The Fugitive Light Essay Example for Free

The Fugitive Light Essay Fugitive Light by Mohamed Berrada is a narration of life of an old, aging painter named Al Ayshuni. Set in Tangier, the novel opens in the house of the said painter who was caught with artistic paralysis—not able to produce what he thinks into an artistic work. He could not paint or even sketch what were on his mind. In the middle of this paralysis, Al Ayshuni would be disturbed by the presence of another character: the divorced Fatima. A young, beautiful, and highly-spirited woman, Fatima would introduce herself to Al Ayshuni, admitting that she is an avid admirer of the artist and his works. Later in the story, Fatima will play a vital part to Al Ayshuni’s life. She will bring memories to the painter as the author will try to slowly reveal the woman’s character and her connection to Al Ayshuni’s past. It would then be revealed that Fatima is the daughter of Al Ayshuni’s past lover, Ghaylana. Not only through that case could Al Ayshuni find a connection to Fatima. Their relationship would deepen as the story progresses. The divorced young lady would eventually serve as the artist’s model for his works, muse for social gatherings, and finally, lover. Al Ayshuni would struggle between his feelings for Fatima and his unfinished business with her mother Ghaylana. Most importantly, he would try to turn back time just to find again the fugitive of his life his youth. Towards the end of the story, Al Ayshuni would finally proclaim his defeat not only in the aspect of love but in the aspect of life itself. Fatima returned to Menton, a town in the Italian border, with his new husband Matthias. The old artist has failed to regain his fugitive light that he once had. Berrada has described the artist’s feeling through using his paintings as a metaphor: Who among us does not run away from something? I return to my lines and colors: I run away from the words of these memoirs and renounce the illusion of recording through them the experiences I lived. I am content to repeat: Whats gone is gone, light and color remain for me as well as space, of which I dream through them. . . . Everything else is prattle and sermonizing blown by the winds. The Novel’s Characters Al Ayshuni, as the protagonist of the novel, has showed a variety of his character while the story progresses. Those progressions in his character, nevertheless, were evidently portrayed by Berrada. Al Ayshuni was an adopted child of a rich mentor who fostered his artistic talents by providing him his financial needs and bringing him up as man of wit and intellect. He chose to further his artistic craft instead of committing his life to Ghaylana, his first love When he met Ghaylana, though, he missed the opportunity of being with her as he chose to follow his dreams and go to Spain. Ghaylana, who is much younger than Al Ayshuni, was left heartbroken; her family has able to find her a husband. Fatima, on the one hand, was described by Berrada as â€Å"†¦friendly, her words flowed with spontaneity and affection† (Berrada 2). No wonder that Al Ayshuni easily got closed to and fell in love with her eventually. She, nevertheless, was beautiful as her mother. She has â€Å"†¦ honey-colored eyes shone with an equivocal look and her chestnut hair was cut short a la garconne. Her gown hung down her body, showing its graceful form at the lines of her bosom and waist. † Young and with intellectual maturity, Fatima has easily hooked the heart of the middle-aged artist whose life is haunted by the things he did in the past. The Novel’s Themes Two struggling set of themes can be clearly seen while analyzing the novel. First is the struggle between the ideas of the past and the present, and second, the struggle between the ideas of sexual and intellectual pleasures. Berrada has included in his novel the fight between the idea of the past and the idea of the present. The main character, Al Ayshuni, was portrayed as a man who was nostalgic of his past, desiring to regain his youth. He behaved this way since the start of his romantic relationship with Fatima. While he was living with the woman, he could not control himself to be so reminiscent. He kept thinking about the possibilities he should have encountered if ever she did not leave Fatima’s mother. Moreover, one question always bothers him: If he and Ghaylana ended up together, would he also become a father and raise his own children, probably the same ages as that of Fatima’s? Unable to change the things he did in the past, Al Ayshuni just content himself with his present life—lonely, miserable, and chained to his past life. However, he still acknowledged his mistakes and accepted his faith, saying that â€Å"running after the fugitive light is an act full of torment but it exudes pleasure and the enticements of mirage . . . It can never be compared to the sterile act of searching for words to capture shreds of stored feelings. † The second set of struggling themes that can be found in the story is the issue concerning pleasure, specifically the grapple between sexual pleasure and intellectual pleasure. In the novel, Al Ayshuni left Ghaylana to cater his urge for intellectual pleasure. When finally he has fed this urge, he loss Ghaylana who caters, on one hand, his sexual desires. It was very ironic that when Al Ayshuni gained the other one, he loss the other one. This set-up was challenged though when Fatima entered the scene. Fatima embodied both pleasures. She can cater Al Ayshuni’s sexual as well as intellectual needs. In the novel, Al Ayshuni had written in one of his papers, â€Å"During Fatima’s stay with me, I was perplexed about her; she had invaded my life as my sweetheart’s daughter, she acted with attractive maturity and sensitivity she gave me to taste various kinds of physical pleasure†¦then she refused to tell me about her life. † (Berrada 88). Mohamed Berrada: The Author Mohamed Berrada is a Moroccan writer of fiction. He also critiques works of literature and translates Arabic writings. An instructor of Arabic literature himself, Berrada is being acknowledged as one of Morocco’s finest and relevant modern writers. Berrada believes in a literary movement called attajrib, which translates to English as experimentation. In this kind of movement, the writers are experimenting new techniques in their craft. They give more emphasis on fragmented and individual thoughts, narration, images, and scenes. Underlying Issues The novel tries to tackle the issues of marital relationship, social class, and nationalism. On the first few pages of the novel, Berrada has included a dialogue between Al Ayshuni and Fatima concerning about marriage and divorce. They were watching the television about an investigative report on the situation of cohabitation of men and women in France. According to the report, the number of couples who are actually living together has reached over two million. When asked about her own opinion regarding the issue, Fatima answered that she is in favor of couples living together. For her, this arrangement could be better than marriage because the couples could find time to make sure of their feelings for each other. This stand of Fatima regarding marital relationship was seen through her actions in the story. She agreed living with Al Ayshuni in one roof until she was not sure of her feelings. Towards the end of the novel, she left Al Ayshuni for another man. The issue about marriage and divorce has been subjects of debate even long ago. The underlying themes that could also be connected to this issue are love and commitment. In the novel, Al Ayshuni did not marry Ghaylana because he is still not ready for commitment. It is very much different with Fatima’s case who opted to live with Al Ayshuni instead of marrying him. Both of them were not ready for commitment, although they were in love with each other. The issue of social class was also perceived in the story through the presentation of a clear demarcation between the rich and poor during the time when the novel took place. Al Ayshuni, for example, would never fully develop his talents if without the help of the wealthy man who adopted him. The novel evidently says that education is only for those who have the money and the power. Thus, only those who had the access to education will more or less succeed in life. In line with this, the author has also included the issue of nationalism in presenting his story. In one of the book’s passages, Al Ayshuni has observed the plurality of his place, saying that â€Å"†¦it has been a gift to all races and people. A city in common? A woman gone to perdition? Space that can’t bear constraints and boundaries? † The novel is trying to critique the idea of multinationalism and endorsing the importance of having one national identity. The author may unknowingly included in the novel his actual stand about the issue through the words from Al Ayshuni: â€Å"Isn’t all this plurality of fashions, histories, and languages of its residents what brings it close to the soul that always yearns for more than one costume and one mask, for more than one love and one body, for more than one language and one space? † (Berrada 148) Finally, Berrada’s Fugitive Light is a combination of talent and experience of the author. He was able to incorporate somehow his culture and points-of-views through the characters he created. Knowing that he himself is a literary artist, the character of Al Ayshuni is no less similar to his. It could be concluded that everything he presented about this specific character is a reflection of himself and his own stands and opinions towards the same issues that he presented in his novel. In reading the novel, I could not help to question some of the things around me that I am accustomed to believe and to do. For example, I now frequently think about the issues of marriage, divorce, and living in together. Conservative as it may seems, I still believe in the power of marriage. For me, it is not only a social act, but more of an internal practice. Here, you would be able to know and learn more about yourself. I would also like to agree with the author’s own stand about nationalism. For me, the problem now with nations is the blurring of their boundaries and limitations. In the world of globalization, it seems that everything is being globalized; everything serves for specific international purposes. There is nothing wrong with that, I must say. Maybe those kinds of changes are really inevitable. What I propose is that people of all races should still have a firm grasp of their own identity—own culture, own language, own space. It does not matter whether you belong to Third World Countries or First World Nations. The idea is that all of us should still cling to who and what we are. To end, Fugitive Light by Mohamed Berrada is a novel that truly depicts the problems within third world countries: class struggles, nationalism, and even gender roles and perceptions. I would definitely recommend this book for the very mere fact that it is honest. The story does not cater to a specific class only, or for selfish intentions of the less people. It is simply true. Works Cited Berrada, Mohamed. Fugitive Light. New York: Syracuse Un