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The novel issued in 1983 and it was the first novel of the
authoress. This reading is an attempt to analyze the novel in terms
of the psychological approach focusing on one theme of it which
forms a salient feature in the work. It is always said that the
feminism is the axis of most Libyan novels written by female
novelists. It is also said that frustration can no be better
apparent than in the image represented in the woman in subjugation
which is considered “the clearest example of compelling position in
all its aspects, dynamics and defenses in the left behind
society”(1) and woman is the “best spokesperson of powerlessness and
inability”(2)
This essay will concentrate on two profiles in surveiling the
question of subjugation, namely the aspects of such subjugation as
well as the psychological reaction resulting therefrom.
In the overt structure of the novel, there is a phenomenon of
defense mechanisms*. Aspects of Subjugation are represented in two
successive generations. The first one is by the rustic woman (the
mother) belonging to illiterate generation and the second is
represented by the educated one (the daughter).
The aspects of subjugation in the old generation and the
psychological reaction:
Mabruka, the mother of Naema and the wife of Hamad, stands for the
old generation and belongs to a “class” different from the one
Naema, the daughter, belongs to. Accordingly, the types of
subjugation imposed on both of them, the ways and behaviors against
them are different.
Mother, Mabruka, works willingly and unceasingly on the farm all day
long. This faithful wife is faced by so many aspects of aggression
by Hamad, the husband: “uncustomarily, Hamad got up active,
performed the ritual ablution, said his prayers, put his new
national dress on, checked his documents and suddenly called out to
Mabruka. On his face there was an unfriendly and frowning glance. He
set up his mustache and lowered his eyebrows and shouted at her in a
critically serious way asking her to give him all her jewellery and
money.
He did not let any space for her hesitation or thinking, even if he
did, it is not of her habit to be reluctant at all against his
question to the extent of putting her neck in the hangman’s
cord.”(3)
Apparently, the text seems to be an exploration of the social
reality relating to the status of woman in the Libyan countryside.
The woman there, is absolutely subject to the authority of the male
and the husband who possesses the power to dispose in complete
absence of mutual dialogue or talks between the members of the
family. The relation between the man and his wife in the rustic
Libyan family is based on the implementation of orders not on mutual
understanding (4). Accordingly, the novel portrays the subjugation
forms taxed upon woman to draw up tensive relation between man and
woman. Such relation seems entirely based on absolute compelling.
Woman, in such kind of relation, loses her personality and entity.
Besides, she is being dehumanized and consequently, in the eye of
the man, she is save a passing figure in the population as the novel
states it “if a passerby passes our farm and saw Mabruka at a
glance, soon he would think her another figure added to the
illiteracy of woman in our country.”(5)
One aspect of subjugation is portrayed when it is said that Hamad
has no fixed affective relation with his wife, Mabruka. She is
mostly being insulted by him and that he would have another wife.
This threat is sometimes lowered according to the home services she
offered him. This situation renders Mabruka to a machine-like
figure. She has an over feeling that she is responsible for
everything: man, animals, birds, plant.. etc(6).
The subjugation the mother subject to seems chronic and
comprehensive. It is chronic for it starts since childhood and it is
comprehensive for it covers all the roles Mabruka does. This status
pushes the woman belonging to the old generation unconsciously to
seek many defense mechanisms. She confronts an injurious status and
she must keep her psychology balanced in order to coexist with the
subjugating position to avoid falling in collapse.
The most prominent defense mechanism she adopts is identification.
She unintentionally tries to identify the subjugator, the husband.
She dissolves herself in Hamad`s personality and becomes not only
the speaker of his view points but also the faithful advocate of
these views even when such view points are aggressively addressed to
her. The mechanism can easily be noticed from the narrative. Naema,
the narrator and the main character, reports Hamad’s marriage of
another woman, to be a fellow wife of polygyny and once Mabruka
hears the news she defends her husband and so the reader becomes
astonished of this defense. Instead of expressing severe reaction,
she is so quiet. So, Naema says: "I followed the steps of my mother
inside; I initiated expressing my deepest sorrow and the strongest
protest against the erroneous behavior of my father. She raised her
forefinger warning us in a decisive motion that ends the talk and
said: I don’t want to hear a single word with respect to your
father. He is the master of this farm and the master of you all.”(7)
The mother’s behavior is extremely opposite to what Naema expects.
She wants her mother to react differently and guesses that she would
be very angry and leave working on the farm in which she uses up all
her youth for the sake of the family. The natural reaction of mother
as Naema expects is that mother would become rebellious or at least
this is the way Naema wishes her mother to react.
In her unexpected reaction, mother urges her adult children to
blindly obey their father and to yield to his will. That is why she
warns that they should not protest or show any sign of embarrassment
against him. The Husband, for her, is the master of all even if his
behavior affects her personally or suggests a clear degrading of
her. Mother in such circumstances does not only develop the
introjection mechanism but also tries to implant in her children
what is so called the "dogmatic alienation", a case in which woman
adopts behavioral values and a vision to the world parallel to the
subjugation imposed on her, justifying it as a part of woman's
nature and fate. (8) Mabruka seems suppressing her reactions to her
husband and prepares herself internally to accept his actions and to
justify them as good deeds.
She is unable to face the compelling reality and therefore adopts
some kind of adjustment. She adopts a kind of coexistence and
adjustment to this critical atmosphere. She is an illiterate woman
and does not possess the required consciousness to revolt against
this aggravated reality or to face it. It is also noted that she
projects this way of confrontation onto her children asking them to
settle for and accept the reality and tries to instill the
justifying way of thinking in their minds (9). So here we are before
an other defense mechanism which is introjection.
Mabruka, instead of turning away from work and expressing a hostile
attitude, acts differently from what Naema expected. So since early
morning "she planted herself via the field working hard with high
spirits as though she was receiving the joyful life in a wide gate,
as if she, the day before, was being praised and flirted by the man,
as if she was in the presence of a faithful partner who fairly
admired her deeds" (10).
The silence and passiveness against the compelling and aggressive
situations may be interpreted as a kind of psychological defense
showing itself in a form of the subjugator. So, by acting in a way
like this, mother seems to be granting herself safety and solidity.
She is reluctant to initiate the natural reaction expected by Naema,
in order to keep the consistency of her existence. She might express
such behavior unconsciously, but what she manifests reflects such
psychological defense mechanism. So we read: "The deep monologue in
the mind of my mother is not undoubtedly that what she shows… but
she preferred endurance to keep her internal front firm and give her
sons stability"(11).
Mabruka's apparent behavior does not seem to be a reflection of her
inside feelings. This contradicted process also seems to be an
conscious trial to avoid collapse, concussion and cracking in her
psyche.(12).
It is also noted that Mabruka in her involvement in the strenuous
farm -house work, performs some kind of psychological defense and,
consequently in practicing this continual activities appears seeking
preserving her internal equilibrium. She looks for an evacuation of
emotional charges boiling inside and so she finds an emergency exit
represented in full involvement in strenuous work and drowning
herself in it in order neither to give herself a span of time
thinking about nor to contemplate her sorrows, pains or ruminating
her cruel experiences. The narrator tells about her mother "My
mother's face is as congested as a black mulberry; her heart is
glowing like a stove firebrand …..feigning patience and tranquility…
doing her customary house works which she practices every evening as
if she is getting herself ready to Hamad's return.
She milked the cow, heaped up the fodder for it, prepared bread in
the kiln and the supper, turned off the irrigation pipes, prepared
the empty wooden boxes for tomorrow use"(13).
Such defense mechanisms are seemingly what makes woman externally
firm. Some think that adopting such mechanisms by this category of
women is "one of the reasons that make them succeed in confronting a
social system which tries to depress them continually."(14).
The aspects of subjugation in the youth generation and the
psychological reaction:
The subjugation Naema subject to looks different from that of her
mother's. Naema is a figure stands for the new generation, possesses
some kind of awareness by which she can pass the compelling status
experienced by mother. Subsequently, her defense mechanisms should
vary in accordance with the type of subjugation she is subject to.
Naema is a teacher, a graduate from a secondary institute and is
married to Hassan, a friend of her brother.
In the novel, she seems subjected to some aspects of alienation,
domination and compelling all result in subjugation.
The most prominent aspect of subjugation Naema suffers from is the
total loss of identity before husband for being guided by fearful of
and yielded to him and, above all, his ill manners are being
justified. Naema then, adopts rationalization as a defense mechanism
and appears to be subject to and lead by her husband and never
thinks of disobeying his instructions. She might, sometimes discuss
some family affairs with him, but she remains such weaker party of
the relation. Although she holds relative freedom, she is still a
side shadow of her husband. The margin of freedom she enjoys is not
a gift by this very husband, but seems as a result of the "middle
class" consciousness for both genders. So the source of the minor
gains harvested by women is the contemporary feminism movement, and
therefore a woman in this category has been allowed to "get out of
her traditional imprisonment, obtain a deal of knowledge, start a
producing life and share the burdens and responsibilities with man
inside and outside the family. Besides, the man himself starts to
comprehend the actual status of woman and the importance of her
participation, the growth of her personality and the construction of
her own identity as a precondition of his own growth in turn.""
(15).
As said above, the character of Naema is different from her
mother's. They belong to two different generations. That is why she
introduces herself as a first person single narrator saying: "I am
from a generation who knocked the door of schooling and found it
widely open, easy to enter and obtained the study it wanted without
paying any valuable price" (16).
Naema supposingly possesses some kind of consciousness that
guarantees her some "iathrgy" against the direct and clear
subjugation in which the subjugated identifies and interjects the
subjugator. Nevertheless she is subject to another type of
subjugation: for there is the general anxiety Naema preoccupied by.
Such anxiety is imposed by the social environment in its entirety,
for the degrading vision to woman issued by most male individuals,
those who are educated, like Hassan and those who are not, like
Hamad.
Hassan's views, for instance, to the rural women are contemptuous
and disdainful and they reflect some kind of inferiority. "rural
woman has dull feelings towards man"(17).In addition, Hassan,
directs his talk to Naema and the narration says "Has your mother
bound your father by a perpetual purchasing contact and he is
accordingly banned from knowing an other woman" (18).
So the existence of woman in this social structure is diagnosed with
tension which starts at home "our family atmosphere has been
disharmonized, disputes, occasional discrepancies about all matters,
as if we drowned ourselves in fuel oil and ignited the spark" (19).
Maema achieves a financial independence to keep herself a way from
total subordination to the man whom she chooses. But she still does
not enjoy the freedom and equality she wishes. She is enforced to
leave job after the increase of her husband's income. She is also
under an unknown fear after she discovers an amour between husband
and an other women called Narjis and when she surprises him of the
matter, he gives a very weak justification saying! "She (Narjis) is
just a hot cup of coffee drunk by any tired man wandering on the
pavement of life…"(20)
Subsequently the stability she seeks with a husband of her choice is
lost. Woman in this middle "class" chooses her own husband, however
she is never far away from alienation and subjugation.
Although she belongs to a different generation along with her
husband both of them are still bound by internal restrictions built
in their characters"(21) and Hassan accordingly cannot go beyond the
environment view to woman.
The defense mechanisms adopted by women of this "class" are, as
previously stated, varied from those adopted by women in illiterate
"class". This is the reason why Naema is very angry with Hassan due
to his affair with Narjis and consequently she shouts at him and
becomes very rebellious because she deeply believes that anybody
"who once absorbs an insult would never be able to answer it in
subsequent times"(22) Hamad gets married for the second time in
accordance with a very familiar and legal polygyny system but Hassan
does not behave by the virtue of this socially approved way. On the
contrary, he makes an illegal affair and by practicing such behavior
he, indeed, seems to be more subjugating than Hamad. Hassan betrays
his wife, Naema, and seeks a sinful relation out of the legal frame
of the family. Naema is completely aware of such traitorous behavior
and she compares between her reaction and her mother's, saying:"if
my mother has faced the deeds of my father with passivity and
silence, I would confront Hassan's behavior with rebellion, uprising
and challenge" (23). But as narrative continues we discover that she
does not keep up her word. On the contrary, she faces her critical
situations using passive mechanisms and that is why she resorts to
patience and Fantasy and employs phantasia instead of protesting and
throwing the gloves. That is why she makes a dialogue with the sea
asking for an advice from the mystery: And the sea answers: "I
advise nothing but patience. My experiences taught me that anger is
the worst solution"(24)
Besides, she gets herself ready to accept the justification
submitted by Hassan changing it into a psychological
rationalization, i.e. into a defense mechanism and this is evidence
that the status of the subjugated woman does not allow her to behave
naturally.
Instead, she adopts other solutions to avoid disequilibrium of her
existence.
This is not to say that defense mechanisms are directed only to
husbands but a psychological critic could easily detect that the
relation between Naema and her father implies the ambivalence
mechanism. So Naema keeps contradicting feelings in connection with
the father. These are a mixture of obedience and love duty feelings
and hatred and dislike ones.(25)
Denial as a mean of defense is also manipulated when mother receives
the news of her husband's marriage. (26)
The heroine shows sympathy towards her father's second wife
replacing her mother .She also expresses forgiveness to her
opponent, Narjis.Here, it can be suggested that Naema seeks
sublimation adjustment device as a safe weapon against the
depressive states.
Once again, this is not to claim that this is the only or the most
apparent theme, but surely one of the prominent themes. The
manipulation of defense mechanisms include: identification,
rationalization, introjection, denial, ambivalence, fantasy and
sublimation and they, whether consciously intended by the authoress
or not, are not mysterious to clear and to trace.
Notes
*For the meanings and concepts of the italicized terms see:
Kamal Dasouki, Thesaurus of Psychology, Cairo.
1) Mustafa Hijazi, The Social Retardation, An Introduction to the
Psychology of the Subjugated Human. Arab Growth Institute,
Beirut,1976, P. 307
2) Ibid, p. 307
3) Nadra Lewaiti, The woman who rendered the nature speaking, Public
Establishment for Publication, Distribution and Advertisement.
Tripoli, Libya – 1983, p. 19
4) Ahmed Ali Al-Fanish, The Libyan Society and its difficulties,
Annour Publications, Tripoli, Libya 1967, p. 45-46.
5) Nadra Lewaidi, P.15.
6) I bid, P.16.
7) I bid, PP.59-60.
8) M.Hijazi, Ibid, p. 39.
9) Ibid, p39.
10) Nadra Lewaiti, p60.
11) Ibid,p60.
12) Ibid, p27.
13) Ibid, p58.
14) Hisham Sharabi, An introduction to study the Arabic Society. Al
-Ahliya publications, Beirut, 1977, p34.
15) Mustafa Hijazi, p318.
16) Nadra Lewaiti, p17.
17) Ibid, p56.
18) Ibid,p49.
19) Ibid, p51.
20) Ibid, p80.
21) Mustafa Hijazi, p319.
22) Nadra Lewaiti, p69.
23) Ibid, p69.
24) Ibid, p81-82.
25) Ibid, p18-19.
26) Ibid, p20.
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