An Island Unto Himself? Masculinity in Season of Migration t

Thanks Deraij for the link

From the link

It is only the narrator who acts with true free will; in a moment of transcendence and rebirth, he fights off death as he rediscovers his human-ness: life is not about existing within the constricting limits of an ego-driven masculinity, but about living simply and in harmony with both the self's needs and the greater good of the community. Yet that cry of "'Help!'" not only lingers as a warning to the "gentlemen" and the reader, but as a message from Salih to the wider world that no man is an island of the self, a conceited, #######-driven ego who can survive apart from others. This is a story told to other men, a story about masculinity, just as legendary Nile floods are "something for fathers to talk to their sons about" (45). It is also a story telling them to not be men like their fathers, but to be citizens of society. Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North calls, ultimately, not for a world of men but for a more human community.

I hope the message will get across and our society will change,

Afaf

(Edited by Afaf Rahim on 03-19-2005, 08:39 AM)

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