T.C.
SELCUK ÜNIVERS İTES İ
SOSYAL B İLİMLAR ENST İTÜSÜ
İNG İLİZ D İLİ VE EDEB İYATI ANAB İLİM DALI
İNG İLİZ D İLİ VE EDEB İYATI B İLİM DALI
CRITICISM AND APPRECIATION OF REAL MEN KEEP THEIR WORD BY DR. AKRAM OSMAN
MAROOF SAKHI
YUKSEK LISANS TEZI
Danı şman
Yrd Doc. Dr. YA ĞMUR KÜÇÜKBEZ İRC İ
Konya 2011 II
III iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BİLİMSEL ET İK SAYFASI…………………………………………...III
TEZ KABUL FORMU………………………………………………...IV
Acknowledgments…...……………………………………………….....V
About the author, Dr. Akram Osman…………………………………..VI
About the Translator, Dr. Arley Loewen……………………………....IX
ÖZET…………………………………………………………………..XI
Abstract………………………………………………………………….1
Introduction……………………………………………………………...2
Sher, a Real Man……………………………………………………………...8
A Brave Man and a Coward…………………………………………………15
A Tongue Sharper Than a Sword……………………………………………20
From Childhood to Adulthood………………………………………………28
Step Outside One’s Carpet…………………………………………………..31
Money is Sweet……………………………………………………………...36 v
He who Had a Bad Name While Alive, Has Become so Noble in Death…..43
Aristocratic Selfishness……………………………………………………...48
A Clever Bird is Trapped in Tow Rings…………………………………….56
Characteristics of a Duck and a Fly…………………………………………60
Dictatorship or Democracy………………………………………………….67
A Strong Old Man…………………………………………………………...71
Pure Local Love……………………………………………………………..75
A Big Change in Life………………………………………………………..80
Useful Superstitions…………………………………………………………85
A Free Man………………………………………………………………….88
Eagle, a Symbol of Freedom………………………………………………...91
Fake Spring and Fake Love…………………………………………………94
Conclusion……………………………………………………………..96
Bibliography……………………………………………………………98
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Academic Honor Code
I, Maroof Sakhi, take full responsibility for all the words, sentences, paragraphs, ideas and quotations of this thesis. To the best of my knowledge, all the contents are fully documented. I have written all the contents with honesty, and I am able to answer any questions about the contents of this work.
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Acknowledgments
My debt to those who have contributed in providing this thesis is very much.
Many colleagues and friends helped me in the preparation of this thesis. I am especially indebted to Ya ğmur KÜÇUKBEZ İRC İ who worked very hard with great patience in providing this piece of work. He translated some important parts of my thesis into Turkish Language.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who helped in the shaping and production of this literary work. My warm thanks to Lucy Beharrell that went throught my thesis and made some helpful comments about it. I would also like to thank Karim Wasil for providing some materials for this thesis.
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About the author, Dr. Akram Osman
Dr. Akram Osman was born in Herat City, Afghanistan in 1937. He graduated from the Law and Political Science Faculty of Kabul University. Then he went to
Iran to study for his MA and PhD. He completed his doctoral degree in the faculty of
Law and Political Science of Tehran University in the year 1971. He served as the
Minister of Culture and Information of Afghanistan from 1973 until 1978. He worked in different posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan. He was consulate of Afghan embassies in Tajikistan and Iran. He also served in the Science
Academy of Afghanistan as head of the history and Law of this institution.
He served as president of the Art and Literature department of Afghanistan
Radio and TV for a period of time. In this institution he was writer and speaker on literary and social programs. His warm and cheerful voice still echoes in the ear of those who listened to him through Radio and TV. He used to read his short stories and some selected poems from Maulana, Hafiz and some other Persian poets. Some of his audio short stories and the poems from the Persian poets are available on the website Farda.org .
Dr. Akram Osman immigrated to Sweden in 1990, and currently he lives there.
He hasn’t cut his relationship with his fellow countrymen. He is president of the website, Farda.org that publishes a variety of literary, social and historical articles.
He published a collection of short stories under the title of The Year of Famine in
2003 and a long novel by the name of Our Street in 2004 and another collection of ix
short stories, Created Again in 2005. A few years ago he became a member of the executive counsel of the Asian and African writers organization.
The collection of short stories Real Men Keep Their Word was published three times. First it was published in the year 1988. Then it was reprinted in 1998. The last printing of this book was 2003.
The Afghan Film company produced tow films based on two short stories from this collection. The films are based on the short stories Real Men Keep Their Word and The Deceptive Object . Some of his short stories have been translated into
Russian, German, Swedish, Bulgarian, and changed into Cyrillic alphabet
Osman’s works are as follows:
When the Reeds Bloom A collection of short stories published in 1985
A Crack in the Wall A collection of short stories published in 1987by Bihaqi
publishing organization.
Real Men Keep their Words A collection of short stories published in
1988(Arley Loewen translated this collection into English and it was
published in 2005 by the Oxford Univeristy Press.)
The Year of Famine A collection of short stories published in the Afghan club
organization in 2003
Our Street A novel in two volumes published by the Kawa printing, Germany
in 2005
Created Again A collection of short stories published by the cultural
coordination of Kara kamar in Sweden, Peshawar 2005 x
The Diplomatic Relationship between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union
published by the Gastetener, Faculty of Law and Political Science of Tehran
University in 1972.
An Introduction to the Democratic Movements published by the Omid
Weekly in 1988.
Characteristics of History Shift in the Eastern countries published in Sareer
Weekly, Holland, 1996.
Afghanistan and Central Asia involved in a big game published by Miwand
publishing, in 2000.
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About the Translator, Dr. Arley Loewen
Dr. Arley Loewen was born in Manitoba, Canada. He is a specialist in Persian culture. He studied Persian literature in Pakistan and Canada. He has two master degrees in two different fields. One of his MA is in Persian Literature in which he wrote his thesis in the Persian language. He did his MA in Persian Literature at the
Quadi Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan. He has a second MA in Middle
Eastern Civilizations. In the year 2000 he completed his Ph.D. in Persian Studies at the University of Toronto.
Arley Loewen has been living among the peoples of Afghanistan and Iran since 1981. He has lived and worked in the South - Central Asian countries since the early 1980's. He has lectured in several countries on cultural topics. He has been researching and analyzing Afghan culture for 25 years. Currently, he and his family live in Kabul, Afghanistan. He works with CADA (Central Asian Development
Agency) as their Persian Literature and Culture Specialist in Kabul. He presents leadership seminars at the University of Kabul as well as other institutions and
NGOs.
Dr. Arley Loewen translated the book Real Men Keep Their Word by Dr.
Akram Osman from Persian (Dari) into English. Oxford University Press published his book, the translation of Real Men Keep Their Word in 2006. He translated the book to a Professional Standard with a deep understanding of the cultural background of the short stories. However, it is very challenging to find an exact or natural equivalent English translation to Dari proverbs and idioms, but he has tried xii
very much to keep both the flavour of the local idioms and proverbs and also make them approachable for the English readers.
In 2004 he wrote an overview of The Kite Runner by Khalid Hussaine under the title of Not worthy of his Sacrifice . This overview shows Arley Loewen’s deep understanding of the Afghan culture and society. He examines and discusses the novel with an open and critical eye.
Furthermore, Dr. Arley Loewen authored Images of Afghanistan with Dr.
McMichael. In an interview he said that one day Dr. McMichael asked him to help her in writing a book on Afghan literature. So together they started to write about
Afghan culture for the English readers. Finally they published the book Images of
Afghanistan in 2010. while writing the book Images of Afghanistan , he interacted with Afghans and gave many lectures on Afghan culture. Furthermore, he met some
Afghan intellectuals and got some ideas from them, but he mainly reflects his understanding and thinking on Afghan culture.
Dr. Arley Loewen plans to write some other books and articles about
Afghanistan and Persian culture. He is doing a more academic study on shame and honor in Persian culture.I Hope to read more from this hardworking scholar in the future.
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Özet
Bu çalı şmada Dr. Akram Osman’ın Erkek Adam Sözünde Durur isimli kısa hikâye koleksiyonu ele ştirilip, de ğerlendirilmektedir. Kısa hikâyelerde önemli olan tüm unsurlara ve fikirlere yo ğunla şılmaktadır. Ana karakterler, konular ve semboller de ğerlendirilmektedir. Erkek Adam Sözünde Durur eserinde yer alan kısa hikâyeler onların kültürel ve bölgesel geçmi şleri göz önünde bulundurularak de ğerlendirilmi ştir.
1
Abstract
This thesis criticizes and appreciates the collection of short stories, Real Men
Keep Their Word by Dr. Akram Osman. It focuses on all elements and ideas that are important in the short stories. Mainly characters, themes and symbols are examined in this writing. The short stories in Real Men Keep Their Word are evaluated by considering their cultural and geographical backgrounds.
2
Introduction
Real Men Keep Their Word is a collection of short stories by Dr Akram
Osman. The name of the book Real Men Keep Their Word is taken from the first short story of this collection, Real Men Keep Their Word . The original text is in
Persian (Dari). This collection has been translated by Arley Loewen into English.
The topic that has been chosen is completely new. This thesis will appreciate and criticize Real Men Keep Their Word . No one has written anything about this collection of short stories yet. Some writers have appreciated and criticized the other books by Dr. Akram Osman. Recently Hussain Fakhree published a critical essay about the novel Our Street by Akram Osman. Some others also wrote some essays about The year of Famine, another collection of short stories by Akram Osman.
Some of these essays are available on the website www.farda.org
There are eighteen short stories in this collection. Some of them are long and some of them are very short. Osman republished two of his short stories under different titles. One of the short stories in this book by the name of A Crack in the
Wall is written under the title of T he Wedding in another collection of short stories,
The Year of Famine by Dr. Akram Osman. It caused a critic, Zia Afzali to criticize
Akram Osman for writing it under two different titles in two different books. Dr.
Akram Osman responded to Zia Afzali’s criticism in an article published on the website Farda.org . He wrote that the title A Crack in the Wall was slogan-like, and he did not like it, so he changed it to The Wedding . In the same way, Dr. Osman published the short story An Exiled Man twice. First it appeared in the collection of 3
his short stories The Year of Famine, and then it was published as Chapter 36, page
259 of his novel, Our Street .
These short stories reflect Afghan culture, especially old Kabul culture. Akram
Osman uses very casual language in his short stories. It gives insight to the historical and cultural context of the short stories. There are many local idioms and proverbs in the short stories that add to the flavor of the short stories. For instance, in The Enemy of Ducks he compares some people to ducks and writes the famous proverb “If the world were covered with water, it would only reach the ducks feet’.”( 132) Akram
Osman is very skillful in using old Kabul expressions and idioms. These idioms and proverbs add to the artistic value of his short stories. The readers can also see idioms and expressions that are used very well in the novel Our Street by Akram Osman.
Hussain Fakhree, a short story writer states that Osman shows brilliant talent in writing the old spoken language of Kabul. Similarly Bashir Sakhawarz another writer claims that his short stories will have research value in the future if someone wants to find out more about old Kabul. Osman has a great power in describing his environment and the people that live in his surroundings.
Most Afghans remember Osman’s voice from the Radio and TV of
Afghanistan reading his short stories and some poems from Persian poets. His warm voice gave warmth to tired hearts. Since I have been very interested in Akram
Osman’s short stories for a long time, this is a great chance to write my MA thesis about my favorite short stories. I would like to appreciate these short stories. All elements of these short stories will be looked at and examined very carefully. The 4
characters and themes will be discussed in more details. The author shows great capability in creating characters and presenting universal themes in his short stories.
The author is very good at creating characters. He moves them in the stories in the way that he wants. They are like wax in his powerful hands. Some of his characters are brave and heroic like Sher in the short story Real Men Keep Their
Word and Kaka Akbar in When the Reeds Bloom . These two characters resemble
Rustam the imaginary legend of Shanamah by Ferdowsi. They are symbols of real men. In the same way Osman creates lovers in a way that very few writers are successful like him in doing. Osman’s lovers do not have anything less than the famous lovers of the literary world. They are similar to Romeo and Juliet, Layla and
Majnun and some other pure lovers. In the short story Dear Nazy My Sweet heart the reader witnesses a real Majnun that dies for his Layla. In the same way, in the short story The Deceptive Object Daryab is compared to Farhad, the symbol of love in the
Persian world.
On the other hand, Osman creates some cowardly and tricky characters to exemplify a pluralist world. A world that houses different people in it. We see a few of his great characters in this world, but his evil characters are everywhere. Bacha
Hakim in When the Reeds Bloom and Mr Abdul Manan Khan Haziq in The Moderate
Politician are the sample of sly characters that Osman created with his creative mind and his capable pen. Osman chooses his characters based on reality. He keeps a balance between the good and bad characteristics of man, and he is very realistic in choosing the people in his short stories. He describes the people as they are. His characters are not based on fantasy, and he does not give characteristics of an angel 5
to a character. The characters that he creates are the people that a person meets in the streets everyday.
Osman chooses a variety of themes for his short stories. Each of his short stories teaches a lesson to the reader. Five themes are very prominent in his short stories.
Love is the theme that Osman writes about a lot. Five of his short stories in the collection of Real Men Keep Their Word deal with love. Dear Nazy-My Sweet Heart , and Real Men Keep Their Word are two of them that Osman shows an exceptional power creating love stories. These two short stories tell about pure lovers that present real love. The themes will be explained through out the short stories in details.
Pessimism is the second theme that a reader can notice in Akram Osman’s short stories. Nearly all his love stories lead to a kind of pessimism. All of his lovers fail in their loves, and then they start to think negatively about the world and about its stability and loyalty. All his love stories have a sad and tragic ending. We can see it in Real Men Keep Their Word, Dear Nazy-My Sweet heart, The Deceptive Object,
A Crack in the Wall and The Other Side of the River . Some critics claim that Akram
Osman is influenced by the writings of the Iranian writer, Sadiq Hedayat. All of
Sadiq Hedayat’s stories end with the death or failure of the main characters.
The third theme that Osman focuses on in the short stories is sacrifice. It is very noticeable in Re al Men Keep their Word and When the Reeds Bloom . Sher the main character in Real men Keep their word sacrifices his love, but he does not break his pledge to Muhmood. Similarly, Kaka Akbar sacrifices his life to prove his 6
friendship and his bravery. It seems that Osman gives special value for sacrifice in human beings life. Sacrifice strengthens friendship and proves a person’s freedom.
Another theme that Osman puts in the stories is the big differences between the social classes. He examines the characteristics of rich and poor people. He explains how money and power bring out the animal instincts in people, and mislead them. He sympathizes with the oppressed people and lashes out at the oppressors. From the
Root of the Shrub is one of the stories that Osman evaluates the aristocratic families and a poor country boy. The readers can see an extreme injustice and selfishness in that short story.
Freedom is given much importance in these short stories. In some of the stories in this collection, Osman tries to describe and make clear the meaning of freedom.
He tries to teach freedom to his readers. He persuades people to learn about their rights and freedom, by using different symbols and creating vivid pictures. In Hassan the Burden Bearer he paints a beautiful nature with swallows in the sky and happy children in the ground. This picture affects the readers so much that they try to achieve such a life. Hassan the Burden Bearer and Blind Eagle are two of his short stories that persuade the audience to practice freedom in life.
Akram Osman is very good at using symbols in his short stories. This writing tries to reveal the hidden facts behind these symbols. For instance, in the first short story of this collection, he uses the kite as a symbol for love. Similarly, in Hasan, the
Burden Bearer he uses symbols, such as the poplar tree, the eagle, mountains and river to present his ideas about freedom in the best way possible. These symbols 7
make his writings very interesting and enjoyable. They help the reader to have a better understanding of his ideas.
Most writers present some of their personal experiences in their writings. For instance, Charles Dickens reflects most of his life experiences in his short stories and novels. In A Tale of Two Cities it is believed that Sydney Carton, a character in the novel represents Charles Dickens real life. Some writers claim that Charles Dickens failed to reach his love. In A Tale of Two Cities we also see that Sydney Carton sacrifices himself and cannot reach Lucie Manette. In the same way, Dr Akram
Osman spent his childhood and most of his life in Kabul. He reflects his memories and experiences in his stories from this city. According to Hussain Fakhree, Osman portrays his adulthood very skillfully with a sweet language in his novel, Our Street .
He portrays Kabul city and its culture in the best way in his short stories. These short stories awaken the memories of all those who have lived in Kabul. These stories are very precious for each person that has spent some time in Kabul.
8
Sher, a Real Man
Real Men Keep Their Word portrays Sher as a man who tolerates many painful events in his life. He is in love with Tahera. He sacrifices his love for the word that he gives to Mahmud, Tahera’s brother. Four things are very noticeable in this short story: the kite used as a symbol for love, sacrifice, pessimism about the world and the characteristics of a perfect man.
Sher makes kites and strings. He is busy with this business, but this hobby becomes boring for him. He wants to do something else “Reaching the age of fourteen, and beginning to sprout some peach fuzz on his upper lip he had grown tired of these designs”(3). The reader notices some changes in Sher’s status. Dr.
Osman presents his main character in the early stage of his adulthood. The author wants to say that in different stages of life, human beings like to do different things.
A child is kept busy with a doll or some other toys. When he/she grows up and becomes a teenager, the toys cannot amuse him/her. He or she needs something else to be busy with. This is the way of most human beings. Sher reaches the stage of life where in his heart he wants to find a bride.
Dr. Akram Osman mentions names of some precious jewelry to remind the readers of a wedding or a married woman. By using the jewelry names at the beginning of the story, Dr Osman paves the way for Sher and Tahira’s love;
“turquoise rings” (3), “pearly white teeth” ( 3), silver white blanket” ( 4). He describes Tahera from Sher’s point of view. Sher compares Tahera’s teeth to pearl, 9
her turquoise rings to blue sky and says that her teeth are better than the whiteness of snow, and the color of her turquoise ring is clearer than the blue sky. It is true that love makes human beings blind, but this blindness is better than good sighted eyes that see everything ugly and bad. Sher’s love is very passionate like the beginning love story of the man and his wife which is narrated in the book of Hadiqatul Haqiqa by Sanayee, the Persian mystic poet. In this story, a man who loves his wife very much, swims a river to go to work and returns home at night to be with his wife. One night he notices a black spot on her wife’s face. Next day, when he wants to go to work his wife tells him not to swim and go work today because his love was hot before that is why he could not notice the pox, but now his love is cold. If he swims today, he will get ill. The man does not accept her suggestion and goes to work. A few days later he becomes sick and dies soon after. Real Men Keep their Word and the story by Sanayee look similar, but Dr Osman’s main character seems to be different from the above mentioned man. Sher loves Tahera very much, and it seems that he will love her forever. Therefore, he sees everything beautiful about her.
The kite is a good symbol in this short story. The kite stands for Sher’s love as described by him “cutting kite-paper and trying to design Tahera’s face on them”(5) Sher’s life and mind are full of Tahera, and he wants to draw her picture on all his kites. Sher’s love is ready, but he needs some wind so that he can fly the kite.
Therefore, he sings the song “Oh haidarak of Gelan, master of the winds” (8). A strong wind blows to keep Sher’s love in the sky. It seems that God wants Sher to love Tahera. “The wind had picked up and was blowing hard.” (9) By now everything is ready for Sher’s love. It is the time for him to act. “When he woke up 10
in the morning, the wind was also awake and in a serious sort of way,”(9) The wind is a strong companion to Sher. It would like to accompany Sher to reach his beloved.
Sher is happy to have such a friend in the time of loneliness. Now is the turn for Sher to give the kite over to the hands of the wind. The wind is personified as a dragon with deep, steady breath to bring Sher’s congratulatory Eid message to Tahera. The powerful wind that comes from the unseen world takes Sher’s love into the sky.
“Looking like a sharp-clawed eagle, it hovered over the other kites,”(10)
However, there are some others who have eyes on Tahera, but Sher’s love is prominent, and the other loves are not comparable to Sher’s love. All the others pull back when they know that Sher loves Tahera. Sher “released more string for his kite”.(10) Sher’s relationship goes very well with Tahera. At the peak of his love,
Fazlu, who is like a vulture, and who observes Sher’s love relationship with Tahera,
“challenged him with his own kite, catching Sher by surprise” (10). At this important stage of love, Sher becomes confused, but he does not lose himself. He stands against
Fazlu’s poor love and defeats him. “Sher made his own kite plunge from its height like a falcon, and sliced Fazlu’s string as if it were butter.”(10)
Sher’s love flies very high in the sky. He wins all the contests, and makes himself deserved for Tahera’s love. However, Tahera’s father is not in favor of
Sher’s marriage with his daughter. Sher does not want to give up “however, the kite was not to give up.”(11) Sher wants Tahera with any cost. He does not want to lose her. She is everything for Sher.
Dr Osman shows the falling stage of Sher’s love again through the symbol of the kite. “The kite twirled around, it crashed into Tahera’s yard.” Tahera’s father 11
takes Sher’s love with his bloodied hands and sacrifices it. Tahera’s father, “who was about to slaughter the sacrificial sheep” (11), does the same with Sher’s love’ Sher’s love is sacrificed like the innocent sheep in the hands of Tahera’s father. Osman structures these two actions, the sacrifice of the sheep and the sacrifice of Sher’s love immediately after each other very skillfully.
Although Tahera’s father is strongly against Sher’s marriage with his daughter, but Sher does not give up. He quotes a poem to express his great ambition and his emphatic decision to seek Tahera’s love. “The lover does not fear death/ For love does not fear mountains or the prison/ The heart of the lover is like a hungry wolf/ It does not fear the yells and shouts of the shepherd.”(13) He continues to love
Tahera and dream about her.
When Sher wins the wrestling contest over Mahmud, Tahera’s brother and when Mahmud calls Sher as his brother, Sher is shocked. He does not know what to do with brotherhood and love. He is double-minded and confused. Should he choose brotherhood or love? Finally, he decides to be faithful to his brotherhood pledge. He stands by his word and sacrifices his love for the sake of brotherhood, but still he cannot forget Tahera. He likes to fly kites. Flying kites shows that his love is still alive, but he controls it.
After Sher’s brotherhood is established with Tahera’s brother and his sacrificial love, Fazlu says to Sher “those days are history when you were the champion”(19). It is seen that Fazlu says to Sher that your love is dead and now you are like a mouse. As usual like a lion, Sher says to Fazlu “come to Du Rahi on the road to Paghman and throw up your kite”,(20) Sher wants to prove that still his heart 12
is full of love, but he is stuck between love and brotherhood, two stones that smash him everyday.
Osman describes the scene of their kite competition very well. He chooses
Sher’s kite as the white kite with a blue tail. The white color of his kite suggests his pure love, and the blue tail foretells a happy result for him. On the other hand,
Fazlu’s kite is described as red with a black tail. The red color represents Fazlu’s atrocious and devilish love, and the black tail is the sad ending for Fazlu. Then the reader witnesses that at the end of the battle between their kites, Sher wins the contest.
Once more Osman proves that Sher’s character is exceptional. “Sher stoically held back his exhilaration like a real man”(21). He does not tease Fazlu after wining the kite flying battle. He did the same thing when he brought Mahmud’s shoulder to the ground. He lifted him graciously from the ground and kissed him. It shows his strong and real man-like character.
After the kite flying competition with Fazlu, Osman draws the conclusion for his story. “The sun had set, and it looked like the sky had sprinkled red tulips over its blue skirt.”(21) This vivid picture tells about the painful ending of Sher’s love. The sky is also mournful with him and they share failure of love. Sher is compared to lambs that live in a world which is very sad “white clouds were gamboling across the wide, reddish desert.”(21) He lives like a lamb which is very pure and innocent. He remembers the past. All the things that happened in the past and now they are part of history. 13
Another important point that Dr. Osman presents is the taste of defeat that makes humans pessimist. After Sher failed to reach Tahera, he joined the Sufis and mystics who are in love with God, and those who do not believe in human stability.
Sher thinks that this world passes like the blink of an eye. He becomes very pessimistic about life and says that “,Everybody is going to die.”(16) Sher does not have anything else to lose, so he does not care about this world, and he is not afraid of dying. He has already died. Osman tries to express his own ideas “this world is passing away, it is not worth all its sorrows.”(16). He states that this world is not eternal and nothing is stable. When someone is in a bad condition, everything seems ugly and pale. He/she starts to be pessimistic. He is shown as a person who sees the world dark and with no hope for the future.
Nietzsche tells the story of a child who has lost his mother and looks for her.
He goes to a forest to find his mother. He spends all his life searching his mother, but he cannot find her. At the end of his life while he is old enough, he still hopes to find his mother, but there is no sign of his mother. Finally, a wolf comes and eats him.
When this story was analyzed, it was assumed that it is Nietzsche’s own life story.
The child stands for Nietzsche himself. The mother stands for God and the wolf represents doubt. Hence, Nietzsche cannot achieve what he wanted or he suffered a lot in life; as a result, he becomes doubtful about the universe. Osman makes the same point. When Sher is alone there is no one to cure his wound. He even talks to the moon, but he does not hear anything from the moon. He starts to be pessimistic about the faithfulness of human beings. He curses the unfaithfulness of everything in this world. Osman wants to show that all human beings share the same feelings. 14
When they fail to achieve something, they are frustrated, and they see the world dark, pale and useless. On the other hand, if they are happy, and everything is going in their favor, they think that the world is worth living as we saw Sher’s point of view at the beginning of the story. Sher’s character is a reflection of the vulnerability of the human to his emotions, and the vulnerability of his faith to his circumstances.
15
A Brave Man and a Coward
When the Reeds Bloom is an epic short story by Dr. Akram Osman. The main character in When the Reeds Bloom is very similar to Sher, the main character of
Real Men Keep their Word . Both Sher and Akbar are real heroes. In this short story
Akbar appears like William Wallace, the great hero of Scotland who fought for
Scotland’s independence, but at the end he was killed in a plot by the cowards. Dr.
Akram Osman evaluates and presents heroism and cowardice in this short story
. When the Reeds Bloom tries to examine good and evil in a world that is full of tricks and treason. The protagonist in this story is Kaka Akbar, a brave and honest man, and the antagonist is Bacha Hakim, a coward. Osman starts his story with the blows of the blacksmiths’ tools, the blacksmiths who are matured by each blow that they strike on the metals and by the fire that melts the iron. Osman uses the sounds and actions of the blacksmith to represent heroism amongst the men of old Kabul. He hints at the task that heroes like Akbar had in old Kabul. They were protectors of their regions and stopped cowards and other bad men from committing bad actions.
They were the enemy of cowards. They did anything to help people and provide a peaceful life for them. “Like blood flowing through the veins, the streets resonated with sounds of life and the buildings vibrated with warmth.”(24) These men were souls of their regions. In the old Kabul, heroes like Kaka Akbar functioned as honest policemen. They had the job of protecting areas from strangers and invaders.
Osman claims that Kakas (heroes) are trained from the very first days of their lives. “Young boys were used to such sounds from the time they were in their 16
cradles.”(26) Later in the story, we see that Kaka Akbar tells his wife to stop crying because it will make Latif, their son, a coward. He says to his wife that their son, grandson and great grand son will be the future heroes. Kaka Akbar tells his wife that this world is nothing without a hero. Then Osman gives the heroic characteristics of
Akbar to his son, Latif. When Latif’s mother cries, Latif becomes angry at her and asks her to stop crying because it is not a good thing. This is exactly what Akbar says to his wife. Then he says to his mother that his father is going to kill lions and wolves. Hence, his son is also like Kaka Akbar, a fearless and brave person.
Osman uses the two main characters in the text to represent the contrast between bravery and cowardice. The scene of Akbar’s meeting with Bacha Hakim, the prince, is paradoxical. Bacha Hakim is powerful in appearance but weak at heart.
He is ruler of Kabul, and he shows himself to be very powerful, but in fact, he is a fox in the clothes of a lion. He gained power through a stroke of good luck. He didn’t get it by the power of his sword. Akbar, on the other hand, looks like a normal man, but his personality is like a real king. He is like a brave and powerful lion. Osman tries to say that clothes do not make a man.
After the argument and fight with Bacha Hakim, Akbar proves his exceptional character. Bacha Hakim is portrayed as a clever person that deceives people by a hundred tricks and rules over them. He is a Machiavelli of his time.
When he sees Akbar’s powerful character, immediately he changes his behavior. He tries to take advantage of Akbar who is powerful, fearless and honest. “With every kind of wile and ploy, he was able to win Akbar over to his side.”(27) However,
Akbar knows that Bacha Hakim’s friendship is deceptive, and he is a tricky person, 17
but he tries to ignore it. When Bacha Hakim sends the chamberlain to invite Akbar to his court, Akbar says that “He never greets someone without some design or scheme.”(29) He always tries to be faithful to his friendship with Bacha Hakim, but that Satan’s friendship is only deceptive.
The author compares Akbar to the Kabul River. Both of them are heedless, fearless, revolutionary, and stormy. He enjoys listening to the waves of water that flow violently. The river is like a great epic poet that persuades Akbar to act like a hero. Akbar listens to the river, and then he conveys the messages of the river to the people, and people enjoy listening to him: “One word from Akbar carried more weight than a hundred words from anyone else.”(p 28) It seems that Akbar and the river are good companions. He gets all the secrets from the river and then talks to the people about all the secrets of the world. Akbar is part of the river.
A river cleans dirt, and then it evaporates to clean itself. Akbar also cleans people from all bad things and then comes to the river to clean himself. After the meeting with Bacha Hakim and his mission which is given by Bacha Hakim, Akbar wants to spend the last day of his residence in Kabul with the river, his old friend.
They have the same mission, travelling a long distance and removing anything that stands in their way. They share the same experiences with each other.
Osman implies that the pounding of blacksmiths and the beckoning sounds of the Kabul River play an equal rule in maturing the brave men of the city. “As a kid, when he used to play in the sand and soil, the river had always been his friend, one that invited him to come to it.”(31) Also wave sounds sing epic songs in the ears of 18
people, so sound of the waves and blacksmith’s pounding have the same function in maturing and making heroes.
In this story, the other character which is very prominent is Akbar’s wife. She is very helpful and kind to Akbar. Osman shows the loyalty of Afghan women to their husbands. “However, as for Latif’s mother, that good and kind woman, she would gently pat her son’s back while he was falling asleep and awaken memories of her husband”(34) All the time, Latif’s mother thinks about his husband’s fate. Her eyes are fixed to the door, and waiting for the time to open the door for her husband.
When people start to forget Akbar, after time has passed, “Latif’s mother refused to give up and kept on waiting” (35)
At the end of the story Osman once again shows Bacha Hakim’s cowardice.
He shouts ‘at’ a decapitated head. Then he kicks the head. He insults a decapitated head. Akbar teases him for his cowardly action. On the other hand, Akbar insults
Bacha Hakim in his presence. This is the opposite of what Bacha Hakim does.
Osman reveals the evil world of politicians. He makes it clear for the public that politicians are always cowardly and tricky. Bacha Hakim has nothing but tricks.
When he sees that Akbar is useless after his last mission, he plots his assassination.
He kills him in a very cowardly way.
This short story illustrates the nature of power by showing what characteristics a man needs to become powerful. Akbar, this honest and pure man knows nothing but honesty. Akbar has the power of a lion, but he does not have the tricks of a fox, so he cannot be a winner, in dealing with people like Bacha Hakim. In 19
order to be a winner, one should have both power of a lion and tricks of a fox. This short story illustrates this idea more clearly. In a forest a little fox asked his father “Is it true that you are more powerful than the lion?” “Yes,” his father said, “but on the condition that we do not come face to face.”
20
A Tongue Sharper than a Sword
The Hero and the Coward is written in praise of Ustad Qasem, the great
Afghan singer who was living in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. This short story tells the story of Ustad Qasem and the succession of three Kings’ courts over a period of time. Kings come and go, but the cowards and servants and ministers remain in their posts. In this short story Osman tries to show the power of Ustad
Qasem’s tongue and introduce the theme of real men and cowards.
The story starts with the third kingdom, that of Nadir Shah. Osman says that
Nadir Shah “gained power and fortune by chance.” (42) He describes the reception room as very luxurious and compares it to the gallery of Mani (Mani was renowned for his works of art in the Sassanid Iran in the third century). The author shares his sympathy with Amanullah Khan who was a modernized king and wanted to build
Afghanistan. He worked hard and made such a lofty palace, but now a king who came to power “, simply following the winds of change” (42) lives in it with his servants.
Ustad Qasem acts as an observer as well as a participant in the story. His words help to highlight the contrasting characters of these three kings, and the effect that these Kings have on their servants and courtiers. Qasem does not represent heroism himself but his words and actions serve to demonstrate the heroism (or cowardice) of the Kings and courtiers. When Ustad Qasem comes to the palace to greet Nadir Shah, the new king, the servants who were the same servants from the previous court ignore him and behave as if he is a stranger. The servants “feel the 21
pulse of the time, and swim with the tide.”(42) Ustad ’s songs are still echoing in their ears, but they act as if they do not know him. The scene is similar to the story of
The City Man Who was Deceived by the Villager in the third book of Masnavi by
Hazrat Maulana. In this story, the villager often comes to the city and stays in the city man’s house for long periods. The villager invites the city man to his village several times. Finally, the city man goes to the village. When he finds the villager’s house, the villager asks him “Who do you want?” This is exactly the same question that the servants ask Ustad Qasem. Qasem looks at the courtiers and then remembers
Amanullah Khan, the king that knew the value of his kind heart and his sharp tongue.
Qasem remembers the night that he was singing in the palace and Dobbs, the goodwill ambassador of the British Empire was a guest of Amanullah khan. Osman describes that night very well. Dobbs is portrayed very arrogant “Dobbs was acting as if no one were superior to him.”(44) King Amanullah, king of Freedom does not care about Dobbs, and his heart is full of Freedom. He listens to Qasem’s epic songs and enjoys freedom. On the other hand, courtiers want to show that they enjoy the songs “ nodding their oily, glistening heads like little monkeys and singing along with the rhythmic music of Qasem,” (44) in fact, they do not enjoy the songs, but they want to do their flattery.
Osman makes a good dialogue between Ustad Qasem and Dobbs. Dobbs is described as a colonizer like the British Empire, and Ustad Qasem is portrayed as a free man who never accepts colonization. Qasem sings that free people never colonize others and never let the others to colonize them “if that young gazelle of fortune falls into our hands, we would let it go.” (44) Ustad Qasem says to Dobbs 22
that the British Empire is a neighbor of Afghanistan, so Afghans have a good relation with their neighbors, but Dobbs says indirectly to him that Afghanistan is also part of the British Empire. Dobbs words hit like bullets in the chest of this free man. When
Dobbs says to Qasem that he wants to learn singing, Qasem asks Dobbs to sing after him. Qasem sings ‘our school is the place of freedom. He sings that Afghan people are free, and Afghanistan is the place of freedom. Afghans sacrifice for freedom even if it costs their lives. Ustad Qasem wins the debate. Dobbs who never tasted defeat before, for the first time becomes pale and fells dizzy. All free people claps for
Qasem. Mountains, rivers, and valleys celebrate this happiness.
Osman hints to the defeat that the British Empire tasted in Afghanistan. He narrates the wars that occurred between British Empire and Afghans. British soldiers attached on Afghanistan three times, but all the times they were defeated. “The sun of freedom began to rise over the snow-covered mountain peaks of Hindu kush. The winds carried the news of freedom from the Hindu Khoh to the waves of Helman
River, which then carried it on to Sistan and Nemroz, who then passed it on to the
Indus River” (46) First British Empire was defeated in Afghanistan, and then people in India and some other countries started to achieve their independence. Osman compares Dobbs face “like the sun that never sets on the empire,” (46) Osman points out to Winston Churchill’s famous sentence “The sun never sets in the British
Empire.” He laughs at Churchill’s sentence and tries to say that Afghans were the first nation who made this empire to lose color and become pale.
After Qasem’s victory over Dobbs, king Amanullah appreciates Qasem. In fact, he appreciates the free people, who do not accept the yoke of colonization. King 23
Amanullah says to Qasem “your voice is the voice of people” (47) Afghan people are free people, and you are their speaker. Ustad Qasem sings epic songs which is a good way to persuade people to fight for their rights and freedom. King Amanullah praises him for what he did in the ceremony to Dobbs.
The British Empire cannot tolerate these two free men, so Dobbs, the goodwill ambassador starts to collapse the Kingdom of free men “But Dobbs, that damned evil and ‘deceptive Barsisa’, only sneered at the palace decorum and continued to pollute the air with his evil ways,” (47) The ministers and courtiers stand on the side of Dobbs, and behind the curtains they try to annihilate
Amanullah’s Kingdom.
Osman points out about the collapse of King Amanullah’s kingdom. King
Amanullah brought some reforms in Afghanistan. The courtiers persuaded him to bring some reforms that people could not accept it easily over a short period of time
,so the reforms put the kingdom in a critical condition. People stood against the government, and finally the kingdom was collapsed. In fact, the ministers were wolves in the clothing of a lamb. British Empire injected them with his poison and they committed treason.
Osman shows the instability of the world. Qasem is sad to lose his free and heroic friend. The successor of Amaullah Khan, Amir Habibullah Kalakanee says to
Ustad Qasem “yesterday there was another king, today I am king. There is no stability in this world.” (48) Amir Habibullah, who is also a free man, wants to have
Qasem in his court and listen to his warm and sweet songs. 24
Osman makes fun of the courtiers. He chooses their names ironically. He calls one of the ministers, lover of the State , who is a “beguiling and devious official”
(43). He says that this minister with different tricks stuck himself in the court, but in fact he is not a lover of the State. He is a lover of his position and power. Similarly,
Osman gives the title of Brave of the State to the minister of defense. This brave man never had a fight in his life. The author says that he obtained this title by flattery. The
Minister of Finance is named Trust of the State . Osman writes that this honest man steals money from the treasury, and appears in the society as if he has nothing.
Osman implies that these ministers are traitors, and they remain in their posts by playing different tricks.
Osman thinks that a person who rules hearts is better than a person who rules over the people by sword and army. “one ruled hearts, the other ruled the land” (44)
In the novel Our Street , Dr. Osman writes that Ahmad Zahir, the legend of Afghan music, rules in the Persian world without a gun, but the government cannot rule even in a few provinces. Power cannot conquer and rule over people, but love and art can conquer hearts and rule over them.
Osman presents a dialogue between Amir Habbibullah-e- Kalakanee and
Ustad Qasem. This dialogue shows Qasem as a philosopher. “Amir Habibullah –e-
Kalakanee says ‘you mean my enemy?” Qasem replies, “No sir. I weep for my very own friend’.”(49) ‘These good reasons given by Qasem satisfy the new King.
Osman gives logical reasons like a philosopher to present Qasem a man with a sharp tongue. Osman perhaps indicates here that Qasem is so pure and empty from evil like 25
a breed, and it is a supernatural power that blows into him. It is someone else who talks on behalf of Qasem.
Ustad Qasem is so clever that he distinguishes his audience very early on.
When Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee asks him to sing, he sings a song about nature.
Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee who was born and grew up in the countryside of
Kabul, loves nothing but nature. Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee then imagines the
Shamali plain (his birthplace). In turn, Ustad Qasem sings “if the Shamali is a meadow of tulips, what is it to us?”(50) Amir Habibullah becomes angry and asks him to repeat his verse. Secretary of the State, who was a servant in King
Amanullah’s court, and now sticks himself to the new kings court by flattery, takes his dagger and yells at Qasem, “you fool, you rogue, stick out your tongue!”(51)
Osman once again displays Qasems razor-like tongue. Ustad Qasem whose tongue is sharper than the Secretary of the State’s dagger, lacerates the Secretary with his words and makes him motionless like a statue. Probably Osman got this argument from an anecdote in Gulstan by Saadi. In the anecdote a king wants to kill an innocent man. The innocent says to the king that this life passes like a wind. Sadness, happiness, evil and beauty go away. The oppressor thinks that he has done something to him, but it passes on him, and then the king will be responsible for it in doomsday.
These words by the innocent man affect the king very much. Therefore, he releases the man. Ustad Qasem also says to the Secretary of the State that “this tongue has warded off hundreds of calamities and saved hundreds of people’s lives” (51) It suggests the power of pure reason and a tongue which is sharper than a sword, but sweeter than sugar. Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee, praises Ustad Qasem’s courage 26
and tongue, and teases the Secretary of the State. Amir Habibullah says to the
Secretary that there are many ministers, kings, court jesters, but Ustad Qasem is one in the world.
Osman expresses a good point about cowardly people. When the Secretary of the State mentions some bad things about King Amanullah, Amir Habibullah becomes angry at him and says to him “I am a true man, he is a true man, but what is that to you dog?”(52) Probably Osman takes this dialogue from Amir Habibullah-e-
Kalakanee’s speech that he delivered at the Afghanistan Independence Day ceremony. Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee said to the crowds of people that
Amanullah or he didn’t achieve the independence. It has been achieved by the people. He does not attack Amanullah Khan in his speech, so Osman thinks that
Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee’s point of view about Amanullah was positive. Amir
Habibullah knows that the Secretary of the State is a coward, so he does not trust him. He praises Amanullah and Qasem because they are true and free men like him.
He says to the Secretary that Qasem is a great man, and he is sure that Amanullah is also a great man. “One can tell the difference between a real man and a coward by his friends” (55)
Ustad Qasem resumes singing after the debate with the Secretary of the State.
The songs take Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee to a joyful journey of his birthplace.
He sees “the vineyards, the silver-colored rivers, the narrow, quiet garden trails, the mud walls and their small stony ridges” (53) Qasem’s songs bring the girls of his district in front of his eyes. Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee is so lost in his world by the songs that tears appear in his eyes. Nothing could bring tears in his eyes, but 27
Qasem’s songs stimulate his feelings to cry. Amir Habibullah compares Qasem’s songs to the “gurgling of water which sang beautifully like Ustad ” (54). Qasem’s songs take Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee in a beautiful world, a world which is full of good things. These songs make the king powerful and strong and stimulate him to love and serve his country.
After the fall of Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee’s government, Qasem goes to
Nadir Shah’s court to see the new king. Qasem sees the Secretary of the State. He was the Secretary of the State who was insulted in Amir Habibullah-e-Kalakanee’s court. Qasem looks at him and reminds him of those memories simply by looking into his eyes. Osman compares Ustad Qasem’s tongue to Saadi’s tongue. When the courtier says to Qasem that the king “is still sleeping”, he quotes from Saadi “I saw a cruel man asleep during the middle of the day, I said to myself, he is evil, it is better he stays asleep.” (55) The courtier wants to say something, but Qasem again quotes from Saadi “Better that Ali’s double-edged sword is in the sheath and Saadi’s tongue in his mouth.” (55)
Hence, Osman claims that Qasem’s tongue is sharper than the sword of kings and courtiers. This tongue can give motivation to a country to live free and resist against any kind of invasion. Therefore, men like Qasem have a high reputation among people and they should be praised.
28
From Childhood to Adulthood
Barat the Wrestler and I paints the world of a Kabuli man. This short story is written from the Kabuli man’s point of view. He narrates his best period of life. This story shows his pleasant childhood, and also how he tried to achieve his ambition.
Osman starts the short story with a vivid picture of the narrator’s childhood.
He writes that childhood memories are unforgettable. “Childhood memories are like a stream of drowsy melodies that one hears coming from a distant forest.”(58) It shows the beauty of a lifetime. A mother’s skirt is like paradise. However, when a child continues growing up, he or she begins to encounter many problems.
In a similar way, it can be seen that Kabul, the birthplace of the narrator, is given a role like that of a mother. A person has an organic relation both with his/her birthplace and with his/her mother. People know the value of their birthplace and country when they stay in a foreign country for a while. Then they learn the meaning of the famous saying that ‘There is no place like home.’
In this story, the “breeze blowing from the Sher Darwaza Mountain”(58) is like the gentle hands of a mother that slowly taps this child and lulls him to sleep.
The narrator remembers the “ancient melody” that was lulling him into sleep.
Different cultures have different melodies for children, but the melody in Kabul is cool. Pure mothers hum it to their innocent children. This melody is so sweet for the children that it sends them into a deep and delightful sleep. This melody reminds the
Afghans of their childhood. Kind mothers always hum this melody “Alalo lalo lalo, alalo, my boy, alalo”. (58) When Afghans hear it from mothers humming to their 29
children, they enjoy it and remember their childhood. Their childhood memories are tied up with this delightful melody.
Osman shows that the world of children is full of hope and dreams. He states this by using the words and phrases such as, “morning, golden sun, crystal blue sky and mother’s smile” (60). These are all signs of a happy beginning in life. Later in the story, the mother interprets her son’s dreams, and it makes life more meaningful and beautiful for her son. She makes her son hopeful and eager for his future life.
Osman is likely to have a clear message for all mothers. He says to them that they should motivate and make their children hopeful for the future. “It announces your great future” (60) There are horoscopes and some other ways of telling fortune that give people motivation to work hard and achieve their dreams. In this short story when the narrator’s mother interprets her son’s dreams and says to him “By God’s help you will grow up” (60), the boy tries to become a great hero like Barat, the great wrestler in old Kabul. At the end of the story, the reader can see that the Kabuli boy tries to be a powerful wrestler.
As human beings we all have dreams. Some of the dreams come true, but some others do not. It is generally believed that one who seeks, will find. The important thing to be considered is tolerance. A person should tolerate defeats, hardships and not easily give up. The narrator’s great ambition is to become a wrestler like Barat. He practices wrestling by deadlocking weak boys. He continues to wrestle weak boys and be proud of himself until the time that the coppersmith’s son headlocks him. He starts to believe that he is weak and that there is a big difference between him and Barat. 30
Once again his mother makes him hopeful and teaches him a great lesson “A person has to fall, fall again and again … until he gets up and becomes a champion in life.” (62) A strong person is always self-confident and never accepts defeat. He/ she dies, but never gives up. Ernest Hemingway in his great work , The Old Man and the
Sea, shows the old man (Santiago) as a determined person in life. Eighty four days pass without catching any fish, but still he hopes to catch one. On the eighty fifth day, he catches a big fish. After a long battle between Santiago and the fish in the sea, he pulls the fish to the shore, but unfortunately only the backbone of the fish remains. It is not important what is left from the fish. The important thing is the old man’s determination. He tolerates severe hardship, but he never gives up.
Sometimes animals teach great lessons to human beings. An ant picks up a piece of food to carry it to its home, but it falls. It picks it up again to carry, again it falls. The action of falling down and picking up repeats so many times, but the determined ant takes it to its home finally.
The narrator in Barat the wrestler and I experiences ups and downs in life and never gives up. The role of the mother, the role of Kabul city, the lesson about perseverance turns him into an experienced man.
31
Step Outside One’s Carpet
The short story Up There and Down Here draws the distinction between a high class family and a low class family. Baba Muhammd Alam wants to hold a wedding party for his son, but he does not have a place for it. Mudir, Baba’s master, offers his glorious house for the wedding party. On the Thursday night, guests attend
Sher Alam’s wedding. However, the wedding party ends in a sad and unexpected way. While Baba is dancing, he falls and breaks a glass table and an expensive vase on the table. In this short story, the difference between high class and low class is displayed very well.
Osman describes Mudir as a crafty person. “Mudir, a conniving, foxy individual,” (63) When he hears about Baba’s problem, he wants to take advantage of it. Mudir suggests to his wife that Baba Muhammad Alam can celebrate his son’s party in their house “If we do this we will profit in two ways. First, Baba is going to be indebted to us and pray for us, and second we will have a free party. And we will save a night’s expenses.” (63) Osman tries to say that Mudir is a rich person, but he is very mean. He loves money, and he wants to save a night expenses, participating in Sher Alam’s wedding.
Osman expresses a good point about the meanness of rich people. Why are rich people so much more mean and greedier than poor people? The answer for this question can be found in the following anecdote:
A rich family and a poor family were neighbors. The poor earned two Liras everyday. This poor neighbor was paying one Lira to buy some meat to make kebab, 32
and another Lira was allocated for bread. Everyday the rich neighbor smelled kebab scent coming from his poor neighbor’s house. The rich man’s wife says to her husband that their neighbor is poor, but they eat kebab everyday. The rich neighbor thinks about a solution to prevent his family from asking good food, so he throws 20
Liras into his neighbor’s yard. The poor neighbor finds it and saves it. From that day on, the poor neighbor decides to buy one Lira bread and saves the other one to increase the amount of money they have. Mudir also wants to save expenses of a night and increase his money. According to Saadi, rich people are needier than poor people.
Osman shows Baba’s family’s guests to be rural and simple. He describes them in “colorful clothes, some ripped or in patches, others intact” (65) In
Afghanistan, people who live in the countryside wear colorful clothes like pink, green, yellow and some other bright colors. A rural person can be easily distinguished from an urban person by his/her clothes. In the same way, Osman talks about the position of Baba’s guests’ posture. They are sitting “cross-legged” on the floor. Poor people have simple houses without chairs, table, and couches. On the other hand, Mudir guests are sitting on the couches, which is a sign of high class people. Baba’s guests are looking at everything in amazement as if it is their first time that they see all these luxurious things. Similarly, Baba’s wife is described as a woman with a dirty scarf. The other interesting thing that shows the difference between the classes is the musician. The musician in Sher Alam’s wedding is “A bazaar musician, who had oiled his head and smeared red make-up on his face and lips,” (65) 33
Osman gives a hint for the unhappy ending of the story. “Suddenly a devilish idea sprang up in Mudir’s mind. He yelled, listen everybody! Where is Baba?” (65)
This devilish idea later in the story causes smashing the glass and vase into pieces.
Baba suffers a lot from his bad economical condition. He is described as a dirty and badly clothed old man. He has only one set of clothes, and he cannot afford to buy new clothes for himself, even for his son’s wedding. This tells the reader about the bad economical condition of poor people. The crowd in the wedding party laughs at him because he is poor. “As soon as the guests saw Baba, they burst out laughing.” (65) This is law of the nature and habit of people that laugh at poor and weak people and praise rich and strong people. Does Osman want to make fun of
Baba or does he condemn people for teasing him? It appears that he stings both Baba for his simple character, and Mudir for his arrogant and manipulative character. He shows Baba to be unfamiliar with dancing. Baba never danced before in his life. He sweats and looks foolish during dancing. He dances like a bear. Osman also criticizes
Baba’s appearance. His socks are torn and his turban is “dirty, smoke-ridden, and beige.” (67) It shows that he does not care about his appearance at all. Not only his appearance is very poor, but also his character is very bad. He is like an electrical doll in the hands of Mudir. However, he is poor, but he can live a free life.
The climax of the story is the time when Baba becomes dizzy and vomits and crashes onto a glass table. The table and a crystal vase break. In fact, Mudir causes the crash. He smokes a cigarette, but the “smoke began to irritate his throat.”
Similarly, Mudir’s wife notices Baba’s dizziness and warns Mudir to stop Baba from 34
dancing, but Mudir is lost in his own world and enjoys the party. Therefore, Mudir is faulty not Baba.
Osman highlights the distinction between the high class and low class more clearly when Baba breaks the glass. Mudir and his wife become angry. “You bastard, get lost! You and your ugly pockmarked woman, bald and blind.” (68) Mudir’s discrimination becomes severe when he says to Baba that he does not deserve to be in places like Mudir’s luxurious room “How can a donkey enjoy sweet halwa and sugar drinks?” (68) This proverb by Mudir is similar to the metaphor that Hally, the white rich character says to the black servants in the play Master Harold … and the boys by Athol Fugard. Hally says to the black servants “what the hell does a black man know about flying a kite.” In fact, Hally says to them that black people do not know about freedom, and they should serve for the whites.
Sher Alam, Baba’s son blames his father for choosing Mudir’s house for the wedding. “He stepped outside his carpet, beyond our class.”(69) This short story demonstrates how people do not allow each other to cross the divide of social class.
Even people of a lower class do not allow their own people to change to a higher class. The characters and theme of Up There and Down Here are very much similar to the characters and theme of the short story The Necklace by Guy de Mapassant. In
The Necklace Mathilde who is a selfish woman and from a low class family wants to appear rich and high class. She is invited to a ball, so she borrows a diamond necklace from her friend and wears it in the ball. She loses the necklace in the ball.
After she loses the diamond necklace, she and her husband, Loisle works for several years to buy a necklace diamond and gives it to her friend instead of the lost 35
necklace. In the story Up There and Down Here , Baba also works for twenty months to pay for the smashed table and vase. The slight difference between Baba and
Mathilde is that Mathilde pays for her selfishness, but Baba pays for his bad luck and his bad economical condition.
36
Money is Sweet
Among the short stories by Dr Akram Osman, A Free Coffin is very comical and ironic. Lala Asghar is described in a way that makes the readers to laugh. He is portrayed as a money lover. This story shows the intense interest of some people in money and other belongings.
From the very beginning of the story the readers know the main character of
A Free Coffin . He is very mean, and he tries to earn big benefits from his customers and other business people. Osman makes an exaggeration and says that “If he could fill his stomach with just water, he wouldn’t eat food.”(71) It shows the degree of his meanness. Lala Asghar has a good reason for eating little. He quotes from Hakem Ji
Guban Ram, the herbal doctor that gluttony is very bad for humans. “If a person wants a long life he must leave the table with his stomach half full.” (71) Is a half full stomach good for health? In Gulstan , Saadi writes that a doctor went to Meca to treat people. Nobody came to him for a long time. Then he went to Prophet Mohammad
(PBUH) and said to him that he has not got any patient so far. Mohammad (PBUH) said to him that people do not eat until they are very hungry, and they stop eating when their stomach is half full. It is seen that a half full stomach is healthy, but in the case of Lala Asghar it is different. Lala Asghar and his family eat so little that they cannot get what their bodies need. “ As for why his kids were just skin and bones,
Lala would lay the blame on fate”(73) Like a philosopher, he tries to convince his family that eating little food is good for humans, but the results show that it is disastrous for Lala’s family. Lala’s advice is an irony. He says that eating little is 37
good for health while his family members are not healthy because of little eating.
Probably, his family members dream of different kinds of food every night.
Money gives him characteristics of an animal. He sells his three daughters for thirty thousand Afghanis each, and he buys his second wife. He has four sons. The youngest one is twenty five and the oldest is thirty eight. They are all singles. Does
Asghar deserve to marry for the second time, or do his son’s deserve to marry for the first time? However, Lala marries for the second time, but he always blames himself for paying thirty thousand Afghanis in exchange of his second wife. Osman shows
Lala’s interest for money. He had married his daughters in exchange of money, but he does not want to make his son’s marry because he does not want to spend some money. Lala’s love of money comes before his love of his family to provide for their needs (marriage and food to eat). He makes all the family his enemy. “They eagerly longed for the day when they could mourn for him.” (73) Money makes him a lonely person. Probably Lala has heard Machiavelli’s advice about collecting capital.
Osman also points out to the big social problem that exists in most societies.
Lala Asghar has two wives. He married his cousin forty years ago. There is no problem with this couple. They have seven children and there is no other reason to marry for the second time. Does Asghar need to marry for the second time with a girl who is forty years younger than he? For sure, he is a selfish, and he wants everything for himself. We see a male-dominated society in this story. A man can marry several wives for his sexual pleasure, and the women live like slaves.
Lala is not a free man. He is tied up with his belongings. “His shop was full like a perfume seller’s bag, with hundreds of different things, some precious, some 38
useless.”(74) Belongings are for prosperity in life, but life is not for collecting things.
According to Henry David Through, the American philosopher, some people have many things, but they do not know how to use them. Those things are like chains that tie them up, and they do not know how to get rid of them. Similarly, when Shams tabrezi’ met Maulana, he said to him that he is too heavy with his books, students and his preaching in the mosque. He said to Maulana that he cannot run because he is tied with all these things. He asked him to quit all these things in order to be free and light. Maulana accepted Sham’s advice. After his abandonment of all those things, he saw the world different and very pleasant. Money and belongings – both things tie us down, we are not free with them. They do not bring us happiness. Does the story tell us about the happiness of Lala?
Lala is overloaded with the taste of earning money that he forgets the main purpose of life. Lala runs here and there to earn money. Osman calls Lala a bulldozer. He works very hard, but he does not spend money on clothes and food.
Money enslaves him. He repairs “each pair of his slippers as often as twenty times,”
(74) He tries to imitate potters that drink water in broken pots. When Lala complains about his shoes to his family and friends, they persuade him to buy a car. After thinking a lot about getting a car, he buys an old car. His car does not go, but Lala pushes the car. “Lala’s car blew out smoke from ten different holes.” (75) Lala wants to save some money by buying the old car. In fact, he threw his money away. Osman states that if Lala had bought a suitable car, he could have saved some money, but he bought an old car for a small amount of money, so his money was spent on nothing. 39
Sometimes his mean acts make against him. One day after collecting money from his rental shops, a friend sees Lala and gives him a lift. Lala becomes happy like a lion that sees a deer and forgets his own car. “Lala’s eyes sparkled with delight as he thought, what a great opportunity! Here is a free ride!”(75) When he gets out of the car, he remembers that he has a car himself. He runs, and then he rents a taxi.
Lala wants to save some money by the free ride, but it makes against him. Not only he cannot save some money, but he pays twenty Afghanis for his mean act. His free ride is like buying the old car. In both cases he loses some money in return for nothing. Is money for him or is he for money? For sure he serves just money. He suffers and tries in vain because he cannot use his money. He does not use his old car, but he waits for a long time to get on a crowded bus. He does not buy a new pair of shoes instead he repairs his shoes many times.
Lala loves his old car very much. It is his beloved. When he sees his car in its place, he thanks God. He talks to his car as if it is his beloved. The scene of talking to his car is similar to a scene of Romeo and Juliet play by Shakespeare. Romeo stands under the balcony and talks to herself about Juliet. Lala sits in his car and blame himself for forgetting his beloved car.
Lala realizes that his mind is very busy with business that he forgets all the other things in life. All the time he worries about business and his mind is busy in dealings. He is like the businessman that saadi met in Kesh Island. The businessman invites Saadi to his tent. All the night he worries about his business. Then he pledges to Saadi that he will quit business when he returns from a trip to China, Rome, Halb,
Yaman … Lala is also roaming everywhere, and he does not have a single minute to 40
spend out of his business. According to Saadi, only satisfaction or the grave can fill in the narrow-eyes of a money lover. He is not satisfied with what he has.
Lala is a clever business man. He knows business people in the bazaar very well. When the young boy in front of the money changers market says to him that he buys money from other countries expensive and sells them cheap, Lala answers him in a way that shows his knowledge of the bazaar and business people. He is very good at dealing with businessmen. He deals with Mosa, the money changer and the jeweler successfully and makes a lot of money. Then he goes to buy leather from Nur
Agha’s leather shop. Nur Agha is also shown an expert in business, but in comparison to Lala he is nothing. After much bargain, the deal ends with an agreement. Lala makes a lot of money from these three deals.
The intense interest for earning much money makes Lala dizzy and unusual.
He is lost in his business world, and he does not have a place for other things in his mind. For Lala this world means money. Without money there is nothing. When he earns much money from the deals, he begins to daydream. “In his mind, he found himself in the markets of Hamburg, Frankfurt, Manchester and London where he shrewdly traded his merchandise for cash.”(78) He makes some other deals in his imaginary world. Suddenly, he hits a bus and comes to the real world. This is the start of his bad luck. The reader witnesses that in the next deals, he loses some money. After the accident, the custom officials also take some money as bribe from
Lala. Osman writes that “Lala left the custom office, completely frustrated with the officials.”(79) Certainly, the officials took some money from him as bribe. Osman 41
finds a chance to both shows Lala’s lose and points out to the corruption that is widely going on in the governmental offices in Afghanistan.
The next lose for Lala is when he deals with Maqeem, another shopkeeper.
Lala wants to deceive haji Maqeem and makes some money, but Maqeem is more expert than Lala. Lala uses his blade-like tongue and convey his message to Moqeem that he is very clever in business, but Maqeem remembers his father’s advice “ First, listen closely to what he is saying, then when the person has finished, just say “ that’s amazing” (82) the reader can see that at the end of Lala’s speech, Maqeem says that’s amazing, and it works. Lala sees that Maqeem is very clever and he cannot deceive him, so he pays a lot of money for Maqeem. “, took out the money that he had got from Zaher the jeweler and Musa the Jew, and handed it over to Haji
Maqeem as a down-payment.” (82) The last dealing with Maqeem has a bad effect on Lala. When he arrives home, he passes out in the hallway.
When Lala passes out, the family becomes very happy. They think that Lala is going to die, and they will start a new life. “They screamed and clawed at their heads and chests. But, deep down in their hearts, everyone was glad.”(83) The family prepares everything for the funeral ceremony, as if they are celebrating a wedding party. They think that Lala’s death is the beginning of their new lives. Their eyes are on their inheritance. But Lala wants to know what will happen after his death, so he acts like a dead person. He becomes disappointed when he sees all the expenses that the family accrues for his funeral ceremony. He attacks them with his umbrella and warns them not to spend his money for a grave and a coffin. On the other hand, he is 42
happy for the grave and coffin that his family bought for him because “he could sleep in them for free and again save some money!”(85)
43
He who Had a Bad Name While Alive, Has Become so
Noble in Death
The Secret Unsealed is a critical short story. A retired intellectual and the
Minister of Culture decide to commemorate the 100 th anniversary of Fazel Kabuli’s death. They do not know about the time of his death and the location of his tomb, so they fabricate them. Osman complains about people who ignore scholars while they are alive. He states that when they are alive, they are unknown, but when they die, people regret and celebrate memorials for them.
The retired director wants to be famous and the center of attention. He suggests to the minister of culture of Afghanistan to commemorate Fazel Kabuli’s
100 th anniversary. The minister accepts it with pleasure because he also wants to show that he is an active minister and take advantage of it. In fact, they do not care about Fazel Kabuli, but they want to embezzle some money from the conference budget and promote a rank.
Osman writes that the culture minister does not know the poet. “He issued an order that under the direction of this highbrow dignitary, a public and literary conference be organized to glorify the suggested poet,” (87) By writing “the suggested poet”, Osman indicates that the minister does not know the name of a great writer. He shows the ignorance of the Culture minister about the culture of his country. Not only does Osman criticize the culture minister for his ignorance, but he also stings the ignorant intellectuals that come together to celebrate Fazel Kabuli’s
100 th anniversary. He describes them in a way that shows their empty heads. These 44
intellectuals only know how to eat and drink. They come to run a conference, but still they do not know the date of the poet’s death. ,“They agreed that the unknown date of the poet’s death did, in fact, correspond with the date that the director of the conference had fabricated,” (89) In the same way, none of them know the location of
Fazel Kabuli’s grave. “The shallow-minded lackeys” (89) search for Fazel Kabuli’s grave for several months, but nobody knows where his grave is. Osman argues that when Fazel Kabuli died, nobody from among the intellectuals or the government attended his funeral ceremony. Isn’t it funny that now they come together to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of his death? For sure Osman makes fun of those who do not know the value of great scholars.
When the director becomes disappointed not to find the grave, he fabricates the location of Fazel’s grave like the date of his death. When he reports it to the illiterate culture minister, he accepts it. Osman says that it is not only Fazel Kabuli’s destiny, most other poets and scholars were ignored while alive, but became good while they are dead. “He had in fact been able to verify the tombs of many prominent literary figures” (89) When Fazel Kabuli was alive, he didn’t have money to buy food but now the people that come to run the conference and engineers from the municipality spend a lot of money in their meetings and debates to find the Fazel’s grave.
At the inauguration of the conference, participants “praise and gratitude for all the prophets and Saints.” (91) Osman hints about the life story of prophets. All prophets had a difficult time during their lives. They suffered and tolerated a lot.
Now people praise them and send prayers to them. At the conference, the director 45
praises the minister of culture. He tries to make the minister happy, so that he reaches his goals. However, the minister and the director have little knowledge, but their expectation is high. “You would think that heaven and earth were waiting in anticipation to express their gratitude and indebtedness for every deliberate step he took toward the podium.”(92) The participants also roll toward power and money.
They have their eyes on the scale. They slip to the heavier side of the scale. When the director praises the minister, the audience makes cheers. The conference is held to commemorate and appreciate Fazel Kabuli’s 100 th anniversary, but instead the minister of culture is praised. In fact, the conference is held to appreciate from the activities of the culture minister who does not do anything for culture.
There was no one to help Fazel Kabuli when he was alive. Now all the participants claim that Fazel is from their family trees. They forget their own forefathers. They try to prove that Fazel Kabuli is their forefather. In fact, they do not care about Fazel Kabuli. They want to be linked to him and become famous. Then it is seen that they become shameful when the director states that Fazel died before he was married. During the discussions about Fazel Kabuli, Osman finds an opportunity to describe Fazel Kabuli’s physical appearance. He is described as a short, broad fore headed man with small ears and neat moustache.
Osman appears like Fazel Kabuli’s spirit and complains to the director. He says that those who say the truth, they cannot promote and be successful in life. ,“and instead of speaking the truth, I had been a liar. Then I could have embraced the darling of good fortune tightly in my arms and enjoyed” (95) In order to prove his 46
point, Osman shows the director that promotes because he is a liar, and he fabricates everything.
Osman complains that Fazel lived in a moist room and ate old bread, but now the government spends a lot of money to commemorate him. This director did not lend 50 Afghanis for his mother, but now he praises his talent and spends a lot of money from the treasure of the government in vain. Osman claims that if the government helped Fazel, he would live some more years. Fazel suffered a lot in his life. When he was asking from the daily and weekly papers to print his poems, they refused to do it. “, asking them to print my little couplets of poetry, and returning home completely discouraged.”(95) Many years after his death, now the ministry decides to print his poems.
Most scholars had and have the same life story like Fazel Kabuli. When
Galileo Galilei expressed his idea about universe and said that sun is center of the universe, he was sentenced to house arrest for life. When he died, the ruler didn’t allow his body to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce. Many years later he was taken out from his grave and was buried in Basilica of Santa Croce. Fazel is more unfortunate than Galileo. Galileo’s grave is certain, but Fazel’s grave is unknown.
Similarly, Firdausi creator of the epic masterpiece Shahnamah in the Persian language worked hard on his book for thirty years, but when he presented
Shahnamah to Sultan Mahmood, it was rejected by him. Firdausi became disappointed like Fazel Kabuli. Many other scholars had the same sad story. Their value is known very late. 47
Osman expresses that honesty is the best policy. The inauguration of Fazel
Kabuli’s tomb in Shohada-ye-Salehin ends in a shameful way for the director and for the minister of culture. When some people claim that the grave belongs to their father, and it is not Fazel Kabuli’s grave. All the participants know that these two men are traitors, and they fabricated Fazel Kabuli’s grave. The Minister of culture and the director did many bad things, so at the end they got what they deserved.
48
Aristocratic Selfishness
From the Root of a Shrub starts with an introduction to Nabi, the main character of the short story. He is alone and homeless. He does not have parents and relatives. He is in a poor economical state. He is a tall, stout and handsome boy.
From his behavior with urchins, and his conversation with Khalifa Ghyas, the bricklayer, it is known that Nabi is not only handsome, but he is also clever. This short story focuses mainly on three aspects of life: selfishness, aristocracy, and freedom.
Mary is the second main character in the story. She is a woman with selfish taste. When she sees Nabi, she thinks that her dreams come true. She thinks that Nabi is a perfect man to hire as her servant and shows off to her rivals, Suri and Nilo.
From Mary’s point of view, Osman writes that Nabi resembles Omar Sharif, the
Hollywood actor. “Nabi was like Omar Sharif, a man she could only dream about, the well-known movie star from Egypt now living in America, who had broken the hearts of thousands of women around the world”(103) Nabi breaks Mary’s heart.
Now she wants to break her rivals’ hearts by hiring Nabi as her servant. Mary wants
Nabi to look exactly like Omar Sharif, so she orders her servant, Husain to take Nabi to a bath, barber shop and then buy some clothes for him. Nabi is made ready for
Mary’s selfish show.
Mary’s husband is also a man who is interested in beautiful girl servants. He wants to have a beautiful girl servant instead of a man. “She should be good humored 49
and coquettish, one who understood hints and signals and could keep secrets.”(107)
He likes beautiful girls to serve for him and with whom he can have an affair as he had affair with the past girl servants. He cannot express his ideas about hiring a servant. Mary is the boss in the family. She can do whatever she wants, and Rash, her husband, is like a servant in the house, so he cannot hire girl servants.
The theme of selfishness in this story is also personified in the characters of
Suri and Nilo. They show off their servants to Mary. Suri shows off her servant,
Abdul, who is a good decorator, and Nilo shows off her exceptional cook. In fact, there is a soft struggle between Mary and the two of her rivals. Each of them wants to have and find exceptional things and show them to the others. Now chance is with
Mary. She dresses Nabi like Omar Sharif. ,“ She bought a black woolen suit, a pair of suede boots, a stylish silk necktie and a shirt with a ruffed-up collar for him”(112)
Nabi with all these things looks like Mary’s dreamed man, Omar Sherif. He is ready to break the rivals’ hearts. Mary makes a plot and shares it with Hussain and Rash.
Her plot is similar to the plot that Zulikha made in ancient Egypt. When Zulikha falls in love with Joseph, she runs after Joseph to have sex with him. The news of this event spread to the city, and all the women said bad things about Zulikha. Then
Zulikha invited them to a party and gave each of them an apple with a knife. While they were peeling the apples, Zulikha asked Joseph to enter the saloon. All the women cut their fingers, when they saw Joseph’s beauty. Mary does the same thing.
As Mary shares her plot with Rush, Zulikha also shared her plot with her husband,
Potiphar. Potiphar became angry at Zulikha, but Rash cannot say anything to Mary.
He must obey his wife. In both cases the selfish women want to show off their 50
handsome servants to the others. Beauty breaks the glass of the pitiful people. Beauty is not found in the air. It is found in human beings like Nabi. Therefore, people should not blame people for being in love with somebody.
Mary introduces Nabi very skillfully. She raises a statement that makes suspension. “Tonight we have a very special guest who just arrived from America to join our group.” (113) It fills Suri, Nilo, Sha Gul, Gulu, Mammat and Ibrahim with anticipation. They are very eager to see the movie star. Mary fools them all. One goes to bathroom to freshen herself up. Nilo her main rival says “Why didn’t you tell us earlier so I could have worn proper clothes” (113) When Nabi is introduced to the guests, they feel ashamed and become angry at Mary. So far Mary’s arrow has hit the goal. Apparently, Nilo and Suri become angry, but at heart they praise Mary’s choice for choosing such a handsome servant. “The ladies acted as if they didn’t really care, but their stealthy glances revealed that they desperately wanted Nabi.”(115) Not only the ladies admire Nabi’s beauty in their hearts, but also Ibrahim calls him a perfect man. Ibrahim describes his physical appearance, and says there is nothing bad about
Nabi.
Rash cannot tolerate Nabi and the foolish joke which is going on. He becomes fierce and insults Nabi and Mary. He throws an empty bottle of wine toward Mary, but Nabi whose patience is exhausted by now, catches the bottle and hits it over Rash’s head. Mary’s selfish act caused all these problems. Osman teaches a great lesson to the readers. Selfishness always causes problems. In the Necklace by
Guy de Maupassant when Mathilde loses the diamond necklace, she works for 51
several years to pay for her selfish act. Now it is for Mary to compensate her selfish act.
The second theme that is prominent in From the Root of a Shrub is the characteristics of aristocratic families. We live in a world of extremes. Some are rich and others are desperately poor. One is white. The other is black. Rich people look at poor people as slaves. The rich is always the oppressor, and the poor is always oppressed. High class people are different in all aspects of life. “A nice beggar’s life, sleeping like a king” (101) Osman says that low class people are looking for livelihood from early morning to late at night. They wake up early in the morning like Khalifa Ghyas, and the other poor day-laborers to find a piece of bread for their families. On the other hand, high class people live in prosperity and sleep late in the day. We see that Nabi is wandering to find a piece of bread. He does not have a room to pass the night in, so he sleeps in Baba Nawruz’s tea shop. In contrast, Rash and
Mary have a glorious house with many servants. Similarly, Nabi does not have a donkey to sit on, but Mary has a luxurious car. Nabi never got in a car in the past, and when he gets in Mary’s car, “He imagined he had entered the garden of paradise and was riding on Solomon’s legendary throne.”(103) High class people live such a comfortable life, while poor people are vagrant, needy, and miserable.
The high class families in this short story are for sure Mohammadzayees, the tribe that ruled in Afghanistan from 1929-1975. Each person from this tribe was receiving an amount of money every month as salary. They had much land and capital. All the good positions in the government were covered by them. If a minister or ambassador passed away, his son was his successor. According to Mir Ghlam 52
Mohammand Ghobar, author of Afghanistan in the Course of History , Mohammad
Naim Khan, Nadir Shah’s nephew was ambassador of Afghanistan in Italy at the age of eighteen. He was the youngest ambassador in the history of the world diplomacy.
The other evidence that shows Osman is writing about Mohammadzayees is the good relationship that Nadirshah had with the British Empire. Osman describes
Mohammad Solomon, a person form this aristocratic class handsome and well dressed. He has a walking cane. “He claimed that Lord Auckland, the British viceroy, had given the cane to his grandfather when he had visited India as the king’s ambassador of goodwill.”(110) Clearly, Osman talks about Mohammadzayees tribe.
Osman knows about Mohammadzaiyees a lot because he himself is a
Mohammadzayee. He knows the life style of them very well. Hence, he is very successful in describing them.
Rash is represented as one of the closest persons to the kings family. He is very proud of his aristocratic family. He is like Alec, the protagonist in Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Alec claims that he is from the aristocratic family, but he seduces Tess. Rash also claims that he is from a high class family but he had affairs with the servant girls. Osman states that people from the aristocratic class are always involved with bad things. Power and money make them wild. They know very little about humanity.
Gul Mohammad is not from this aristocratic tribe, but he married Rash’s cousin and made himself part of this aristocratic class. ,“a patch on the end of a sleeve or the sixth finger.”(110) A person can become an aristocrat through marriage.
What ‘aristocracy’ actually means? If Mary can dress Nabi to look like a movie, star 53
and if a person can marry to become an aristocrat, then what value does aristocracy actually have? Similarly, the reader encounters Ibrahim and the four women characters that are all arrogant and selfish. They are jealous of each other. Each one wants to be super. Aristocracy is like a cloth that a group of people wear. It is a title that they give for themselves as a privileged class.
On the other hand, we have a simple countryman, Nabi. From the little boys in the street to the tea shop owner and laborers all bother him. Osman shows Nabi’s simple character by writing, Nabi does not want to put off his turban. He wears it with suit. When Mary asks him to remove it, he says that it is a sin. It shows the false culture of a back-warded society. Most people follow others and some stupid cultural things without thinking about them. However, in the conversation between Nabi and
Khalifa Ghyas, Nabi shows that he is a clever boy. “You are a smart guy”(102)
Poverty is a phenomenon that makes anybody simple, fool and weak. We live in a world of injustice. A small number of people live a luxurious life, but most people starve. The oppression that Moahmmadzayee tribe committed in Afghanistan is very huge. Nabi is a sample of those millions of people in Afghanistan who are kept in darkness and poverty. Nabi is better than Rash both physically and mentally, but
Rash lives a prosperous live while Nabi lives in poverty. The governments always tried to keep people far from knowledge and prosperous life, so that they govern well and forever.
The third prominent theme in this short story is freedom. When Mary sees
Nabi in the bazaar, she signals to him and looks at him as if Nabi is a slave, and he has been brought to the bazaar for sale. ,“She was an experienced customer about to 54
buy something, like choosing a horse from a stable or a sheep from the sheep market.” (103) People are kept poor, so that they serve for the aristocratic families.
These aristocratic families want to take people’s independence and change them into robots. “She wanted to turn Nabi into something soft and gentle, shaped into whatever she liked.”(106) clearly, Rash says that “a male servant had no independent personally.”(107) he expects Nabi to follow him like an ape and never says No to him. Aristocracy has very little value, but the power that comes with it is very strong.
This power allows a person to take away another person’s freedom.
Nabi has a room to rest, and also he has a good salary and food, but he does not have freedom of the past. Nabi is better than Rash, but the time makes Rash a master and Nabi a servant. Nabi cannot tolerate his current status, but Mary has tied him with invisible strong chains. She has used a kind of new colonization. It is a kind of paradoxical situation. Nabi is free, but at the same time he is trapped, and he does not have independence. In the novel Our Street , chapter 36, Osman writes that
Mohammad Yones Sorkhabee, a revolutionary, is imprisoned. Two soldiers take him to his province in the north of Afghanistan. There is also an old man in the truck with them. When the old man knows that Yones Sorkhabi is against the government, he curses Satan and asks Sorkhabi to ask penance for the crime that he committed. He says to Sorkhabi that king is the shadow of God on earth, and everyone should follow him. When Sorkhabi hears it, he remembers the birds in one of his friends’ house that he visited a few years ago. There were two birds in a cage, but the door of the cage was wide open. The birds came out of the cage and flew outside the room in the yard and returning to their cage. Sorkhabi became astonished, but his friends said 55
to him do not be surprised. He has read new colonization in books, but now he sees it. Sorkhabi looks at the old man and says to himself that he is one of those birds.
The government tamed him. Nabi is also put in the cage by a skilled witch, Mary. He is free, but some unseen ropes tied him up. He cannot leave Mary. Nabi tolerates the slavery and ignores all the insults until the time that Rash throws the bottle toward
Mary. Nabi breaks all the chains and revenge from Rash. Then he goes out of the cage forever. Osman finally makes his main character free and makes him a sample for the others.
56
A Clever Bird is Trapped in Two Rings
The Moderate Politician tells the story of a tricky person, Mr Abdul Manan
Khan Haziq. He is shown very successful in life. As his name suggests, he is a skillful and tricky person. He plays tricks on everybody. “He would even mislead his wife, children, brothers and sisters.” (119) He is genetically born with deceit. At the same time he is courageous, self-confident and decisive. Nothing can stop or change his behavior. Probably, he is familiar with the work and advice of politicians. He struggles very hard to achieve his goals. Or perhaps, he is a vulture that looks for an opportunity to eat his share. “Fly in every dish of yogurt” (119) He is present everywhere, and he involves himself with the matters related or unrelated to him.
When a lion or some other animals hunt a prey, vultures are very decisive to take their shares from the hunted animal. Mr Abdul Manan Khan is also a person with characteristics of a vulture. He does not care about frowned foreheads or gossips of people. He tries to achieve his goal.
Experiences show that these types of people are very successful at the beginning, but then they encounter problems. They do not care about honor, reputation and prestige. Once they reach their goals and are appointed in good positions and become rich, they gain honor and dignity again until the time they have money and good positions. He is like the prince of Machiavelli that does not care about honor. The closest people to him are nothing but the pawns on a chessboard.
He sacrifices all to achieve his goals. Later in the story it is seen that he divorces his loyal wife and leaves his children to promote in his political life, so he marries a lady 57
that is cleverer than him. Osman follows the life of this politician very accurately and examines each period of his life in details.
Osman shows the power of speech and reason in convincing people. There is no doubt that those politicians which are successful have fluency of speech. If we compare the power of the mind with the power of the sword, definitely we all agree that a clever mind is more powerful than the edge of a sharp sword. He becomes famous by expressing his thoughts and verses of his poems. Like the short stories,
The Hero and the Coward and A Free Coffin , Osman shows the power of speech.
Manan is a liar however he can deceive people and satisfy them. Mr Abdul Manan
Khan is an expert in many fields without having attended any lessons in these fields.
If a person complains about a pain, he writes a long prescription for him. If a person talks about history, he judges his speech and comments on it. His interference in everything works very well. He is like the mullahs that make judgments, give comments and create rules. In this way they voodoo people and rule over them.
Mr Abdul Manan Khan serves himself. He does not trust a specific party. He thinks about his survival and benefits. “But like the flour-seller, he always had his eyes on the scale, so that when one side grew more popular, he immediately slipped to that side, like seeds on a scale, to join the weightier side.” (121) Hence, this moderate politician is not supporting a specific ideology. He tries to have a comfortable life. He is not a revolutionary to sacrifice himself for achieving the goals of the party, but he is like a fox that take advantage of time and support himself.
Osman makes a good point about the effects of slogans on people. Successful politicians promote by slogans. Mr Abdul Manan Khan is very good at making 58
slogans. He raises people’s emotions by a hundred false statements. He promotes very quickly and finds his place among people. His expertise in politics convinces people that he is an honest man. Also the party members think of him as a dedicated person to the party. Mr Abdul Manan Khan’s sharp tongue and political techniques wins more votes for him than others in the parliamentary elections, so he enters the parliament. Do parliament representatives find their ways to the house of people by lies and false statements? People who have power and money, who could deceive people, get a lot of votes. In societies where democracy does not have deep roots, most of the government representatives succeed by using their power and money.
Similarly, in the societies with low level of awareness and knowledge tricky and foxy people can deceive people. Very few people who have knowledge and are deserved can enter the parliament. Mr Abdul Manan does not want anyone to be bothered by his slogans. “In essence none of his slogans promoted any specific political school of thought.”(122) Manan’s political thought is neuter, and he can promote well by following this policy
Finally Osman tells the reader about how Mr Abdul Manan paid for his craftiness. Manan divorces his good wife and marries a woman who joins the weightier side of the scale like himself. She is cleverer than Mr Abdul Manan. She had divorced her ex-husband because he was not good. She could not live with him.
Now Mr Abdul Manan wants to marry her, so that he can gain promotion in his political field. Within a few years he becomes ambassador, but his happiness lasts only a few years. When his mission ends as an ambassador, her clever wife deceives him by transferring all his money into her account. Then she goes to the Monte Carlo 59
to find a new husband and live a good life. When she writes a letter to Mr Manan
Khan that she will not go to Kabul, Mr Manan Khan realizes his terrible mistake.
Osman goes deep in the world of politicians and describe it for his readers. He shows all the ways that politicians go, and then he shows the results that come out of those ways. Osman clearly implies that craftiness does not work all the time. Finally a clever bird is trapped in tow rings.
60
Characteristics of a Duck and a Fly
All over the world, offices are a place of discussion. In Afghanistan, employees talk and entertain themselves more than doing a job. The Enemy of Ducks describes a group of colleagues with different characters and tastes that come together in a magazine office.
From the very beginning of the short story, the variety of ideas draws the readers’ attention. Osman hints about some arrogant intellectuals. They have high self-esteem and think of themselves as geniuses of the time. They talk and lecture more than doing a task. The chairs are not comfortable, but these scholars find them like the beds of paradise. They daydream and imagine the most beautiful things in the world when they sit on the chairs, or they repeat their ideas. Or perhaps, they prepare themselves for a heated discussion.
The first interesting character who is introduced to the reader is Mr Faizullah
Khan Khush-nawis. His title indicates that his hand-writing is nice. He can write in different styles. All the reader knows about his physical appearance is his “runny nose which looked not at all dissimilar to a Chelam hookah pipe.”(128) The hookah pipe of a Chelam is a symbol for arrogant people. When someone becomes very proud and arrogant in Afghanistan, people say that his nose’s size increased like a
Chelam hookah pipe. He is the one that orders tea for the colleagues in the office.
When the tea man says black or green, he orders strong black tea. Probably, it functions like a strong alcoholic beverage for him. He also has a swan-printed pen that puts it in his pocket so that the others can see it and think of him as an academic 61
personality. He is very proud of his pen. When someone asks about the pen, he says that he received it as a gift. He tells a long story about it. Besides, the swan-printed pen, Mir Faizulllah Khan also has two pairs of glasses. He uses them in appropriate times and places. One pair of his glasses is wire-rimed. It looks simple and classic.
When he reads ancient books, he puts on his wire-rimed glasses. His second pair of glasses is tinted brown. “, and when he read modern, printed works, he wore his tented glasses.”(129) He thinks that glasses are the most important part of an intellectual personality. Mir Faizullah Khan judges everything from its appearance.
He does not look at the core of something that is why he is skilled in different styles of hand-writing. In fact, he does not care about the proverb Clothes do not make a man . Faizullah Khan is one of those many people that are lost in the appearance of things. In the movie Setta pe Satta from Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan falls in love with Hema Malini, but Hema Malini does not care about Amitabh because he is a badly-dressed boy. She loves Amjad Khan because he is a smart boy. Amitabh says to himself that it is not important to have a good character and to be knowledgeable, but it is important to be well-dressed and have a good appearance. Certainly Mir
Faizullah Khan is clever, and he wants to deceive those who judge a person’s knowledge by his or her appearance.
Mir Faizullah Khan’s knowledge is restricted to his dreams that he has at nights. He tells his dreams as if he is talking about an American fantasy or horror movie. “The sun had been completely eclipsed two times and was rising from the west.”(128) His dreams have a deep effect on Mirza Abdullah Khan, the chief secretary and proof-reader in the office. He is scared of Mir Faizullah Khna’s 62
dreams and refers to the dream books to interpret the dreams that Mir Faizullah Khan had. Mirza Abduallha Khan interprets Mir Faizullah Khan’s dreams like the fortune tellers in the streets. Then the accountant, Muhammad Asghar who is always busy with money, food and other supplies finds a chance to ask Mir Faizullah Khan to give a charity dinner because of his dreams, but Mir Faizullah Khan is cleverer than the accountant. He makes him calm by his false promises. He pledges to him that he will give a party in the future, but his future is very far that never comes
Faizullah Khan is one of those employees in the Afghan governmental offices that relax most of their time in the offices. He sleeps everyday in the office in the afternoons. Osman discloses the employees’ bad habit. Young employees escape, but old ones like Mir Faizullah Khan go to sleep. It is usual in the Afghan governmental offices. The ministers are aware of this serious problem, but they cannot do anything.
,“ ingenious minister put his finger to his lips and spoke very softly, “Mr. Secretary, thank God he is asleep. If he woke up, he too would disappear.”(130) The high rank people in the government are also easy going. In fact, the water is muddy from the origin. The ministers escape from work and commit a hundred other crimes. Then there should be no high expectations from the low rank staff.
The next character that the reader comes to know is Muhammad Kabir Chah
Abi. He is an experienced man, and he distinguishes good and bad very easily, especially he can distinguish bad people. “He understood well the ups and downs of life and could expertly read the palm of daily events.”(130) He is master of all jobs.
He did different jobs during his residence in Paris. The experiences that he got from all these jobs changed him into an experienced man. In the same way, he does not lie 63
and take bribes. “He didn’t have more than two or three sets of clothes,” (131) This indicates that he is not in a good economical condition. If he took bribes, he would be rich, but he is an honest man, and he avoids illegal money. Is it because he spent twelve years in a place where corruption is in a low level, or is it innateness? Most probably, it is nurture. He is trained to be an honest man.
In an evaluation done in 2010 about the corruption in the governmental systems of each country, Sweden is a country which is free from corruption. When the reason was searched, it was found that the government hires honest teachers at kindergartens and schools. Therefore, people are trained well from the beginning of their lives. May be Muhammad Kabir Chah Abi is influenced by a transparent governmental system because he lived for twelve years in Paris. Osman writes “he always tried to look as crisp and clean as possible. There was never a speck of dust anywhere on his shoes or coat.”(131) These two sentences proves his honesty and pureness.
However, he is director of the magazine, but he is a humble man. He says that
“Except for the shoemaker, everyone should clean his own shoes.” (132) He does not expect flattery from the low rank employees. In the same way, he never flatters the high rank people. He practices the verse of Quran that says human beings are equal like teeth of a comb. He is a kind-hearted man. He does not kill animals, and he does not eat meat. He is the enemy of flies and people who are aggressors like flies. “He killed only flies and mosquitoes because they were aggressor.” (132) Later in the story debates with Muhammad Anwar Faiz Alahi who is an aggressor like a fly. The other animals that Muhammad Kabir Chah Abi hates are ducks. He says that a duck 64
never sinks. “If the world were covered with water, it would only reach the duck’s feet.” (132) In fact, Chah Abi is the enemy of duck-like people. He hates people who have the characteristics of a duck. They keep themselves in their posts and gain promotion by a hundred tricks. He believes that nothing can sink them. This shows that honesty cannot always bring success.
The third intellectual in the office is the narrator of the story. He describes himself as tasteless like a pumpkin. He does not argue or discuss about anything. He cannot say ‘ No’ to anybody. He always confirms others’ sayings. “If the director said milk is white, I would say, that’s right. If he said that it is black, I would again say,
‘That is right.” Therefore he is afraid to have his own opinion or ideas or he does not want others to be bothered by his ideas. (132) He is like Mullah Nasruddin/ Hodja.
Two people were debating with each other. They came to Mullah Nasruddin to solve their problem. Nasruddin said to them that both of them are right. A person heard it and became angry at Nasruddin. He said to Nasruddin “How do you say that both of them are right?” Nasruddin said to him “you are also right”. The narrator follows
Nasruddin and does not want to make people angry.
The fourth character is Muhammad Anwar Faiz Alahi. Osman talks about him as an honorable illiterate Doctor. He got his PhD in fifteen years with several second chances. He has a PhD in geography, but he does not believe that the earth is round. Osman write that he is not a man of ideas, and he cannot talk about something independently in order to show his little knowledge. He is described as an opportunist person that listens to others, and at the end of discussion, he interferes and concludes the discussion to claim that he is the one who has all the solutions. 65
Unlike Muhammad Kabir Chah Abi, his physical appearance is fashionable.
“He always carried a pipe, chapeau, handbag, wallet, a special toothpick, lighter and sundry other items.” (134) He also learned how to say some prestigious words and phrases. Instead of saying Salam alaik , he says good morning . He carries a thick book with him to show to the others that he is a knowledgeable person. But the thick book is like his physical appearance. He opens the book in the middle to show that he has read so many pages of the book, but Osman laughs at him. He tries to tell the reader that after a few minutes he becomes tired of reading the thick book and closes it.
The other difference between Muhammad Anwar Faiz Alahi and Muhammad
Kabir Chah Abi is their behavior with people. Muhammad Kabir is the same with everyone, while Muhammad Anwar Faiz is changing his behavior from person to person. He is flattering someone of a high rank. On the other hand, he bothers and threatens low rank workers. When he sees the tea man, Baba Ramazan reading a literacy book, he asks him a question arrogantly. Poor Baba answers the questions incorrectly. Then Muhammad Faiz says sarcastically to Baba that “At the end of the day you’ll become a scholar,” (135) He is very proud of himself like the linguist in the story of The Linguist and the Sailor By Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi. In that story, the linguist asks the sailor “Do you know syntax and morphology”? “No” the sailor answers. The linguist says to the sailor that he has wasted half of his life. After a few minutes the ship breaks. The sailor asks the linguist “Do you know how to swim”?
“No” The linguist answers. The sailor says to the linguist that he has wasted his whole life. He says to him that the ship will sink, and he will die. Muhammad Anwar 66
Faiz is a person with the same characteristics. He is proud of his PhD and his position. If one day the ship breaks, he will be the first victim.
He is aggressor like a fly, so Muhammad Kabir Chah Abi hates him. When
Muhammad Anwar Faiz asks Muhammad Kabir to join him in teasing Baba
Ramazan, Chah Abi becomes angry at him and attacks him with his sharp tongue as if he kills a fly. “What can I say? A scholar? Perhaps, but I am not a show-off scholar.” (135) Chah Abi’s words hurt Muhammad Anwar deeply. He explodes and curses Chah Abi, but Chah Abi is cold-blooded. He continues to give jaw-breaking answers to Muhammad Anwar. Osman shows Muhammad Anwar’s little capacity in the debate with Chah Abi. He is like a small pot that becomes hot very quickly. He becomes fierce and utters vicious words, but Chah Abi’s words are like hard punches in his face.
After the debate he digs the ground under Chah Abi’s feet. He flatters and complains to the duck-like minister, and the minister fires Chah Abi from his job.
Chah Abi like a real man says the truth to the minister and proves that he hates to have characteristics of a duck.
In this short story, Osman examines characteristics and behavior of a small group of intellectuals. He describes the characters to the readers, so that they can judge about them. He makes his point clear by evaluating the knowledge and behavior of Doctor Muhammad Anwar Faiz Alahi and Chah Abi. Osman tries to persuade the reader to be honest and pure like Chah Abi, and he expresses his hatred from people who act like flies and ducks. 67
Dictatorship or Democracy
The Brains of the Family is a political short story. The story is written in the first person’s point of view. Osman creates two characters in this story. Through out the story these two characters debate with each other. One is a democrat and the other is a Fascist. Osman compares Fascism with democracy. There is a hard struggle between Fascism and democracy in this short story.
Osman paves the ground for telling his story. He starts the story with an explanation about how to tell a story. The narrator gives information about his grand father who produced a lot of children. The narrator’s cousin is Abdul Samad Jan. He is older than the narrator, so he calls him his uncle. He is a stupid educated man. In order to grab the readers’ attention and explain the character of his uncle, the narrator explains the meaning of stupid ( Lawlu ). The explanation of the word stupidity functions like a hook. Then he attaches the adjective stupidity to his uncle, Abdul
Samad Jan.
Abdul Samad Jan is a fan of Adolf Hitler, and he struggles for the ambitions of Fascism to the cost of his life. “In World War II, he registered in the army of the
Third Reich, voluntarily and for the sake of God, in order to express his racial solidarity.” (142) The narrator is on the side of allies and democracy, so Abdul
Samad does not have a good relationship with him. Abdul Samad Jan is influenced very much with Hegel and Alfredo’s ideas. He is the enemy of Hitler’s enemies. “To make a long story short, there were two people in this world that my uncle hated 68
more than anyone else -one was Churchill and the other myself.”(143) As Adolf
Hitler assumed everyone as his enemies; Abdul Samad Jan also thinks of people as enemies, so he hates Churchill and his cousin the most. In the discussion between
Abdul Samad Jan and the narrator, Osman makes his point clearer. He states that
Fascism was a false idea, and Hitler was a crazy man. Abdul Samad Jan is also compared to Hitler. When the narrator blames Hitler for using power, “My uncle would fly into a rage and try to teach me a lesson by beating and kicking me.” (144)
Hitler’s characteristics are given to Abdul Samad Jan. He is very atrocious and eager to see a third world war. He stands by his ideas and does not accept defeat.
Osman compares Abdul Samad Jan’s bet to the Second World War that Hitler started. Abdul Samad bets with his cousin that in the third World War Germany will win. He wants to bet a million, but his salary is only 1500 Afghanis. Osman says that
Hitler bet a million, but his power was only 1500. He overestimated his power, so he lost the war. “That kind of money is totally beyond my means. Let’s drop the bet.”
(145) Osman send a clear message for those who bet beyond their ability.
Consistently, Osman shows Abdul Samad Jan as an aggressor. Abdul Samad
Jan attacks his cousin. “Then he would attack. I would more aside and my uncle’s hand would smash into some glass.” (146) Osman hints about Hitler attack on the other countries. Hitler attacked the other countries, but he faced with strong resistance of them. They hit him so hard that he was sent to the other world. Osman states that the Second World War was not the end of everything. “He would not stop here. He would end up at the doctor’s to have his wound treated and bandaged.”
(146) After the war, everywhere was badly damaged. It needs many years to 69
reconstruct and build the war shuttered countries. Osman wrote this short story while he was staying in Austria. Probably, he saw the signs of the massive destruction that occurred in Austria and other European countries in the Second World War.
Abdul Samad Jan is a bigot Nazi. He is very much dedicated to Hitler and to the other bigot Nazis. He is like the famous anti-Semite that killed many Jews. When he was arrested, he changed his religion and became a Jew. The court sentenced him to execution. He asked the judges to let him write something on a piece of paper and put it under a stone as his last wish. He asked them that the paper should be read after his execution. On the paper it was written “I am happy that I see a Jew’s death in the last moments of my life.” Abdul Samad Jan is so much lost in Fascist ideas that he sacrifices himself to reach the fascist goals. He describes Germany like a paradise that only Nazis have the right to live in it.
In the discussion that takes place between Abdul Samad Jan and his wife,
Osman makes Abdul to confess that he is wrong in his fascist idea. “My uncle would say, our daughters do not have permission to have boy friends, while his wife would respond, But you yourself had a girlfriend, and more than that you married that girlfriend- me!”(146) Abdul Samad responds to his wife that he made a mistake. The narrator makes his point clear from Abdul Samad’s wife point of view. He says that let the girls to experience democracy. They can do whatever they like and want.
Abdul Samad Jan experience democracy, but he accepted dictatorship as the policy of his life like his leader, Hitler. His wife claims that their daughter will remain democrat unlike their father. 70
The story ends in benefit of Abdul Samad’s girls and democracy. Fascism sees that it is impossible to resist against democracy, so it surrenders. This short story convinces the readers that only democracy functions well in the modern world.
71
A Strong Old Man
The Man with the Inner Strength compares two men. The first character is
Whaid Saber Zada who suffers form psychological problems. The other character is an experienced, self-confident old man. This short story illustrates struggle of man verses himself by going deep inside the main character’s mind.
The story starts suddenly with the omniscient point of view of the third person. Mr Whaid Saber Zada hates the old man’s glasses. “Again, he saw that same pair of round, frightening magnifying glasses seated behind the desk, all by themselves.”(149) These glasses are the most awful things in the world for Saber
Zada. They melt his heart and drive him crazy.
It seems that Osman adapted very much of his story from the short story The
Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Alan Poe. The way Osman describes the old man’s glasses is very much similar to the way the narrator describes the old man’s vulture eyes in
The Tell-Tale Heart . In that short story by Edgar Alan Poe, the mad narrator says that he loves the old man, but he hates his vulture eyes. Similarly, Osman writes
“Muhmod the professor was a tall, hunched old man, but Saber Zada saw only the one pair of glasses.” (149) Hence, the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart and Saber
Zada hate specific things about the old characters. The other similarity is the old characters in these two short stories. The author does not tell much about the old man’s character in The Tell-Tale Heart , but Muhmod in The Man with the Inner
Strength is a man with inner strength, and he is revolutionary. The old man is weaker than the narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart, while the old man is stronger than Whaid 72
Saber Zada in The Man with the Inner strength . In Poe’s short story, the narrator confesses that it took eight nights to kill the old man. In the same way, in Osman’s short story, we see the word “Again” (149). It indicates that it has been a long time that Muhmod’s glasses bothered Saber zada. In The Tell-Tale Heart , the narrator wants to see the old man’s eyes open in order to kill him, but his eyes are closed for seven nights, so he does not carry out his plan. In the same way, in The Man with the
Inner Strength , Saber zada imagines that he “gouging out the professor’s eyes from their sockets. However, whenever he was about to carry out his courtesy, the professor’s protruding neck like an intimidating snake with glasses, kept him in his place.” (151) Therefore, there are many similarities between The Man with the Inner
Strength and The Tell-Tale Heart .
Whaid Saber zada is shown as a worried character that most of the time thinks about himself and Muhmod’s character. He cannot recognize the old man’s personality very well. The old man looks weak, but in fact he is very strong. “And yet the man could unwittingly intimidate and insult anyone he talked to.” (151) This paradox makes Saber Zada dizzy. He analysis the old man’s character and convinces himself that the old man is weak, so he starts to make fun of him. He asks some questions from him. The old man answers all his questions logically, precisely and with great confidence. When Saber zada receives the answers for his questions, and he does not know how to ask another question, he realizes that the old man is very powerful unlike his appearance. On the other hand, the old man knows Saber zada’s personality very well. He sees Saber Zada as a big child. 73
The old man shows himself non- aligned. He gives different reasons to convince Saber Zada that he is non-aligned, but in fact he is against the government.
At the end of the story, Saber zada knows about his hostility with the government when he hears that the government took him away for his bad tongue. “They have taken the professor away again so that he will gradually learn to behave and take back his words.” (156) Saber zada realizes that the old man is really a strong man.
The old man does not say anything about his ideology to Saber zada because Saber
Zada cannot digest it. He says to him “Also, a person’s ideology must be consistent with his biology and physiology make-up.” (152) He thinks that it is inappropriate to talk about his ideology to Saber Zada. The old man looks weak, but he is very strong.
On the other hand, Saber Zada seems strong but he is very weak. Osman consistently insists that one should not judge something or from its appearance. This idea is seen in The Enemy of Ducks and some other short stories in this collection.
Saber zada always has a kind of inner fight with himself. He thinks that he is very small like a mouse. He fears everything. He knows that life is not worth living, but he also loves it. He is a kind man. The reader can judge his kindness from his behavior with insects. He does not kill a fly that sits on his nose. Then he thinks that in order to live in this world one should be brave and fearless. He/She should aggress otherwise, “it would be its own first helpless martyr and innocent sacrifice.’” (153)
Here Osman examines the law of nature. He says that if one is not strong, he/she will be sacrificed. According to Charles Darwin, strong animals always destroy and kill weak animals. He claims that this is law of the universe. Saber zada also finds 74
himself like a weak animal. He assumes that he is like a mouse or a sheep that the butchers are after him to kill him.
Saber zada’s mental condition is like the signal man in The Signal Man short story by Charles Dickens. The signal man sits in the signal box in a tunnel all alone.
In the course of time he becomes a psychopath. He sees a red light that bothers him a lot. He thinks that it is a ghost. Finally it bothers him so much that he is killed by a train. In the same way, Saber zada works in the office that the old man’s glasses bother him a lot. Osman goes deeper inside Saber zada’s mind and reveals all his thoughts. He starts to see everyone as his enemies. The bright sunny days are like moonless nights in his eyes. He loses his control. “Thoughtlessly, he groaned and sighed to himself.” (154) He explodes like a bomb unconsciously. When a colleague asks the reason of his groan and worry, he hides his sorrow and makes a false story.
He sees that his health is getting worse and worse, so he leaves the office. When the president of the institution asks the reason of his leaving, he makes a fake story about his father’s health, but the president says to him that his father died last year. Saber zada remains silent and curses himself in heart. Finally, he leaves the office to buy a few bottles of wine and forget his pains and sorrows for a few moments.
Osman portrays the world of a psychopath very skillfully. He goes deep in the mind of his character and talks to the reader about his thoughts. In fact, he examines one of the reasons that turn a person psychopath.
75
Pure Local Love
Dear Nazy- My Sweetheart is a love story. It tells the story of two pure lovers.
Ghulam and Nazy fall in love with each other. They cannot reach each other’s love, but they love each other till the end of life. It is one of Osman’s great love stories with a local taste. The story mainly focuses on the power of love and its consequences.
The story starts with an explanation about love. According to Osman, love is a precious gift from God, and it is free. Ghulam’s love is inactive like an inactive volcano in a mountain. When he sees Nazi after many years, his love becomes active like a powerful volcano. “It was as if flames suddenly leaped up from the center of the earth.”(157) Nazi with her beauty, height, and saffron dress burns Ghulam in flames of love. It is not only Ghulam that loves Nazy, Nazy also likes Ghulam’s physique and praises God for making such a handsome man.
In the first visit, Ghulam and Nazi love each other as if God sent Nazi to
Kabul to make a real love story. They are one soul in two bodies. Osman says that
Ghulam became panic and Nazi was looking at him from the corner of her eyes. It is a good start for their love story. They show interest for each other. Ghulam cannot look at his Nazy because politeness does not allow him. He looks at the carpet, but the love is so strong in him that takes his look from the carpet designs and directs it into Nazy’s eyes unconsciously. When he becomes conscious, he realizes that he is looking into Nazy’s eyes. 76
For Ghulam the world changes into a flower garden. “A warm, pleasant sensation filled the void of listlessness and indifference.” (159) His love attracted a rich customer. Ghulam complains about the sun’s jealous act because it changed
Nazy’s skin into olive-brown. He says to the sun that it could not tolerate to see Nazy as a soft, and fair skinned girl. “The spiteful sun of Bengal, Gujarat and Patiala had not been able to appreciate her soft, ivory-colored beauty” (159) Then he convinces himself by saying that olive-brown is better than pale. He compares Nazi with fair- skinned girls of Kabul. He thinks that Nazi with her olive-brown skin is the most beautiful girl in the world. The reason he gives is that bread is also olive-brown that is why we never lose our desire for it. He claims that he will never become tired of looking at Nazi. According to Maulana , when Laila’s teacher says to Laily that she is not very beautiful. Why does Majnun love her so much? Laily answers to her teacher that stops saying it because he is not Majnun to see her beauty. From
Ghulam’s perspective, Nazy is like a full moon that enlightens the dark nights, and makes people to watch it and praise it. The love that she activates in Ghulam’s heart is spicier than the Indian spices. Deep in his heart, Ghulam senses Nazy’s odor.
Nazy’s fragrance is better than a hundred flowers.
When Ghulam hears that his uncle’s family departs to India, he becomes confused and worried. Being far from Nazy, makes Ghulam a Majnun. He spends most of his time outside home. “From that day onward his heart was no longer in his home, and he spent his days in cafes and cinemas.” (160) When he listens to songs, he imagines that Nazy is singing for him. Love makes one to associate all good things with his/her beloved. It can be illustrated well by the anecdote about Majnun. 77
One day Majnun goes to an orchard. He looks at a tree. He makes a deep sigh and imagines that laily is standing there. Ghulam and Nazi are very far from each other, but their souls are together. According to Maulana, praise is to God’s love that unites a thousand particles.
From the bazaars in Kabul, Ghulam likes the Indian Bazzar, “especially the long lines of herbal medicinal shops.” (160) Ghulam smells Nazi’s fragrance from the Indian spices. In the book three of Masnavi , Majnun kisses the dog that lives near
Laily’s house. A fool says to him do not kiss the dog because it is dirty. Majnun says to him that he should not look at the physical appearance of the dog. He says to him that “look what a dog it is”. It chooses his residence in Laily’s alley and guards it.
Majnun says to him that he does not exchange a fur of the dog with a lion. For
Ghulam the Indian Town is like the dog in Laily’s alley.
Ghulam does anything to reach his sweetheart like Farhad that dug the mountain to reach Shreen. Ghulam goes to the herbal doctor, Lala Ji Bagwan Singa to untie the knot from his love. He does everything that the herbal doctor recommends. Here, Osman points out to the superstitions that people believe in them.
However, superstitions originate form ignorance, but Ghulam believes in every single thing that claims to reach him to his love whether false or true, scientific or superstition. He sits in the cold water for nights and tolerates all its hardships. For
Ghulam life is like moonless nights without Nazy.
Osman expresses a good point about love. “The first condition of love and being in love is patience.” (161) Ghulam cannot tolerate Nazy’s farness even a single day. When he sees that the herbal doctor’s treatment does not have a positive result, 78
he fights with him and the government puts him in jail. After his release from the jail, Ghulam tells the story to his father. His father hits him and makes the world like a hell for him. Ghulam becomes so impatient that he eats poison to end his life, but fortunately he does not die.
Love seems easy and pleasant at the beginning, but at the end it breaks ones heart. For Ghulam the world is Nazy. Without her the world is useless. When
Ghualm’s parents see that their son cannot live without Nazy, they send him to India to marry her. When he hears from an Afghan trader that Nazy’s wedding is on the coming Monday, his heart breaks forever. May be this is fate that Ghulam cannot marry Nazy. Is the Afghan trader right that Nazy’s wedding is next Monday? It seems like a situational irony. Maybe Nazy is still waiting, but Ghulam accepts the trader’s saying and decides to return. Does the trader talk about Ghulam’s Nazy or another Nazy? Isn’t the trader foul play to stop Ghulam from reaching Nazy? Osman does not write about Nazy at this time. Ghulam returns to Kabul and get married to forget Nazy, but he cannot. ,“ and Ghulam became the father of a dozen kids and a husband of many wives. However, Nazy continued to shine like the new moon in the niche of his memory.” (164)
Is love something earthly or it comes from an unseen world and ties two people together? It looks that humans do not have control over love. Love is so powerful that it stops the brain from making decisions. It is the heart that decides not the mind. This is the earthly love that connects one to God. “Nazy, you got me in touch with God.” (168) When human beings taste defeat and see the disloyalty of the world, they refer to God. The first story in Masnavi narrates the story of a king that 79
loves a slave girl. She becomes ill and the doctors are unable to cure her. Then the king refers to God. Ghulam is also a broken heart and in love with God. But still he cannot forget Nazy.
Most broken hearts resort to wine, but Ghulam resorts to music. He remembers Ghulam Hussain’s saying “Music draws out the anguish of the heart.”(165) Music is the only way for him to forget his sorrows. Music makes
Ghulam to spend a few moments with Nazy’s memories. Osman compares Ghulam to a chicken without a head. According to Baydel, the mystical poet of Persian language, a lover acts differently from other people. He compares a lover to a chicken without a head. He says that a chicken with it is head cut off plays different from children that play in a playground.
The story ends while Ghulam and Nazy meet each other in an intersection in
Kabul. It is very late now because both of them are old. They blame each other for disloyalty, but soon they know that Laila was jealous of their love, and she didn’t want them to reach each other. This story like some other short stories by Osman has a sad ending. It ends like Real Men Keep Their Word and When the Reeds Bloom.
80
A Big Change in Life
The Deceptive Object portrays a simple, country boy who comes to Kabul city to study at the university. At the beginning the university students bother and tease him a lot, but when he falls in love, he becomes self–confident and clever. The boys’ teasing cannot bother him anymore, so they stop their foolish acts. Love turns him into a superior personality.
The story starts with a description of Daryab, the main character of the story.
He is described long legs, neck, arms, and teeth. He is thin and weak. Osman attaches all these pale adjectives to show the poor condition of this oppressed boy.
Osman states that he is thin because he worries, eats little and suffers a lot. The university students always mock him. In the conversation between Daryab and Baqi,
Osman shows Daryab’s little capacity. He boils very soon. When Baqi knocks at his door and says to him that he hopes that he recovers soon, Daryab becomes furious at him and says that he is fine. He asks Baqi to leave him alone, but Baqi who is decisive to make fun of Daryab says to him that he heard on the radio that Daryab is sick. Baqi’s words drive Daryab mad. He shouts at Baqi to get lost. Baqi calls the other boys who were waiting for a signal from Baqi. By creating these two imaginary characters and an excellent dialogue Osman displays the clever boys that live in the city and a simple person with little capacity. The reaction that Daryab shows to the boys in the dorm encourages them to bother him and amuse themselves. If he does not give any value to their sayings and ignore their mocks and jokes, they will become tired of their stupid jokes and stop teasing him. Daryab himself paves the way for their mockery. 81
Similarly, Dayab is not a courageous boy. He is tall and perhaps stronger than the boys that bother him, but he cannot use his power. “He gave Baqi a vicious slap on his face. In return Baqi landed a few solid blows, bloodying Daryab’s mouth and teeth.” (172) The secret of victory in struggle is courage, resistance and tolerance. A buffalo escapes when it sees a tiger or a lion. If it stands and attacks them, they cannot eat it. Daryab is scared of the boys. He has a weak heart. He is enemy of himself. “Daryab wiped his eyes with his sleeves and quietly left the room ready to face a new day.” (173) He enters and leaves his room like a thief, so that the students do not see him and make fun of him. Each day he suffers, as if he has suffered a hundred years. Does it worth to live like this? What does he have less than the others? Daryab status is worse than a prisoner or a slave in the past. He is very interested in life although he is insulted everyday. He has tied himself with chains.
He does not know how to live a free and prideful life. The boys change this world into a hell for him. Each day that passes, he loses some weight. In fact, he eats himself. After sometimes, the insults change Daryab into a statue.
Life is very precious for him. He does not want to lose it. He does not buy new clothes and spend less money on food. He cooks cheap food in his room and never goes to a restaurant. He resembles Lala Asghar’ the main character of the short story A Free Coffin by Akram Osman. They seem like identical twins. He saves every penny for his future life. “He saved the small amount of money his father occasionally sent him for the day when he would purchase some land, build a house, get a wife and raise a bunch of healthy, robust children.” (174) Daryab suffers from 82
his abnormal condition that he does not want his children to be raised like himself.
He likes to have healthy children.
When Daryab passes out in the class as a result of his weakness, he is carried to the hospital. There his life changes. He feels the taste of life for the first time.
When he becomes conscious, he sees a young beautiful nurse rubbing his fingers. He imagines a prosperous future life with this young nurse. For the first time, he receives kindness from a beautiful girl. It cures all the insults and wounds that he received from the boys. He falls in love with this kind lady. “He imagined the blue- eyed young lady at his side as his wife, as the mother of his children, as his intimate friend who laughed and cried with him.” (175) This accident turns the world into a paradise for him. He thinks that he is the luckiest and happiest boy in the world.
This unforgettable visit with Nilufar, the nurse changes Daryab into a superior personality. From that day on, he starts not to take the boys insults serious.
In fact, love increased his capacity and changed him remarkably. “Love had made him a different person, a man of steel, a man of perseverance who cared nothing about the world and what was in it.” (178) When the trouble makers see Daryab’s tolerance and notices that their words do not make him crazy, they stop teasing him.
They start to consider him a man of honor. The boys cannot believe the sudden change that love has brought to his behavior. When he says that he has an appointment with his girlfriend, the boys become astonished and ask him to take them, so that they could see and believe it. When the boys see that Daryab takes
Nilufar’s hand in his hands and walk side by side, they praises his personality.
Perhaps they feel ashamed of their misbehavior and insults to Daryab. 83
Daryab goes to his fantasy world. ,“ He found himself imagining he was a quiet pond of water with gentle, soft petals falling on him as he fell asleep, intoxicated with the fragrance of her body.” (180) Daryab falls in love with Nilufar, but she deals with him as a patient. He says to Nilufar that he is sick and needs treatment, but she does not realize Daryab’s feelings. “Daryab’s heart beat loudly like a clock. It was telling him that he was sick, but Nilufar was not hearing those beats, nor was she diagnosing any cure for his pain.” (180) When Daryab sees that there is no reaction from Nilufar, he starts romantic conversation with her. He says that he is a doctor of mountains. He feels the heart beat of mountains, but there is no one to feel his heart beats. He compares himself to Farhad, the symbol of real and failed love who spatters a mountain with his axe to reach his beloved. Then Daryab gets to the main point and asks Nilufar to marry him, but she answers that she is married. “It’s too late, Daryab. I am married.” (181) Daryab’s imaginary castle collapses down and the day turns into a dark night.
Next day Daryab leaves Kabul to his village with a heart full of sorrow. On the way, a boy in the bus shares with his grief by playing sad tunes. The wind and the bus are also sad and accompany Daryab. The bus groans and the wind carries the sad tunes through the bus.
The story ends with a symbol that retells the story of a defeated lover. Daryab goes to sleep and imagine Nilufar as his queen, but suddenly, the bus breaks and his head crashes against a seat. He sees a mountain like a steel wall as an obstacle on his way to Nilufar. It represents all the dreams that Daryab had for himself and Nilufar.
He sees Nilufar and himself as a happy couple, but when he hears that Nilufar is a 84
married woman, his dreams go to nothing. He remembers that being in love is a cureless sickness. “Teenage girls must not walk underneath a jujube tree when it is in bloom. If they do, when they fall in love, which they certainly will, their love will only end up broken and hurt. The poison of love is deadly like the poison of a snake.” (182)
Love has a beginning, but it does not have an end. The word love stands for land of sorrow, ocean of tears, valley of death and end of life. The sad ending of
Daryab’s love adds a special taste along with a deadly pain to The Deceptive Object .
85
Useful Superstitions
A Crack in the Wall tells the story of Habib and his mother. Habib is an adult boy who returns home from work. He has a long conversation with his mother in the yard of their house. Their conversation is all about unhappy things. Habib hears from his mother that today is Layla’s weeding. Habib loved Layla, but he did not tell anyone. This is a love story, but it focuses mainly on superstitions that make one hopeful for the future.
Osman uses the adjectives like dusky, speckled, deep, and black at the first paragraph of his story to hint about the bad events that are coming soon in the story.
There is a heavy silence and a cat is meowing. A black cat is a very superstitious symbol. It is considered to bring bad luck and danger. Some people believe that black cats are elves, but these ideas all originate from ignorance, and they do not have scientific reasons. Osman describes the yard silent, the weather partial dark and a black cat to pave the way for telling the tragic events. Habib’s mother is also shown like a statue. In the same way, the roosters and hens are sleep. The reader imagines that nothing is alive in the yard, except the black cat.
Habib comes home and freshens himself. He starts to talk with his mother, but suddenly, his mother sees the new moon in the sky and asks him to bring some water for her. “She opened her eyes to stare at the fresh water and uttered a prayer under her breath.” (187) This is the other superstition in this story, but this is a good superstition. Osman coincides the Mullah’s calling from the mosque with the fortune telling of Habib’s mother to make it more powerful. “I saw the reflection of the 86
moon in the water. It’s going to get better. God will give you good life with good years. He is going to help you realize your dreams’.”(187) However, these superstition are baseless, but they make one hopeful to life. Habib’s mother foretells his son’s future bright. It makes his son happy and hopeful. Horoscopes and other ways of fortune telling function very well in encouraging people to live happy lives.
Then the reader witness immediate effect of the above mentioned superstition.
When Habib’s mother sees some white hair around Habib’s ear, she becomes worried, but Habib takes it easy unlike his mother. He says to her mother that these white hairs are the signs of manhood and experience, but at heart he is worried for his white hair. Perhaps, his mother’s fortune telling affects him and gives him a high moral that he does not show his sadness to her mother about his white hair. Similarly, later in the story when Habib becomes sad because of losing Layla, he decides to hang himself in the brunch of the mulberry tree in the yard, but he remembers his mother’s kindness and changes his mind. Her mother’s words and kindness does not allow him to suicide.
When Habib hears about Laylas weeding, he faces the most difficult time in his life. His heart breaks. “He moaned to himself. What times these were! Here he was like Majnun of old, behind the wall, dying at the feet of his love, but she, his
Layla, totally oblivious to his misery was slowly walking in step with someone else.”
(190) The black cat knew about the weeding, and it was crying for Habib’s grief
“and melancholy black cat was breaking the deep, heavy silence with her constant meowing.”(185) It is generally believed that animals foresee events, especially sad events. The cat tells about Layla’s weeding, but Habib cannot hear it. The roosters 87
and hens also talk to Habib in the language of silence. They share with Habib’s sorrow.
Habib decides to commit suicide and free himself from the burden of life, but again a superstition saves his life. He notices a crack in the wall. “He considered the break in the wall as a sign of good fortune and said to himself, ‘Now that these walls and barriers are going to crumble, life is worth living. The next turn is going to be my turn”(190) In this way Habib satisfies himself and becomes hopeful for the future.
It seems that this story is all about symbols and their meanings in our lives.
These symbols and superstitions play an important role in the lives of human beings.
Hope everybody interprets the symbols and superstitions in a positive way like
Habib.
88
A Free Man
Hasan, the Burden Bearer is a nice and lovely short story by Osman. It takes the reader to a colorful and imaginary world. In this story Osman appears as a philosopher that asks and answers some basic questions about life. He gives the most value to freedom in life. The way in which Osman portrays freedom in life through the language and narrative of the story will be analyzed.
The free swallows and the happy children at the beginning of the story draw the reader’s attention to freedom. In the spring of freedom, not only the birds and humans are happy, but also the weather and plants join the happiness and celebrate it.
The author has tried to use some symbols to illustrate freedom in a better way. He uses the poplar tree as a symbol of freedom. It is tall, straight and very prideful. The leaves of the poplar tree dances in the spring breeze. Osman compares the children to the leaves of the poplar tree. “Qo, Qo, Qo! Leaves of the poplar tree, Girls are sitting in a line,” (192) The breeze of freedom makes the girls to play like the leaves of the poplar tree. Then we see the word dove in the second stanza that stands for peace and freedom. “Oh, if I were a dove, How I’d fly in the sky,” (192) The swallows learn freedom from the children. They imitate the girls circling and fly in the sky without being afraid of a hunter. The river which is lord of freedom carries the news of freedom to the spring plants and flowers by its noisy sound.
Osman breaks the thick ice of winter and takes the reader to a beautiful spring that freshens the soul and mind of humans. He paints a spring that everyone wishes to last forever. “He said to himself, ‘Oh, if every season were spring! And these birds 89
would stay forever! Oh if all children could get their heart’s desires!’”(194) The reader wishes to be like the swallows or the doves and fly high in the sky and enjoy freedom.
It looks that Hasan, the main character in the story, passed hard times in life.
He has never seen such a spring with a group of happy and free children and swallows. This is the first time that he experiences freedom in a beautiful spring.
“Again he listened to the children’s music. The snow doves, the grey-colored doves, the fresh crystal-clear stream, and the rays of the sun stuck in his mind and weighed down his heart with a strange melancholy.” (194) Hasan in the soft spring breeze finds himself like an eagle that flies high in the sky free from all belongings and sorrows.
He wants to live a long life in such a spring. Then he remembers that spring and happiness does not last forever. Osman compares life to sand. Hasan grabs some sand and hold them tightly in his hand, but his hand becomes loosened and the sand slid. Hasan believes that life is short like a flower’s age. It goes like a stream of water, and it is impossible to grab it. “He stared at the flowing water. Water nothing resembles life like this flowing water.” (195) Osman derives this comparison of life to a flowing stream from a poem by Hafiz Sherazi, the eighth century mystical poet of Persian language. Hafiz says that ‘Sit at the bank of a stream and see the passing of life. Human being’s short life bothers Hasan. He thinks that finally everybody dies. Hasan is one of those doubtful philosophers and writers that do not believe in the stability of the world and life. “It flows ahead for awhile and then finally soaks into the mouth of the tiniest grain of sand and disappears’.” (195) Besides, all these 90
sad things about life, Hassan loves to live. Unlike the doubtful philosophers, he sees life beautiful.
Osman examines Hassan’s actions. When Hasan saves the ant from the water, he evaluates his action. He thinks that he cares and worries about all living things, as if he is a relative with them. Osman writes that Hasan is doubtful of his pettiness with everything, and he wants to stop his pettiness with animals. He thinks that his pity with everything is stupid, but then he remembers Saadi’s advice that says “If you see a blind man heading towards a well and you keep still, that’s a sin’”.(196) Then he chooses freedom as his way of life. The reader understands it from the sentence
“But he forced himself to move on and slowly made his way along the narrow path through the middle of the thick poplar forest close to town, and headed home.” (196)
Osman claims that Hasan chooses freedom by saying he walks in a forest which is full of poplar trees and poplar trees stand for freedom. Hasan is for sure one of the poplar trees.
At the end of the story once more Osman shows Hasan’s free nature. He pays all his money to buy the birds that the hunter imprisoned them in a cage and releases them from the cage, so that they enjoy freedom and sing songs. In this way, Osmann teaches freedom to the hunter and people who want to put humans and animal’s freedom in trouble.
91
Eagle, a Symbol of Freedom
The Blind Eagle tells the story of a free eagle that lives in the high peaks of
Hindu Kush Mountains. One day a hunter shoots the eagle and traps him, but the cage and rope cannot stop him from flying high in the sky. This short story explains freedom as a great phenomenon in this unjust world.
Osman starts the first paragraph of the story with a beautiful picture of the
Hindu Kush Mountains. “The Hindu Kush wrapped a white turban around its head and stared down silently and proudly.”(199) This first sentence triggers freedom in the mind of the readers. Mountains and rivers are two symbols of freedom and pride.
Osman chooses Eagle as the main character of his story because it is much freer than the mountains and rivers. It flies above the mountains and rivers, and it can fly anywhere. Hence, Osman chooses eagle to show absolute freedom.
The author claims that freedom was born at the same time with the first living animal. “No one knew where he had come from. Mountain dweller guessed he had been born of the ancient, white-haired Hindu Kush Mountains.”(199) Freedom is a gift from God to animals and human beings. In fact, he sent all the messengers to release people from slavery and teach them freedom. All livings born free, and they have the right to live freely. According to the author, nothing is comparable to freedom. Only the violent rivers and powerful wind, and high mountains resemble freedom. It does not make a distinction between east and west because it has characteristics of the sun. Freedom cherishes all animates alike. 92
Nothing can take a living being’s freedom. There are many who try to annihilate freedom, but they do not succeed. In The Blind Eagle , Osman warns free people that hunters want to hunt or trap them. “Hunters, eager and passionate to hunt, held their breath as they crawled out of their ambushes and waited for their two and four-legged prey.”(201) There are many atrocious and dictator people that want to trap and kill free people and animals. They do it by a hundred tricks. “In his imagination, he would stretch his wings beyond the small, enclosed yard and then soar proudly, and with a high-pitched cry, fly over the homes of the city.” (202) The eagle lost in his own world, flies high in the sky without paying attention to anything.
Then suddenly, he crashes against a wall. It seems that Osman suggests for the free people to be careful to the ambushes and traps that are set on their ways.
Osman claims that nothing can trap a free person or animal. When the hunter traps the eagle and ties him up with a rope, the eagle does not quit his prideful behavior. However, his eyes are blind, but his heart is full of love and brightness.
According to Hafiz, Never dies the one whose heart is full of love. She/he lives an eternal life. The blind eagle is imprisoned in a cage, but his soul flies high above the mountains and valleys. The eagle keeps his pride although he is blind and imprisoned. The eternal love keeps his heart alive. He cannot fly high in the sky, and he cannot see the beauty of nature, but he can listen to the good news that the wind carries to his ears. Wind is his companion from long times ago.
The story ends with the death of the eagle but not freedom. However, the author does not write directly that the eagle died, but the reader can infer that the eagle left his worthless body, and his soul flied to the endless universe. “He felt 93
himself becoming light as a feather. He imagined he was losing something that was not worth much anyway. Every door in the world opened up before the eagle and like in the days of freedom, heaven and earth, appeared unlimited.”(203) This statement reminds the reader of Maulana’s idea about death. He claims that bodies are like prisons. These prisons do not allow the souls to fly. When one dies, his/her soul becomes free and flies to the unlimited heavens. Maulana and Osman state that real and free life begins when someone dies. Death is not the end of life, but it is the beginning of life. Koran says that all livings taste death. This statement is very important to be analyzed. Death does not taste livings, but livings taste death. It is assumed that death is something pleasant not something ugly and dangerous. Osman describes the life after this world very enjoyable. There is no trap or prison to take someone’s freedom. Everyone is free like a free eagle and honorable like a mountain.
94
Fake Spring and Fake Love
The Other Side of the River is a first person narrative short story. The narrator tells about his love story. He claims that some loves are like blossoms in the spring that lasts for a short period of time. He compares a fake love to a spring that deceives plants and animals.
The narrator complains about his beloved false love from the very beginning of the story. He states that her love resembled a false spring that deceives everything.
He uses phrases like “A false spring, deceptive dawn, genuine” (205) to describe a false spring and to say about his short lasting love. In such a false spring, he falls in love with a girl who lives in Shahr-e-Now (new city). (Shahr-e-Now is the area of rich and high class people.) This love makes the narrator to leave his old friends and spend most of his time in Shahr-e-Now.
According to Osman love leads one to anything. In order to prove his idea, he talks about some people as examples who fall in love “One of them had turned to poetry, and was constantly reciting lyrics. A second one had attached himself to a
Sufi elder in the back-lane of the Khrabat along with other rogues and mystics.”(208) love starts very simply and then changes a person completely. The narrator leaves his best friends when he falls in love with the black-eyed girl, and then he resorts to tobacco when his love fails.
There is no dialogue between the narrator and her beloved. He does not say much about her. The only hint about his girlfriend is a brief physical description and her social status. Instead of his girlfriend, he talks about his old friends Mehrab and 95
Ghulam. When the narrator sees his beloved walks shoulder to shoulder with another boy, Shahr-e-Now changes into a hell for him, so he returns to his old city and spends the days with his old friends.
The black-eyed girl’s love makes the narrator pale and broken-heart. “, I peered hard at the small mirror on the tobacco can and noticed my pale face and listless eyes.” (211) This failed love makes him to throw some tobacco under his tongue and forget the sorrows of life. “I finally told myself, ‘He is right, there’s really no other way to handle the sorrows of this world’.” (212) The failure in love makes him to become doubtful about everything. When he sees the plants in blossoms, he wants to tell them that spring deceives them. It will leave them alone, but the plants do not hear him.
Osman concludes The Other Side of the River with a statement from the narrator. The narrator is hopeful for the future. He believes in the true coming springs, and the garden testifies his believes. He is hopeful for a true love that is coming soon.
96
Conclusion
Akram Osman shows an exceptional power in creating the short stories in the collection of Real Men Keep their Words . It is one of the best collections of short stories in the history of literature in Afghanistan. They have local taste and color.
The language that Osman uses in these short stories is the language that people use everyday in the streets of Afghanistan. This casual language with local idioms and expressions adds a special flavor to the narration of the stories. The stories give warmth to the exhausted hearts. They cure the readers’ soul and take all their worries away.
The stories mostly take place in old Kabul. Osman gives special value to old
Kabul. He claims that it is the birthplace of heroes and champions. The heroes that
Kabul raised are real men. In the short stories Real Men keep their Word and When the Reeds Bloom the readers encounter legendary heroes. They are not imaginary characters, but they are real people that lived in this city. Osman also writes about the culture of this city. He tells the reader from kite flying to the social interactions of this ancient city.
Osman has written his short stories in different countries from Afghanistan to
Austria, Iran and India, but Kabul memories were always present with him in his trips, and the reflection of these memories are present in his short stories. When he stays in Austria, he remembers the cool songs of Ustad Qasim and the nature of
Kabul suburbs and writes about them. The social injustice in India makes him to write about the social classes in Afghanistan and criticize Muhammadzayee tribe. 97
Osman not only restricts himself to old Kabul, but he also goes far beyond the borders of Afghanistan and talks about different countries and ideas. In Brain of the
Family he examines Fascism and Democracy and talks about Adolf Hitler. In the same way, in Dear Nazy- My Sweetheart he complains about the burning sun of India and describes Indian spices.
The love stories make this collection more interesting. The theme love and sacrifice is noticeable in most of the short stories in Real Men Keep their Word . The short stories Real Men Keep Their Words, Dear Nazy-My sweetheart, The Deceptive
Object, A crack in the Wall and The Other Side of the River portray pure lovers. All his love stories have sad endings. The short story Real Men Keep their Word ends with a big sacrifice by the main character.
The collection Real Men Keep their Word takes the reader to a beautiful city.
They contain a lot of information about Old Kabul and the people that lived in that city. Special attention is paid to the culture of the people in this ancient city.
98
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