaced by modern structures. The city “is like a deserted place, and those who inhabit it are but mere skeletons of people who lived here once and their spirits went fetching in the wilderness”23 (Abu al-Reesh 14). Fayrouz enjoys contemplating the ruins, but they cause in him depression and a desire to escape.
He confesses:
I really like ruins, and I’m overwhelmed with happiness while seeing them.
Yet I don’t know; I’m suddenly overwhelmed by another inner desire that spreads defeat in my soul. I feel misery; thus I grow suspicious. I think of nothing but fleeing, but where to? This city breathes destruction. (16)
قل و . . ."
أ ا أ ،ىريلأ ةييللدي ةيلغر ةأيجف ن هدايا ، ريأ لا يهلو ،ايه نؤر ةياهضلد ر داو ،ل طبد
هفأ لاو ،باارأف ةساه لا رهكأ ضل ف راضه لاد عيراو لاإ ر
ريل لد ينأ يهلو ،ردريللد ف لني ا ةيننا لد اذيه ،
س
( "بدر لد 16
.)
There is no place where Fayrouz can escape that is not depressing. It is not only the city that is haunted, but also Fayrouz’s home. The reader sees nothing in his home except its bleak and misty bedroom: “When I lie down on the bed, the dreams and illusions are awakened, and the room’s ceiling sparkles with the pictures and the geometric forms that the most talented architects would never manage to design. In
هن ناه ثلكأ ث إ" 23
ظش كايه يرجن ث ونيقن نو ،روج ي
اك ءاي ب ة طق لا ، ه دورأ تلهذو انه دو
"..غدرللد (
14 .)
addition, the fear of loneliness haunts me”24 (Abu al-Reesh 21). The bedroom is the place where all the previous experiences and thoughts and Fayrouz’s knowledge of psychological struggle exist. The struggle is between the collective unconscious, childhood experiences, and the scientific knowledge he obtained from studying psychology. Psychologically, it is the conflict among the id, the ego, and sometimes the superego. Therefore, the room becomes a place of self-flagellation for Fayrouz. It is the place where he reviews all the incidents that he faces outside and finds himself powerless to confront the deficiencies in his personality that cause this continuous struggle. Once, during his long wanderings in the desert, enjoying his loneliness and the quiet of the place, Fayrouz encounters a young lady called Niran. He is unsure whether she is a real human female or a mythical one. Her appearance awakens his desire but also causes conflict within his unconscious. He cannot express his passion for her. He returns to his room, where he relives his encounter with Niran. Fayrouz trembles even though the source of his fear, Niran, has left. He struggles with cultural customs, specifically distinct gender roles, with the early abuse he received, and with what he really desires. He cannot stop thinking of and analysing the incident with Niran. Although her beauty and being are charming to Fayrouz, the collective unconscious weighs heavily on Fayrouz’s unconscious, and he fears that Niran could be the mythical Umm al-Duways, the abductress of men. That is because he encounters Niran walking alone in an area of the desert which people rarely visit.
Fayrouz believes that the place is not safe for a lady to wander about alone.
Therefore, she alarms him, especially since she does not show any panic when she notices Fayrouz. In addition, she moves confidently towards Fayrouz, who remains
ف عر ان ،ةيسانه لاهكأو رو ةفردلد فقس ه رنو ،ماهوبدو م بد هن ف ،رنرضلد ىلش قل سأ" 24
( "ةا ولد ن فو لد نجلا ن سلذك ، ينرا ه لد يساه لد عا أ ،اه شانص 21
.)
cautious. He tells himself, “You indeed fell in love with Niran, you plunged yourself into her arena, and became obsessed with her, but cannot go much further, because too much indulgence will cost you dearly, and you might even lose yourself” (42).
"
وق اهيلإ تهفا د ،ندري تقرش هللا ت أ للا ،ة
ي نهل ،ايه تيض نب ،رييثه سيلذ ين ايه أ هذيا نأ عيي يضا لا س
لهن فوس جولولد ن ريثهلد ًان ث سل
رض ا اقو ًاظها ( "سضل
42 .)
He is also aware that Umm al-Duways is a mere myth, as the study of psychoanalysis implies. Fayrouz addresses himself:
You really want to improve yourself, so as to get out of the cocoon of internal suppression. You want to fly like a butterfly in the open air. You want to swim like a dream in the wilderness. You want to be released, but the terrible mistake you committed was when you paired myth with science, dream with certainty, and history with time. (Abu al-Reesh 43)
نأ انرا ً هف ت أ"
ويا ،ةيكدرللاك ءايضللد يف ريييا نأ اينرا ، للدايلد ياهييالاد ةق ريك ين جري ل ،سضل ر
ريل ا نأ انرا ، لللد ا ك ءدرهلد ف حلضا نأ انرا يهلو ،ر
ذيلد عنرذيلد أيي لد لهارد
ي يي تيجودو اناينش ويه ث
".. نزلدو خنرا لد ي و ، يقيلدو لللد ي و ، لهلدو ةفدر لد (
43 .)
These struggles that the protagonist faces in the room are continuous and besiege him. On another occasion, after a long weary walk in the landscape, Fayrouz becomes exhausted by his hallucinatory thoughts and the thought of the myth of Umm al-Duways:
You laugh. You wonder whether you are hallucinating. What are these hallucinations that are tormenting my head? I started to feel a surging chaos that had taken hold of my insides. I said to myself that I have to go back; I
must leave this place if I would keep practising this barbarian summoning of details that must be obliterated. (Abu al-Reesh 133)
"
أ واييلن لوييقا ..سلييضا يي ، ييسأر ييف ةايي ره لد تاييسولهلد اذييه ايين .. ذييهأ يين
تيي ى ،ةيينراش ىيياول رهييكأ
.. يللدي يف شهيرها ظأيس تينك نإ نايه لد ريايغأ نأ يجن ،يويشأ نأ يجن تيلق
يج هلد ءاشا يسلاد وراينأ
( "..رثانا نأ جن يصال ل 133
) .
Hallucination is part of the Gothic writing tradition, as well as “[t]he emphasis on night and darkness” (Crossen 14). The state of hallucination has a relation with the sublime and the uncanny in Gothic writing. The sublime is described as “negative pleasure” by Immanuel Kant. It connects two antagonistic effects such as “delight and horror, pleasure and terror,” which consequently results in unbalanced “reason, imagination and feelings” (Botting, Gothic 7 [2013]). Since the sublime is dealt with from an aesthetic dimension, the terror that is placed in the mind is subjective and permits “for both terror and pleasure” (Gothic 7 [2013]). The uncanny, which refers to the familiar object that is experienced in a disturbing state, demonstrates “the breakdown of a sense of subjective unity in the face of unconscious and external disturbances” (Botting, Gothic 8 [2013]). When a character faces uncanny objects,
“reality’s frames have ceded to supernatural forces or to powers of hallucination or unconscious desire” (Gothic 8 [2013]). The sublime, uncanny, and hallucination all converge in an individual in that both external and internal forces influence them all.
In Abu al-Reesh’s novel, the protagonist sees that “a giant shadow stands before”
him from the window of his room, and he “let off an echoing scream”25 (Abu al- Reesh 135). Fayrouz addresses himself: “You imagine the shadow to be of Umm al- Duways,” and he urges himself to “try to figure out the secret of this shadow. Your
ا نأ ًاهكون ةنوان ةلرص قليا ،سنانأ نن ًاق ش ً ظ ىر ف ،سسأر عفرا" 25
( "اربد ىلش عق 135
.)
heart is yelling in a panic [and] imagines that Umm al-Duways skirmishes with you at this late time of the night. She wants to attack your solitude, and she might kidnap you”26 (135). Fayrouz is aware that he is not happy at night: “Since your childhood, you fear solitude, but it seems that this isolation was indeed imposed on you”27 (Abu al-Reesh 135). He falls into another vortex of thoughts that lead to hallucination and self-reproach. The shadow incident calls forth his childhood memories, along with his knowledge of psychoanalysis. Fayrouz believes
that night stirs up controversy between men and devils. The latter would consider the night as the place where they live and the site of their constant movement. As for man, his rightful place is beneath the sunlight. Your mother used to warn you to be careful while walking at night. Now, you are not walking in a forest; nor are you treading a desert. You are rather in a secure shelter, but dangers may surprise you in the heart of your own home.
(135)
نإ لويقا تنك ينو ، هيكاهن ثي ورل هن نذيلد يطاييرلدو نايض لإد يي لايج رايثن ييللد
و ئط ةيلئدالد ه كري ي نأ.
ا
،ناض لإد ف نأ ت اك ..س رلد ءوا تلا ث قل ،كرذلا ،س
لاو ةي اغ يف رييضا لا ن د تي أ ،ً ييل ر لد ودر ا
كردي رقش ف ،س غالنو ،س هدان ري لد هل ، ن د كذ ن ف ت أ ،ءدرلص (.
135 )
He ridicules himself when he later realises that the shadow is a piece of clothing that he once used to cover a barrel of water from heat and insects. Fayrouz notices how his “imagination has become vulnerable, just like old dough [and] a colony for deformities”28 (136). This incident is an illustration of the sublime, as the excessive
"سلي ا اقو ،ساا و جاها نأ انرا ، يللد ن ةرلأ لد ةشاضلد اذه ف سكوانا سنوالد مأ نأ ي ا" 26
( 135 .) ( "..ًاارف سيلش تارف اه أوالن ةلزهلد اذه ، هل ،ةا ولد ىر ا ت أو س لولط ذننو" 27
135 .)
ةثر ةنيجع تحبصأ يتلا كتليخم نم أزهت" 28
تراص ، ..تاهوشتلل ةرمعتسم
"
( 136 .)
thoughts within Fayrouz’s mind, his early “hidden fears, ideas and wishes” turn the piece of cloth into a strangely unfamiliar object (Botting, Gothic 8 [2013]).
After a long struggle with his inner self, Fayrouz flees to the desert, looking for relief from the conflict he faces within himself. He enjoys reminiscing and recalling the people and tales that relate to this place in the past. Fred Botting suggests that “Gothic novels seem to sustain a nostalgic relish for a lost era of romance and adventure” (Gothic 5 [1996]). The past is an essential feature in Gothic writing. One reason is that it evokes the sense of terror and horror that the Gothic relies on. Another reason is that the Gothic “project[s] modern concerns into a deliberately vague, even fictionalized past” (Hogle 16). Yet another reason is that it allows the represention of the idea of primitivity and primitive violence. The past is also important, since it is no longer attainable. When the source of secrets and fear are located in the past, the sense of terror will intensify and last longer. Fayrouz usually invokes these places “to commit the sin of knowledge,”29 as he describes it (Abu al-Reesh 30). He describes it as such since he is aware that his way of pursuing knowledge burdens him, and his personality deteriorates after each ‘knowledge journey’. He wants to understand himself through this knowledge journey and “to chase the hidden unknown which still inhabits [him]”30 (30). He needs to delve deep to understand the truth and roots of the Umm al-Duways myth, since he believes that
،فار كلاد ن ًدانزن ونا تنكو ،ةهسدولد ةيلنرلد قطان لد س هجو ت اكو" 29
ةفره لد ةي هن باهارلا "
( 30 .) ،سضل ةفرهن انرا تنك ان راق ،سنراض لد ةفره رهلا لا س أ والنو" 30
ل لد لوهج لد كدذ ةيراين أ
قللا نأ انرا ،سنهضن لزن ل ذلد حنر ضا ىضشو هل ،ثلي سض او ،ث
( " للدالد عا لد ةاهو ن 30
.)
“the desert is the home of legends”31 (Abu al-Reesh 31). Although it is a mythical being and has become part of the collective unconscious of the community, Umm al- Duways still depresses him. These places reveal to him that the past is where he really finds himself. Such feelings could be explained in several ways. The past may be viewed as the time when he lost the innocent and unharmed side of his personality. Alternatively, the past may be considered the origin of the creation of this myth, and because of this past, he believes that his identity has been disrupted and cannot be cured unless he returns to that past. However, he is aware that this past will never return, which makes him remain in prolonged nostalgia and struggle.
During the journeys to these deserted landscapes, Fayrouz notices that some are inhabited by despair and emptiness, while others have been scarred by industrialisation that has demolished the features of the past, and these areas have become haunted by strange people. Therefore, the nostalgic past and his intended quest to learn about Umm al-Duways are haunted as well, since within these antiquated and displaced spaces “are hidden some secrets from the past” (Hogle 2).
The scenes and landmarks that Fayrouz encounters evoke within him the mythical tales that the landmarks convey and that people used to fear. Longings for the old places and people attack Fayrouz violently, and he has been nostalgically destroyed because of the various social changes that accompany modernity and their consequences. He wonders and fears for the future of this country and the people of this land. Fayrouz is anxious and feels as if he were entering into a dark, dreary, and deserted tunnel (Abu al-Reesh 156). The people who used to live in the places where
،ريطاسبد طون طقف ءدرل لد ،ءدرل لد ف نرهظن لا تانروللد نأو ن د للا لا س أ يقن ىلش ت أ" 31
ةهيليلد تا وانو ( "
31 .)