Revenge In Doa’a Al-karawan (the Call Of The Curlew) By Taha Hussein And Eye For An Eye By Erika Holzer:

Taghreed Gamal Mabrouk El-bakly

The thesis at hand is concerned with studying the condition ofwomen in male-dominated societies through investigating womenvictimization versus male violence. It specifically focuses on the themeof revenge, in a feminist perspective, as a means of achieving retributivejustice. Thus, I made my focus on two novels: Taha Hussein’s Doa’a Al-Karawan (The Call of the Curlew) 1934 and Erika Holzer’s Eye for anEye 1993 to compare. The reasons why I have chosen this subject are,firstly, feminist psychology of revenge is a new and fertile soil forresearch. Secondly, such comparison involving such a new novel Eye foran Eye is untouched before. Thirdly, female attitudes have not been dealtwith before from this particular point of view. The study focuses on the feminist point of view towards the themeof revenge, dealing with the tenet of eye for an eye in both cultures; theAmerican culture and the Egyptian one; and in the two religions;Christianity and Islam, with a practice on Do’aa Al-Karawan (The Call ofthe Curlew) by Taha Hussein and Eye for an Eye by Erika Holzer. Thethesis is based on an analytical critical approach through analyzing thetwo novels taking in mind the objective way of analysis to a consideringextent. On the other hand, when revenge turns to the hands of a womanagainst a masculine oppression, another important point shows itself intothe surface of the study. The status of women in a society and theirattitudes and reactions towards specific situations such as violent crimesas rape with its kinds, patriarchal traditions, failing law justice system,injustice and finally revenge–the theme of my study–are important pointsto be studied for the two protagonists of both novels are females. This iswhy feminism takes its place in my study.The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters and aconclusion. Its introduction elucidates the principle of eye for an eye inIslam and Christianity as a preliminary step towards discussing the themeof revenge, and some theoretical substances about feminism. Theintroduction also focuses on the role of literature in investigating socialproblems in a realistic way. By virtue of their realism, these two novelscan serve as a kind of documentary which gives us unadorned and truepicture of the life and manners of the time and the cultures to which theypertain. Both writers attempt to give a genuine picture of the time thesenovels were written in by presenting a realistic setting and realphilosophies of two women who try to revenge against other maleantagonists for the sake of other female innocent victims.Eye for an eye is a religious principle in all the three religions;Islam, Christianity and Judaism. So revenge is every man’s right, in anyreligion, if his right is rapped. This principle is also called ”mirrorpunishment” in some contexts. ”Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is aquotation from Exodus 21:23-27 in which a person who has taken the eyeof another in a fight is instructed to give his own eye in compensation.The same quotation is also found in the Old Testament in Jesus ofNazareth’s Sermon on the Mount. Its core is also found in the HolyQur’an, ”Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth fortooth, and wounds equal for equal” (El-Tawrah, 44). It is the principle ofretributive justice. The inevitable result is that the heavenly justice willbe achieved by any way and at any time. It is the fair compensation foranyone to have his own right and to revenge what happened to him in aviolent way and against his desire. Applying this tenet, there would be asimple equality of suffering.Chapter One is entitled, Two Writers and Two Well-ChosenJuxtapositions with elements of Similarity and Difference. It includesidentical, social and historical backgrounds on both writers and novels. It will tackle the biographies of Taha Hussein and Erika Holzer in additionto studying the circumstances of the societies they were living in. As thenovels foreshadow the time, the society and the circumstances of theprotagonists, the thesis focuses on the differences between the twosocieties and the two cultures, paying a considerable attention to criticalreview points written on both novels.The chapter shows that both writers had a rare and almostunparalleled power of putting themselves in other people’s shoes, and of understanding other people’s lives and thought. In both novels, theyinterweave the personal life of the individual with the social milieu. Thewriters want their readers to concern themselves more with the moral oftheir stories than with the particular incidents of them.Taha Hussein (1889 - 1973) who was born in the middle UpperEgypt was educated in Al-Azhar University, and this had given him awide background about his religion (Islam) which influenced his writingsto a great extent. He moved to Paris to complete his portion ofeducation, this also had its marvelous role to put him on the step tounderstand the other different world of the West and to differentiatebetween the two cultures. His novel Doa’a Al-karawan (The Call of theCurlew) is one of the most famous novels in Egyptian literature. Hedefends woman against the oppression of the male-dominated society ofthat time in Egypt. Hussein made his protagonist Amna able to seekrevenge for a date rape victim, her sister Hanadi, and then a domesticviolence prey in the name of honor killing on the hands of a masculinefigure of her family, therefore her revenge is directed against malemembers’ faults and misjudgments in both cases.Erika Holzer (1953) is an American female novelist and essayist.She is a lawyer who seeks human rights around her society, advocatingwomen rights specifically. Eye for an Eye is her second novel, publishedin 1993. It is a disturbing look at street, urban violence, the criminaljustice system-a story of vigilantism growing out of the ongoingAmerican obsession with law and order. Its plot centers on a mother–called Karen–who joins a vigilante group to revenge for her killeddaughter against her male violent rapists after the criminal justice system releases them for being juveniles.Chapter Two, entitled; Rape as an Act of Violence againstWomen: Street Gangs in America versus Honor Killings in Egypt,tackles the victimization dilemma of the two victims, on a basis of afeminist critical analysis, illustrating a number of concepts that are settled down in favor of male figures against female rights. This chapter tackles the kinds of rape, the behavior of male rapists in two main frames; streetgangs in America versus honor killings in Egypt. It shows violenceagainst women in a feminist perspective discussing women victimizationin front of males’ power and oppression, applying all these conceptsanalytically on the two compared novels.Chapter Three deals with the theme of revenge according to afeminist philosophical psychological consideration of revenge towardsjustice; having the title of ’Revenge in the Psychological FeministPerspective and Heavenly Justice’. Both novels have a considerablepsychological interest, considering not only the outward actions of theprotagonists but also their inner thoughts and conflicts towards otherpersons in different situations. Considering the fact that, the protagonistin each novel is a female figure; so the term of feminism makes itsappearance clear and imposes itself for studying. Firstly, what isfeminism? Feminism implies that both genders are equal and have thesame rights. It is further maintained that gender leads to a social systemthat is dominated by males, which in turn influences the individualpsycho-sexual development. Feminism focuses on the role of women inthe events around her, it also tries to criticize and re-evaluate the ideas oftraditional and judicial philosophy in a feminist view.The protagonist, in both novels, is a female character. Amna is themain character in Doa’a El-karwan. She is someone who is trying toimprove her social conditions. With the beginning of the novel, her sisterHanadi was killed as a result of a male mistake. The antagonist rappedher and as a result, she also became the victim of her society whichconsiders her in such case a sinner not a victim; the male traditions werethe main cause which makes her uncle to kill her. Amna proved to be astrong woman who seeks revenge against this man. On the other hand, inEye for an Eye, the protagonist is female as well, she is a delicate motherwho loses her daughter in a rape accident of street gangs, and this is the point of her convert. She joins a vigilante group to revenge for her killed daughter after the criminal justice system releases her murderers. She seeks her revenge and also proves to be a strong woman to do that. Thetwo protagonists prove that women are able to do what men are capableof with the same insistence but in a defensive revenging form not acriminal violating one.So, why is revenge? Again it is because of male mistakes, both ofthem commit violent sexual affairs through acts of rape and murderagainst their victims which is unaccepted in both cultures and also inboth religions. Thus the theme of revenge may be described as the novels’”personal” and ”social” aspect respectively, and these two aspects areclosely related to each other. Both victims are oppressed by theirsocieties, and the main cause is that they are females judged by a malemind.The study ends with a conclusion that deals with the findings andsummarizes the defending of my thesis, hoping it to be a useful researchin the field of comparative literature.