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The novels Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih and Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih Ghali brightly reveal the story of two male heroes who are in constant search of a better life. Both characters move to England to apply their knowledge and to reach self-realization and self-expression thus believing that they would not have more possibilities for improvement in their native country. Though the writers narrate the stories about the lives of their protagonists in different ways and styles, both novels render the meaning of Arab masculinity.
The first story Season of Migration to the North is about Mustafa Sa’eed, Sudanese, who comes to London for an advanced study where he is nicknamed “the black Englishman.” Before, the writer depicts the story about the previous life of the protagonists in the Sudanese society where he was not highly appraised since “This country hasn’t got the scope for that brain of yours, so take yourself off” (Sallih, 23). There, in London, he resorts to sexual violence against women thus seducing them in his room decorated in the African style. The second novel by Waguih Ghali narrates about the main personality whose name is Ram and about his own vision of the events taking place in the Cairo privileged society. He is just an observer who tries to interfere and to focus on the vices of society thus condemning cruelty, insincerity, and greed.
As it can be viewed, the novels discover a contrasting interpretation of Arab masculinity, its evil sight subjected to the animal instincts and its good sight revealed in nobleness and gentleness of the character. Hence, Mustafa Sa’eed is depicted as a hunter who is to conquer the women and satisfy his desires. He is a man of direct goals for whom the methods do not matter but the result. Mustafa is the “invader who had come from the South, and this was the icy battlefield from which [he] would not make a safe return” (Salih 160). In his vision, the subjective character of the relationship, Sa’eed is a warrior who must enslave the world. Since the country where he lived previously mortified his instincts of a hunter, the English society allowed him to disclose his personality and to reveal his anger hidden by the disguise of a mere farmer. In another narration by Ghali, Ram is the embodiment of consciousness who fights against injustice and human inequality. Because of weakness to express his resentment, he becomes an instrument of politeness for people to enter the higher society of political position. All the situations appeared in Ram’s life he does not take seriously but at the same time, he complains: “It made me sick because apart from Font and myself, all the other students dying at Suez were from poor families and Mourir and Co. were going to lord it over the survivors” (Ghali 49). His relationships with women also revealed his masculinity. However, unlike Mustafa, he shows his nobility and politeness thus disclosing his respect for females. In these male-female relationships, Ram reveals himself as a weak person that could be easily influenced and subjected to the domination of women. In his turn, Mustafa proves his superiority in a rude way. For him, women are just the method to unleash his masculinity and to establish the patriarchal tradition. Hence, those acts of violence accomplished by him are just a kind of logical completion of his life: “The sensation that …I have bedded the goddess of death and gazed out upon Hell from the aperture of her eyes – it’s a feeling no man can imagine. The taste of that night stays on in my mouth preventing me from [savoring] anything else” (Salih 152). The constant desire to witness death and to dominate makes him obsessed with the process of murder. So, the stories reveal Arab masculinity through the desire to be liberal but the impossibility to obtain a proper education they are unable to set the justice thus expressing their indignation.
Anyway, what is common about the characters is that their behavior is directed at condemning other nationalities and fight for approval in the host countries. The ways to prove national superiority are differentiated greatly. Hence, Ram chose more rationality whereas Mustafa chose the path of violence and rebellion. Ram proves his nationalist preferences in the conversation with: “You know Edna, you are not Egyptian. Not because you are married to an Israeli or because you are Jewish; you are not just Egyptian. Do you remember you told me once that I am not an Egyptian because I belong to elite, ect? But I am Egyptian …I have our humor… I have the Egyptian character.” The Sahil’s novel is also the manifestation of nationalism and national superiority. It is revealed through Mustafa’s attitude to the Englishmen and even to the language: “The language, though, which I heard for the first time is not like the language I had learnt at school. These are living voices and have another ring. My mind was like a keen knife. But the language is not my language” (Salih 29).
The novels discussed above show the national character of Egyptian people and their extreme aspiration to freedom thus manifesting their love of Arab people. The nationalism here is attached to the Arab expression of masculinity and their desire to prove their domination.
Works Cited
Ghali, Waguih. Beer in the Snooker Club. The Netherlands: New Amsterdam Books, 1999.
Salih, Tayeb. Season of Migration to the North. US: Michael Kensend Publishing, Limited, 1989.
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