Pain and suffering are
a natural part of the world. Both are an aspect of life that many come to
resent. Arabian Nights and Days by
Naguib Mahfouz and Omeros by Derek
Walcott describes everyone and
everything as being in pain, even broken to an extent. Both story lines depict inequitable
social structures as natives struggle to progress in an unfair hierarchy of
power. Pain in both books, either implicitly or explicitly, come from several
different sources including emotional distress, physical bodily injuries, endless
crime, racial prejudice, and economic corruption.
Wounds are central
throughout Omeros. Walcott writes, “This
wound I have stitched into Plunkett’s character. / He has to be wounded, affliction
is one theme of this work.” Plunkett
is a war veteran who retires with his wife to the island of St. Lucia. “They’d
been out here / since the war and his wound,” Walcott writes. Plunkett’s
woundedness isn’t solely a physical one, but also an emotional one. Later in
the epic, Plunkett struggles to come to terms with his purpose in fighting
World War II. “What was it all for?” the narrator asks about the war. He
responds with “A bagpipe’s screech and a rag”. Plunkett’s marriage to Maud is also
a degree of his emotional pain and suffering. While he’s away, his marriage gradually
declines. Overall, several of Walcott’s characters are
wounded, either physically or psychologically, including Philoctete, Helen,
Achille, and Hector. Helen’s wound lies in her fractured relationship with both
Hector and Achille. Achille’s wound lies in his identity as he’s determined to remember
the meaning and origin of his name. He’s out looking for his “name and his soul”
because he’s incomplete. “Everything was forgotten. You also. I do not know /
The deaf sea has changed around every name that you gave / us, trees, men, we
yearn for a sound that is missing.” Philoctete’s wound is referenced as a physical scar,
but like others he’s also wounded emotionally as he believes he embodies the
pain of slavery. “He believed the swelling came from the chained ankles / of
his grandfathers. Or else why was there no cure? / That the cross he carried
was not only the anchor’s / but that of his race, for a village black and poor
/ as the pigs that rooted in its burning garbage.” With his wound, Philoctete
is essentially paralyzed. He finds comfort in Ma Kilman’s No- Pain CafĂ© which,
despite the name, doesn’t actually end his suffering.
In addition to his
characters, Walcott also implies that there’s a natural suffering or wound inflicted
upon nature. In Book I Philoctete recalls tourists chopping down sacred grove
trees for canoes, replacing the old gods and values with a new God. “These were
the pillars that fell, leaving a blue space / for a single God where the old
gods stood before.” Walcott describes a gash in a tree as a ‘wound’ and the tourists
as ‘murderes’. Also, Walcott oftentimes personifies the natural world all
throughout the poem. “Night was fanning its coalpot / from one catching star.”
The characters and nature in Omeros
each possess a wound, one that can only be healed upon reconciliation.
Phlicotete’s physical wound is only healed by Ma Kilman’s heritage and memory
of the past. Achille’s identity wound is healed by information gained through
Afolabe and self-discovery. Ultimately, the wounds depicted in Omeros are cured after a reconciliation of
the past of colonization and slavery and the present culture of St. Lucia.
Arabian
Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz describes a variety of issues and themes,
all of which allow readers to better understand the life and culture of a
medieval society. One theme that is constant throughout the novel is the theme
of justice as characters fight against a system of injustice and corruption. Several
of the characters suffer financially as they continue to live their lives in
poverty having the lowliest jobs of porters, beggars, and barbers. Overall, Arabian
Nights and Days describes the systematic workings of corruption and the overarching
idea of maintaining power, despite the ugliness that comes with having power.
Mahfouz’s novel begins with
the sultan Shahriyar’s decision to spare Shahrzad’s life. “I was saved from a
bloody fate by our Lord’s mercy.” Ultimately, the tyrant sultan isn’t happy and
he calls for the murder of women. In disbelief Vizier Dandan remarks, “A crime
is a crime. How many virgins has he killed! How many pious and God-fearing
people has he wiped out!” Murder and robbery bring about bloody purges and pain
to nearly every family in the small Islamic town where the story takes place. To
end this suffering, the sultan works to stop corruption and the virgin massacre
initiated in the very first chapters of the book.An interesting aspect throughout Mahfouz’s book is the fact the justice doesn’t eventually come through human powers, but supernatural ones in the form of genies. The good spirits of genies causes acts of love and mercy, instead of evil-doing. Genies slowly begin to take responsibility for everything as they play the role of supreme judge, deciding if a criminal should get punished or not. The genies have a dual role in rewarding virtuous locals and punishing corrupt criminals. This becomes the case with chief-of-police Gamasa and Sanaan Bulti who both rely on genies in moments of corruption. Sanaan when he’s forced to kill the governor and Gamasa who receives a new identity with the help of a genie.
The ruling authorities in Arabian Nights and Days are depicted as corrupt and unjust leaders as they terrorize locals and only work to protect their own good. This idea of supernatural justice through genies surprisingly alleviates the pain and suffering experienced by local townspeople. Walcott’s Omeros also hints at moral injustices as he describes a hope for non-violence and equity for everyone. Both Arabian Nights and Days and Omeros describe cultures struggling with pain and suffering in a physical and emotional sense.
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