Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Chapter 2

Characterization of Said

In chapter 2, Said visits the Shiekh's house, where he is reminded of religion and olden times; "...saw the Sheikh sitting cross-legged on the prayer carpet"- the theme of faith is explored through this reunion.
The characterization is achieved through symbolism- Said seems to hope to adopt a more holy personality, this is a necessity, as, under Gamal's rule, as his regime had an important perception regarding the role of Islam in the state and Islam remained an important source of identity for mobilizing the masses behind the Arab Socialist project domestically and regionally. Therefore, it is apparent that even though Said had not been the best form of a tragic hero, he still had intentions of improving his social [religious] status. The aforementioned reasons are in result of Said tragic flaw (hamartia) of being stubborn and resistant to any type of change in his life after he had been released from prison, this is evident when it is mentioned that "at the threshold of the open door he paused, trying to remember when he'd crossed it last", this suggests that he had developed into a whole new persona, after life at prison, possibly because he had been exposed to new ideologies and mindsets, therefore negatively influencing him and distnacing him from his beliefs and religion. However, throughout the entire book, it appears as though the only person who Said had not changed his perceptions on, is his father and Said frequently recalls advice his father used to give him and he is inspired, in this chapter, Said recalls when his father said "look and listen, learn and open your heart", this implies that Said, at times, hopes to become a more open-minded person that is able to easily confide in others, however, his hamartia is the key factor in confining this from happening.

1 comment:

  1. The characterization is achieved through symbolism- Said seems to hope to adopt a more holy personality- the passage denotes a symbol, symbol of characterization of Said Mohran as a way of representing him to be a personality that adopts a holy side which is not portrayed in the novel.

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