Literary Criticism
Oveis Mohamadi
Abstract
Written by Sahar Khalifa, a Palestinian novelist, "Al-Sabbar" (wild thorns) reflects the mindset of the colonized Palestinians in the last decades of the twentieth century. The novel features many characters, each symbolizing a different aspect of the Palestinian mentality. Through a psychoanalytic reading, ...
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Written by Sahar Khalifa, a Palestinian novelist, "Al-Sabbar" (wild thorns) reflects the mindset of the colonized Palestinians in the last decades of the twentieth century. The novel features many characters, each symbolizing a different aspect of the Palestinian mentality. Through a psychoanalytic reading, one can better understand the hidden worldview of the novel and gain insight into the mentality of Palestinian society in the second half of the twentieth century.Based on Freud’s model, human beings’ psyche (conscious and unconscious) has three components. The first one is ‘Id’ which encompasses their primitive drives, pleasure instincts, and life drives. The child’s encounter with the realities of life results in the formation of its ‘Ego’ which is logical and realistic. Later, when its psyche develops, ‘Superego’ emerges out of ‘Ego’ which is the moralistic and idealistic dimension of the mind. It suppresses ‘Id’ due to its instinctive desires and censures ‘Ego’ for its occasional cooperation with ‘Id’.The current study assumes that three kinds of characters in the novel embody these three parts of the psyche. The masses and those who work in Israeli manufactures represent ‘Id’, as they have abandoned their ideals and solely think about their basic needs and survival. In this novel, Adel is a rationalist and realist responsible for organizing workers and their transfer to factories; thus he is presumed as a symbol of ‘Ego’. The character who embodies ‘Superego’ in this novel is Osama, constantly inviting Adel to idealism.Due to Adel’s influence over the masses, he requests Adel to encourage them to resist their Israeli factory owners. As a voice of rationalism and realism, Adel invites Osama to pragmatism. Throughout the novel, Adel dismisses Osama’s views; however, at the end of it all, Adel changes his standpoint transforming from ‘Ego’ to ‘Ideal ego’, resulting in his realistic viewpoint becoming an idealistic one.The evolved mentality at the end of novel is rational, idealistic and pragmatic - this is what Khalife wants for Palestinian people unconsciously.
