The White Castle

Orhan Pamuk’s novel The White Castle does well to encompass the contemporary topic of identity throughout its plotline.  Over the course of the story, the narrator and his ‘master’, Hoja, both must come to terms with the concept of self and what it means to be an individual, unique to each of them personally.  Due to their uncanny similarities in physical appearance, Hoja concerns himself with learning all that the narrator knows and eventually the two characters are able to switch places with one another without detection because of their similarities. 

This idea that the narrator was not necessarily himself alone is exemplified when he and Hoja stand in front of the mirror together after the narrator has examined an ailment of Hoja’s skin.  The narrator comments that “the two of us were one person!  This now seemed to be an obvious truth” (82).  After Hoja had learned to perfectly imitate the narrator and mimic his every move, there was truly no way to distinguish the two characters.  Hoja goes to further reiterate his intentions of becoming one another when he continuously repeats to the narrator that “I was he and he was I” (85).

After the two characters have lived out the story and the narrator has left the servitude of the sultan, the narrator come to a realization that I believe to be one of the most prominent themes of the novel.  After many years of service, seven of which came after suspicions began to arise that the narrator was not who he was claiming to be (Hoja), the narrator began to once again feel confident in his answer to the question of identity and what makes someone who they are.  The narrator says, “I was now quite shameless in answering the questions about my identity which had at first put me on guard: ‘Of what importance is it who a man is?’ I’d say.  ‘The important thing is what we have done and will do’” (149).  

Personally, I think that this message is important to be heard in the world today, so it is appropriate how blatantly Pamuk relays it.  Regardless of our reputations or what others may think of us, we are still in control of who we are.  If we choose to do, and continue to do, what is right, there is no need to question our identities.  We can hold steadfast in knowing that we are who we are.  And that will be just fine.   

The Presence of Evil in Contemporary Literature

           There are certain distinct qualities that have gone to help contemporary literature become what it is today.  One of these traits is that contemporary literature is the writing of the presence of evil.  In contemporary works, there are always main characters, or sets of characters, who must overcome a sort of evil in their lives.  We have seen this conflict within the numerous pieces that we have read so far.  From here, I would like to examine how the presence of evil was a constant, appearing in numerous ways, in three of the novels that we’ve read.

            First, we have a tangible evil seen through particular antagonists.  This is displayed in Naguib Mahfouz’s Arabian nights and Days.  Within this intricate episodic novel there are numerous different stories that are occurring, many of which are accompanied by the presence of genies.  However, these divine characters are not intrinsically good and do not necessarily consider the well being of man for their own entertainment.  This mentality is shown in an interaction between two genies named Zarmabaha and Sakhrabout in which Sakhrabout begins;

“Zarmabaha, this world is weighted down with stupidity”

“I have an idea,” exclaimed Zarmabaha joyfully.

“What is it?”

“An idea worthy of Satan himself.”

“You’ve set my curiosity afire.”

“Let’s have some fun and set [Nur al-Din and Dunyazad] together!” (79)

Keeping in mind the sometimes malicious intents of the genies, the novel does go to further show how the genies inspire people to do evil.  At times, this is as far as to persuade people to commit murder and other heinous acts.

            There is also the use of evil as sickness, both mentally and physically.  These sicknesses can be seen in Amos Oz’s My Michael.  In My Michael, the main character Hannah displays symptoms of rather severe emotional deterioration.  This came to fruition when Hannah took the freezing cold showers on the cold morning, silently laughing in her pain.  As Hannah describes, “I strained my vocal cords like a drunkard, singing and shouting.  The pain and the pleasure enflamed each other.  The pain was delicious and exhilarating” and “I turned blue with cold.  The warm pain spread down my back, trickled down my spine” (173).  These actions clearly suggest that Hannah was undergoing a very serious sickness that effected everyone around her.  There was a definite evil present.

Another example of sickness as an evil can been seen in Kying-Sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom.  In this novel, we can see evil in the form of disease.  As a mother’s condition continuously deteriorates, all while she is neglected as a constant person by her family, the reader sees just how the evil of physical disease can affect one’s life.  As the mother took pleasure in visiting her son in the bustling city of Seoul, she had few hesitations to visit him again, despite her ailments.  However, while there she has an episode that leaves her lost and confused in a subway system in the largest city in Korea.  And yes, while the story does go on to use the mother’s disappearance as a means to develop her as a character and her family’s transition to a life without her presence, it is inescapable to recognize how the mother’s constant headaches and memory loss affected the entire family.  Even after their mother’s disappearance, her children and her husband all recollect how they had sat passively by while ignoring the signs of mother’s conditions.

Lastly, the evil of complacency occurs within the novels that we have covered.  In Arabian Nights and Days, the sultan character made a drastic change in his life when he chose to abandon the throne and take the life of a travelling commoner.  It is while on his adventures outside of the palace that the sultan does actually obtain an opportunity for real happiness.  When meeting a mystical queen, she offers to the sultan a life as “my partner in love and in throne” in a “city not of human making: in beauty, splendor, elegance, cleanliness, fragrance, and climate” (225).  Had the sultan remained complacent in his unsatisfying role as leader, he would never have been granted the opportunity to life a life of eternal pleasure.

In Please Look After Mom, complacency is recognized as an evil that kept the eyes of the children and husband characters void of their mother’s condition and her influence in their lives.  One of the most powerful and meaning times that this is displayed is when her daughter is remembering how accepting her mother was of her father when he returned from a time away from his family with another woman.  She describes how the father walks into the room where the whole family is sleeping, as her mother wakes up and brings him a bowl of rice that she had prepared for him and placed in the warmest corner of the room.  She had performed this ritual everyday that her husband was gone. 

There is also the scene in Please Look After Mom that describes how the father had never considered their mother when he continuously walked a pace too fast for her.  It is because of this negligence that she was lost originally, having lost sight of her husband as he walked ahead in the crowded subway.  In his mourning after mother been lost, the father character dreads his previous ways.  He confesses to himself “since your wife has gone missing, your heart feels as if it will explode every time you think about your fast gait” (149).  It was only after he had lost his wife did the father realize that he had taken her for granted throughout their whole marriage.  And it was this evil complacency that eventually caused their mother to be hopelessly lost in the Seoul winter.

Evil is accepted reality in the world.  Through all of the good things in the world, there is always this enemy to overcome.  As we have recognized throughout the novels we have read, contemporary literature is greatly concerned with the overcoming of these evil forces and the realization of their presence afterwards. We see that evil has the ability to take many forms, all of which are out solely for the detriment of people.  Whether internal or external, evil has a way to make itself known and it is up to us to recognize and overcome it.  Contemporary literature makes this theme known through its writing.   

My Michael

As the title suggests, Amos Oz's My Michael is a piece that concerns itself with the possessive and controlling attitude of the main character, Hannah.  Throughout the novel, Hannah appears as unhappy with her situation.  From her displeasure with her homeland of Jerusalem to her irritation towards her husband Michael, Hannah’s qualms lead her eventually towards her mental deterioration as well as the end of her marriage.  Particularly, Hannah’s inability to cope with her non-responsive and seemingly emotionless husband shows us that her need for control and response from others eventually leads to her decline.

In a minor section of the novel where Michael brings home a small white kitten for their child Yair, Oz has set the precedence for Michael’s shortcomings.  Hannah notes that as the kitten attempted to catch a moth that was near the ceiling of their home it continuously falls short of its goal.  This scenario is reiterated when Hannah is describing Michael’s sensibility and wanting emotions.  Hannah says, “My husband is level and self-restrained.  Sometimes I remember a little, grayish-white kitten we call Snowy.  The kitten’s faltering leaps to catch a moth on the ceiling” (157).  With this seemingly disjointed connection, Oz has alluded to Hannah’s disappointment with her husband as a person. 

It is these feelings will eventually fester into Hannah leaving Michael.  When Hannah describes her divorce from Michael, she says, “I shall not disillusion you.  I am not with you.  We are two people, not one.  You couldn’t go on being my thoughtful elder son.  Fare you well.  Perhaps it is too late to tell you that nothing depended on you” (251).  She also demands “Michael, stop smiling for once” when she is telling him all of this, which agrees with her stance throughout the novel of loathing Michael’s complacent smirk (251).  Through this statement, we the audience can gain a deeper understanding of what it was that Hannah desired.  It is apparent that Hannah felt single in their marriage.  She mentions that Michael was more of an offspring to her than an equal in matrimony and she considers telling him that he was the static force in their relationship that would not let them progress as she had once desired.  Because Hannah was unable to see the change in her husband towards a more open and dynamic individual, she was unable to see their relationship moving any further.