IMAGE OF MASCULINITY WITHIN THE SPACE OF SAUDI ARABIAN AND ALGERIAN CULTURE
Introduction
The space in the literature is the physically existing environment in which the characters live and plot the action takes place. An aspect of the space is needed for the reader to further clarification. The space in the written description helps to highlight significant plot developments, specific places in which the characters live and act. Space refers to the story through both actions and thoughts of heroes. Aspect space consists of all spatial frameworks and places mentioned in the text, which cannot be a place of real events. The world in a literary work in the space-time sense of the term is presented as the actual text, which emphasizes the connection space with beliefs, desires, fears, dreams, fantasies and thinking of the character as well as its development and outlook. The space also allows the reader to visualize and to understand certain thoughts and actions of characters, depending on the conditions, in which they live and the environment. Although the description of the space, in which the character of the book acts, is often seen by typologists as the antithesis text narration, this aspect is also the main strategy for the disclosure of spatial information. On the example of the main male characters of the books Where Pigeons Don't Fly and Memory in the Flesh can be traced how their masculine features appear and change depending on the space in which they live, act and think. Men in the Arab world have to face many difficulties and conservatism, which are not inherent in the Western countries. Representation of Arab masculinity is quite complex and appear in different contexts of society, the family and space. In the novels Where Pigeons do not fly and memory in the flesh, the image of Arab masculinity can be seen in different forms in various embodiments, depending on the space. The authors depict many places and cities, where the characters live and express themselves. Their moving between these places allows the reader to understand the characters from the different perspectives. Space is regarded on the example of two divisions, that is, the close space, which includes family house, mosque and prison and the open or transition space, which includes city, the streets and shops, Constantine bridge, grave. On the example of the protagonists of these two books, it is possible to see why in a given space Arab men become such people as they are depicted in these books.
1. Close Space
1.2. Family House
House is considered to be the first human place that constructs a personality. The novel Memory in the Flesh tells the story of the complex relationship between the former freedom fighter, Khaled. The image of family house appears in narrative not in descriptive meaning, but in order to depict the protagonist’s family history and national issues. This novel is an allegory of the Arab world and Arab people in its struggle for freedom. Remembering the house, Khaled returns at a time when he was sure of his views. In the book, there is no detailed description of the house of Khaled, however, it is mentioned that the hero saw from the window of his room trees and forest. However, there are also indirect references of his home. Homecoming of Khaled to Constantine reflects his attitude toward his family house, the feelings that he has for his hometown. For Khaled, former patriot and revolutionary, who survived the war and exile, Ahlam is the embodiment of his distant homeland and the city of his youth - Constantine. When Ahlam appears in his life at the exhibit of his paintings in Paris after 20 years of their last meeting, with traditional gold jewelry of eastern Algeria, he recalls his native house in Constantine and his mother.
Speaking about the second novel, "Where Pigeons Don't Fly", home for the protagonist is not a pleasant place. For Fahd, the young liberal and artistically inclined man, these strict restrictions of the society in Saudi space were incomprehensible and unacceptable, he felt the oppressive influence of religious fundamentalism in his country. Even at home Fahd may not be protected from the harsh world of Saudi Arabia. When Fahd's father was dying, he still cannot be head of the family and an adult male. His uncle marries his widowed mother and establishes his own rules in the house. In previous open house, new restrictions on the game Monopoly, which his uncle said a trap of Satan, and a distraction from the true worship of God, watching satellite TV and works of art, appear. His sister says “The only place I like in this house is my bedroom”, “I even hate my room.” For the young Fahd, it becomes unbearable ban. He cannot feel a full-fledged adult and a man; he must constantly live in fear. Fahd, choking on the conditions under which people are trying to live oppressed, he cannot live in such a space anymore. His uncle represents the conservative Arab man who behaves according to his strict understanding of how to be a man. One of the few memories of home Fahd indicates that in front of his bed, there was a picture: “Fahd took the picture to his bedroom where he was now confined, when in his father's time the whole house had been his.” Sitting on the train, Fahd sees outside the window instead of the picturesque English countryside, the desert of his past, his mind returned to the events of the past that led him back again and again. The author shows how a young man experiencing the limitations and prohibitions beginning from society and ending the harsh life with his conservative uncle in his own house, leaves from the image of the Saudi men and freed from repressive norms.
2.2. Prison
As a fighter for freedom, Khaled was in "Al-kudya Prison" in Constantine under the age of sixteen. The narrator says that during his residence in prison, "Si Tahir" pushed Khaled to the participation in the revolution. For Khaled, prison is not a punishment, it helped him find "Si Tahir" that affected his participation in revolution activity. He says "The chance of sharing a cell with Si Tahir was the stuff of legends", "It might have had an influence of my fate." The prison is the starting point in the life of Khaled as a male soldier. "Memory in the Flesh" is much more than just a love story; it is a description of the fate of exhausted soldiers, men who had fought for freedom and independence of their country, such as the protagonist. Despite the restriction of freedom and violence in prisons, men-revolutionaries learned there patience and manhood. Khaled says that in prison there was no address, and his mother could not see him. It was al-Kudya prison. He knows nothing of the prison except for the fact that he was arrested by the Algerian side. This imprisonment in solitary confinement grew in him the indignation and alienation from home. Unlike the hero of this novel, Fahd in "Where Pigeons Don't Fly" was not imprisoned, but he was arrested.
2.3. Mosque
The Mosque is one of the most important spiritual places in the Islamic world. Minarets direct people to the purity and chastity. The mosque go all people, no matter of social status and age, there is no difference between them. In Memory in the Flesh, Mostaganmi uses a description of minarets, which are widely distributed in the city. Minarets in Constantine have a significant impact on Khalid. Returning to his hometown, he again feels the impact of minarets on people, they evoke a sense of fear, and spirituality. For Khaled, Mosque plays a significant role in is life. In its turn, Fahd does not find himself in religion, he opposes strict framework, which it imposes on him. In the book, there is no mention of the fact that the hero visits Mosque. He seeks to escape from the influence of the fundamental religion and therefore goes to England. In respect of Fahd Mosque plays an important role in his life. Great importance in the life of the young man has an event of 1979 (before the birth of Fahd), over the siege of Mecca, when extremists seized the Grand Mosque. The narrator depicts the mosque in the following way “The Grand Mosque was surrounded by cells, each one as small square room no more than nine meters square with a door consisting of a plate of reinforced steel a meter high, topped with iron bars as in a prison.” Fahd's father was a peripheral associated with the Salafist group in the center of the attack, and he was imprisoned for four years. This story shows how religious rules in such Arabian space affect the formation of an Arab man, his notions of masculinity.
2.4. The Closed House
The description of the closed house in the novel helps the reader imagine life in the space of Constantine better and it expands the space described in the book. The author says that this house was not like the others, “it was probably the largest ‘closed house’ in the city, in a very well-studied location, with three doors leading to different streets and markets so men could sneak in from the city and nearby villages where there were no such pleasures, and then leave stealthily”. Thus, the closed house is a place where men could get sexual pleasure by legal means and not be persecuted for it. Mostaganmi writes that this place evoked in Khaled negative emotions and memories, he says the following “I tried not to look at a place that was for years the reason for my mother’s private pain and anguish: probably one of the sorrows that killed her”. The pain of the hero from childhood is associated with this house. Perhaps, these events greatly influenced his attitude as a man to the closed house. It is possible to assume that the house is closed out because respect to the mosques of the city, which are located nearby. The writer states that “it could be out of deference to the dozens of mosques that had sprung out of this rock, and calling out together several time a day, reminding people of the virtues of faith and repentance”.
2. Open or Transitional Space
2.1. City
The novel "Where Pigeons Don't Fly" begins with a description of the journey of the protagonist, Fahd Alsfilaua, walking on the train which goes to Great Yarmouth, England. It's green and pleasant land becomes a place of refuge for Fahd and his friend from Saudi Arabia, Saaed. It is a place of refuge for them, where the rules are so different that even the pigeons do not fly. From the overflowing of his emotions, he was crying and older woman sitting nearby takes the young man's hand. This moment reminds him that he had lost his parents and was left alone for itself in the confrontation with the taboos of his native city. At this point, his masculinity most presents, here, in the new space, is its formation as a free man. His father abandoned Buraidah and lived in Riyadh. Buraidah is a negative city for the protagonist because his father was killed there.This city is an impersonation of repressive social conditions, in which people live in Saudi Arabia. An innocent encounter with his girlfriend over a cup of coffee in the cafe in Buraidah turned his life in an instant there was a transformation that affected the further development of Fahd as a grown man. In his city, Fahd is in constant fear in space of living, where there is a Committee for Virtue and Prevention of Vice which follows the lives of young Saudis. He, as a man, had meetings with several girls in different public places, shopping malls, cafes, and the members of the omnipresent committee saw this. He was arrested at the time when drinking coffee with his divorced lover. For Fahd, the young liberal and artistically inclined man, these strict restrictions of the society in Saudi space were incomprehensible and unacceptable; he felt the oppressive influence of religious fundamentalism in his country and his native city. Even at home Fahd may not be protected from the harsh world of Saudi Arabia. He is the representative of his generation, a young Saudi man with ambition and hope that his country's authorities try to suppress. Thus, the space of city influenced Fahd and made him change his life. Even during the stay in another city, the British seaside resort, he cannot get rid of the pain of his memories and the way of his desire as a young modern man infringed in native city.
With regard to Khaled, he lived in the two cities, native Algerian Constantine and in Paris in exile. Khaled experience as well as his life is divided into two parts and takes place in two spaces of his life in his native city of Constantine during the War of Independence and the life in exile in Paris as the Algerian patriot direct impact on the life of Khaled's position as a citizen and a man. This gap in the space represents an insurmountable barrier and difficulties for the main character; he is constantly looking back, trying to understand their actions and memories of the past, and cannot begin to live in the present in their country. It is a typical Arab man of the post-colonial space that tried to defend their views on the war, which eventually filled his life by memories of violence and injustice of the world, the suffering and the senselessness of their actions.
2.2. Constantine Bridge
Khaled devotes his paintings to the bridges of Constantine. Since the visual art carries the emotional content, they reflect the gender and experiences that the characters have and live in their past and present lives. Khaled says “I then stood like a man obsessed and hurriedly sketched the Rope Bridge in Constantine.” From the perspective of Khaled’s love relationships, Hayat identifies Algeria, but Khaled relationship with another woman, a Frenchwoman Catherine identifies France. Her father, the militant Algerian, is one more example of a man, whose masculinity developed under the military Algerian conditions. Khales’s masculine side is not attached to her so emotionally as to Hyatt, but she is significant to him. It is possible to assume that for Khalid his relationship with Catherine is a kind of political statement, he constantly draws bridges that represent his relationship with Hayat and Catherine, and these are two different countries and cities, in which the main character acquires emotions and feelings, and changes his outlook and approach to life. In spite of all the suffering caused by the struggle against the colonial forces, he is still able to come to terms with Paris, and, thus, with France through his relationship with Catherine.
2.3. Grave
Khaled recalls the events of the war for independence of their country. He says that after her bury people who died for their ideals soldiers come to their graves. However, he does not want to visit them, the hero does not want to share their grief with the country. The grave is a symbol of dead hopes for him, “My heart became slowly a mass grave where loved ones slept randomly.” Khaled said that the more unhappy not those, who died during the war, and those, who stayed to mourn them. Thus, he avoids the graves of his dead mother, brother and father. Grave for him is also a symbol of loss and grief that causes painful emotions.
Conclusion
The relationship between the place and the person is an important aspect in understanding a person's life, a significant effect on the human psyche and the appearance of his views on life and society. From the very beginning of life, a person is associated with a place and during his life he changes the space, which affects his perception of the world and existence. The place is an integral part of the personality. Cities, home and even the grave is a space, which affects human perception. Thus, place covers human existence and is considered to be the main condition for hiss existence and understanding of how to be a man and what features of masculinity he must have in a conservative religious society. Thus, these two examples of the main characters of the books of Arabic literature suggest, in their living conditions in their countries, they fall under the influence of the surrounding difficult situation in the state, the government, with strict traditions and frameworks, as well as how they change or vice versa strengthen in faith in their principles in the new stranger for them space.
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