Ben Jelloun’s employment of eight narrators who each present a different voice, attitude, and perspective on the story: a professional storyteller, Ahmed him/herself, Ahmed’s brother-in-law, a man from the South, three members of the audience who pick up where the storyteller leaves off after his death, and a blind troubadour expresses the complicated and varied nature in which a colonized nation is left (Saunders 138). Each narrator is necessary to present some aspect of the story, whether it is narrative as in the case of the storyteller or empathetic as seen in the narration of Fatuma, one of the audience members. Each of these narrators brings some new information or theory into the story of Ahmed/Zahra which causes the reader to rethink his or her understanding of Ahmed/Zahra and who he/she was. As necessary as these narrations are, they are also superlative. The abundance of discussion and the ricocheting nature of the conversation causes great confusion in the reader, and it is at that point of confusion that Ben Jelloun achieves his goal. This confusion created in the reader mirrors the confusion on the page which, in turn, triangularly allegorizes the unrest created in a colonized nation. Saunders cites this as a “complex alloy…in which the body is the nation, the nation is the narrative, and the narrative is the body” (138). In various pockets of the narrative storytelling, Ben Jellon employs the use of poetic language which symbolizes the beauty which still resounds throughout the violent chaos of identity (dis)establishment. Fatuma’s description of her return journey from Mecca reflects this beauty. She finds serenity from the chaos of Mecca in the open expanse of the ocean: I no longer felt the need to cry out; the tension that had driven me forward abated. I left Mecca without feeling regret…To be on the ocean, far from all ties not to know where I’m going, to be suspended without past or future, to be in the immediate moment, surrounded by that blue immensity, to watch the thin envelope of the sky at night, when so many stars thread their way in and out of it; to feel myself in the gentle grip of a blind sensation that slowly turns into a melody, something between melancholy and inner joy—that was that I liked. (Ben Jelloun 129)
The irony in Fatuma’s discovery of peace once she left the place which is expected to provide her with spiritual peace again supports Ben Jelloun’s assessment of the complicated and ingrained nature of colonization. Mecca is a holy place where many Muslims travel on pilgrimage as a part of their journey to spiritual completeness. It is taught that a journey to Mecca will bring to the pilgrim a type of holy nirvana, but what of Fatuma’s claustrophobia upon reaching this place? As a Muslim, Fatuma is expected to find unequivocal peace at Mecca and she does, but not in the place where she has been taught she would. The question raised in this scene is whether the expanse ocean is truly her source of peace or is it the result of the hurried and crowed nature of Mecca which led her to the boat making her journey to Mecca necessary after all?
Narration and Allegory
In various pockets of the narrative storytelling, Ben Jellon employs the use of poetic language which symbolizes the beauty which still resounds throughout the violent chaos of identity (dis)establishment. Fatuma’s description of her return journey from Mecca reflects this beauty. She finds serenity from the chaos of Mecca in the open expanse of the ocean:
I no longer felt the need to cry out; the tension that had driven me forward abated. I left Mecca without feeling regret…To be on the ocean, far from all ties not to know where I’m going, to be suspended without past or future, to be in the immediate moment, surrounded by that blue immensity, to watch the thin envelope of the sky at night, when so many stars thread their way in and out of it; to feel myself in the gentle grip of a blind sensation that slowly turns into a melody, something between melancholy and inner joy—that was that I liked. (Ben Jelloun 129)
The irony in Fatuma’s discovery of peace once she left the place which is expected to provide her with spiritual peace again supports Ben Jelloun’s assessment of the complicated and ingrained nature of colonization. Mecca is a holy place where many Muslims travel on pilgrimage as a part of their journey to spiritual completeness. It is taught that a journey to Mecca will bring to the pilgrim a type of holy nirvana, but what of Fatuma’s claustrophobia upon reaching this place? As a Muslim, Fatuma is expected to find unequivocal peace at Mecca and she does, but not in the place where she has been taught she would. The question raised in this scene is whether the expanse ocean is truly her source of peace or is it the result of the hurried and crowed nature of Mecca which led her to the boat making her journey to Mecca necessary after all?