Cold Mountain and Season of Migration to the North - Book Report/Review Example

Comparing the Treatment of Nature in the Cold Mountain and Season of Migration to the North The poem Cold Mountain written by Han-Shan's a Chinese poet will not be fully comprehended unless the reader has some knowledge of the Eastern philosophy and the intricate symbolism used by the writers belonging to this part of the world. "The Cold Mountain" is a metaphor for the poet himself. It symbolizes a particular way of life. At one level the cold mountain seems to be a retreat or refuge at certain other times it becomes an unattainable goal. The poet writes Slippery moss, but there's been no rain, Pine trees sigh, but there's no wind. Here the poet is trying to lend an aura of mystery or mysticism to the cold mountain. The way to the cold mountain is full of unexpected sights. The poet with the use of irony makes the familiar moss and pine tree seem to be strange. The moon, has a specific metaphoric meaning in the poetry of East Asia. It represents the fully awakened awareness or enlightenment Lone moon in the freezing stream. In the stream, where's the moon The moon's always in the sky. I write this poem: and yet, In this poem there is no Zen. "Zen" is a type of Buddhism which gave special attention to meditation or intuition. Here the poet is trying to say that the moon casts in reflection in the clear water but the moon itself remains in the sky. The poet is supposed to have been a person given to philosophical speculation but he says there is no Zen in his poem. This can mean that religious thought is implicit in his poem. Cold Mountain is Han-Shan's name (translated into English) as well as the place he lived. The identity of Han-shan is still a mystery. People believed that he was a recluse who lived at a place called Cold Mountain. It is said that he was a highly philosophical person who often spoke in riddles. In some lines of this poem it is clear that the poet identifies himself with the cold mountain Han-shan has his critics too: 'Your poems, there's nothing in them! The poet seems to say that it is difficult to climb the mountain in the same way it is quite difficult to fathom his poems without the right mind set. It is important at this point to focus upon the Eastern way of life where mysticism and philosophy are considered to be the hallmark of wise men. There is a suggestion that a life devoid of contemplation is not a full life .The poet also reiterates this when he draws comparisons between the arduous climbing of the mountain and a perusal of his own poems. It is quite easy to give up the difficult task of mountain climbing in the same way it is only too easy to dismiss the poems as empty. But this signifies the emptiness of the reader's mind and not the lack of content in the poem. The poet has displayed a romantic and spiritual response towards nature. Water glints and gleams in the moon, Grasses sigh and sing in the wind. The bare plum blooms again with snow, Naked branches have clouds for leaves. The grass is sighing, here the poet has attributed human feelings to nature. Here he has used the technique of "pathetic fallacy". This technique is repeated at many times in the poem. The poet describes nature in her many moods but it is not a neutral description of nature . Nature is used as a vehicle to highlight the poet's philosophical speculations. The poet suggests that nature and human life is transitory. You won't get there following me. Your heart and mine are not the same. If your heart was like mine, You'd have made it, and be there! The Cold Mountain ceases to be just a geographical area it is a way of life , a particular mindset and also a refuge. Season of Migration to the North,is supposed to be one one of the most controversial Arabic novels of the 20th century. The male protagonist is trying to reconstruct his identity. It is a postcolonial narrative where the concept of identity becomes problematic and highly complex. The male hero tries to carve an identity of his own which is free from European influences. The hero an Arab wants to wreak vengeance on the North/West for his 'Orientalization.' Unlike Shan, Tayeb does not spiritualize nature.It is the river Nile which becomes a potent symbol in the novel. The novelist says that elemental tales about the Nile's rare, legendary floods are something for fathers to talk to their sons about. So the river becomes part of their collective consciousness, it is seen as link that holds their culture together. The river is clearly set up as a boundary between north and south, and when the narrator first enters he cannot see either shore clearly. (166). This is a clear indication that people belonging to a certain culture are insular and blind themselves to other cultures. A man caught between two cultures is unable to fathom either culture.The river here a boundary makes clear vision impossible. In another place the narrator characterizes it as a "bottomless historical chasm" a "stone's throw from the Equator." (60) The narrator is caught between North and South, East and West in that symbolic river,and struggles to make a decision. The river is characterized as "destructive" (168) and as it pulls the narrator down into its depths the whole world loses significance. The river which had stood for connecting generations together also functions as a boundary, separating people from one another. At the end narrator pushes himself above water--above the conflict--and calls out to other human beings: not to Europeans, or to Sudanese, at this point he does not discriminate between cultures as he is desperately in need of help. Here the river becomes destructive as it pulls the narrator into its vortex. "That shore is the narrator's self-identity, which he has found-"My adversary is within and I must . . . confront him" (134)-after rejecting the two types of ego-driven maleness represented by Mustafa and Wad, and diverging somewhat from the conservative, pious masculinity of his grandfather. But the narrator never actually swims for shore; in a typically impotent act, he cries for help" (Gibson 16). The river Nile becomes the symbol of life and death separatism and continuity. Bibliography Gibson, Brian. An Island Unto Himself Masculinity in Season of Migration to the North .Canada, University of Alberta 2002 Salih, Tayeb, Season of Migration to the North.Portsmouth, Heinemann Educational Publishers trans: Denys Johnson-Davis. 1991. Read More