Lifestyle in the Emile Habiby's The Secret Life of Saeed - Book Report/Review Example

Comic Spirit-Emile Habiby’s The Secret Life of Saeed Emile Habiby’s “The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist,” narrates about the lifestyle and experiences of a Palestinian man, who gained re-entry into Israel after Palestinian refugee, were deported back to their nation, in 1948. He eventually settled and began living and working in Israel. In Israel, Saeed fell in love with Yuaad, also a Palestinian, but she died after being deported to Palestine. Habiby presents Saeed’s life as one that is characterized by random opportunities and inconsequence. Saeed refers to his family and himself as pessoptimist. This is because his family perceives the world with a bit of optimism that is mixed with a touch of pessimism. Through optimism/pessimism referred to as pessoptimism, Habiby is trying to reveal the problems that result from Palestinian and Israeli conflict. Throughout the book, Habiby presents incidences of pessoptimism, which form satirize the ambiguity of who is an Israeli and who is a Palestinian, who claims the true return and who does not, and who is secretly working for the opposing sides (Ḥabībī 4). This paper explains how Amber Day’s claim and Habiby’s fictional work in “The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist” are used to create satirical point of view in this novel. Amber Day provides argument why political satire has gained a strong ground, in popular cultures, and proceeds to illustrate why it matters. Day’s “Satire + Dissent” examines satirical documentaries to establish where people have come from and where they are going (Day 24). He argues that the use of satire, parody, or irony in literary work creates discursive space, galvanizes counter publics, reinvigorates and engages communities, and offers a sense of belonging to those who feel that they are alone, unlike his critics who believe that these forms are divisive, cynical, and detached to serious discourse (Day 27). She further argues that these hybrid performative forms have distinct properties, which other satirical literary counterparts do not have. She also considers satire as culturally and historically situated. This always makes it influx, thereby preventing the formation of conclusions that favor how certain incidences might be manipulating and causing changes incrementally (Day 27). In other words, her arguments and claims about satire describes how satire has become a vital tool, in the contemporary American public discourse, and makes her audience believe that it will not end soon. Day claims that the changes that we have witnessed about so much irony in our culture is as a result of the “the manufactured quality of contemporary public life (Day 24). She also claims that all these forms of satire have a relationship in that they are cultural phenomena, which challenge mainstream narratives, provide political dissent, highlight inconsistencies and absurdities shown by politicians and the media, and depend on some level of improved person-to-person interaction that seems to sabotage or reveal (Day 25). Throughout his book, she argues that the community maintaining and building achieved by these forms are the most significant aspects, and they should not be perceived as cynical or bound to critics’ claims. According to Habiby, Saeed’s family has been pessoptimists for a long time. They are truly noble, and they have lived in Israel for a long time. Even before their deportation to Palestine, they worked and lived in different parts of Asia such as Syria and Lebanon (Day 31). Habiby further points out that Saeed’s father had earlier worked for Iraqi government after the creation of Israeli government. This is not because loyalty Israeli nationalism, but because of his pessoptimist belief that it was not worse than having no source of income (Day 31). Habiby’s literary work adopts Day’s claim to create the satirical perception of her novel. Saeed’s belief that he is a pessoptimist is one of the key tools for developing the satirical perception of Habiby’s novel. Just like Day claims that satire and irony give those who feel lonely a sense of belonging, Saeed’s belief that his family and him are pessoptimists gave them a chance to live and survive in different countries, and even gave him the courage to gain re-entry into Israel after their deportation (Ḥabībī 6). He also settled and began working in Israel without having fear over his life. Further still, after Saeed’s father was killed by a stray bullet, Saeed married another woman called Baqiyaa, whose village was destroyed by Israeli militants. Her name means “She who has remained” (Ḥabībī 7). Saeed and Baqiyaa proceeded to bear a child named Walaa. Habiby does not present Walaa as an important character in her novel, but in relation to Day’s claims, in “Satire + Dissent, I think that he symbolizes a typical young Palestinian masculinity. Similarly, he also presents a case where a young person grows and survives in an environment where the identification of home is not an easy task, and where young people are advised to talk in a low tone otherwise they will be heard and arrested (Ḥabībī 28). Walaa grew up as a quiet child, and his father put the blame on him and his wife because they neglected to while they were busy striving to gain financial independence in a nation, which refused to consider them as citizens (Ḥabībī 17). Satirical perception of this novel is also gained when Baqiyaa informs Saeed that there is a secrete treasure that is hidden under the sea. Saeed then decides to spend most of his time around the rocky beaches of Haifa in search for the hidden family treasure. I believe that Saeed’s pessoptimism notion was the key factor, which driven him to look out for this treasure since he believed that it was a mini opportunity. While Walaa was growing up, he secretly listened to his parents’ stories and complains, and when he fully grew up, he decided to choose a different kind of life that was significantly different from that of his parents and other young Palestinians. Unlike most of his friends and age mates, he decided to become a freedom fighter, a fida’i (Ḥabībī 67). Like Day’s claims, Saeed must have realized that the changes he witnessed and the stories he heard about the irony in Palestinian culture are because of the “the manufactured quality of contemporary public life. Most Palestinian immigrants, in Israel, had a belief that the Israelis had a fear that the Palestinian children will one day grow up and become terrorists. This is one of the reasons why the Israeli government regularly deported Palestinian parents and their children back to their country (Jacobs et al. 42). The Israelis even felt that Palestinian children should be killed, rather than being deported since they will one day become terrorists, and seek revenge attacks on Israelis. Over the past few centuries since the end of the Cold War, the launch of global free-market by Ronal Reagan and Margaret Thatcher opened up international boundaries and people began moving from one nation for a number of reasons such as escaping war and the search for job opportunities. Soon after some times, some countries especially the Muslim nations, realized that the Western culture was rapidly consuming other cultures, and in order to protect Muslim faith and culture, they had to resist the Western culture by all means possible. This led to hatred between the westerners and Asian nations, and this is believed to be one of the main reasons for the emergence of Islamic insurgent groups such as al Qaeda (Jacobs et al. 47). The fight against Islamic militia groups has always topped world agendas, and Israel is among the nations, in the frontline, fighting against terrorist attacks and activities. This is the reason why the Israeli government deported Saeed and other Palestinians because they feared that they will engage in terror activities, in Israel. This perception is also what made the remaining Palestinian adopt a quite lifestyle and operate in accordance to the Israeli cultural norms and beliefs. Therefore, just like Day’s claims, the stories and beliefs that the Palestinians developed were as a result of the “the manufactured quality of contemporary public life” (Ḥabībī 26). Satire is also created when Walaa gained a sense of belonging, and stood to defend his rights as a human being, in a society that refused to accept Palestinian immigrants as its members (Sadi 181). Saeed failed to find the family treasure since Walaa was young, but he later realized that his son had discovered the family treasure, and used it to purchase weapons. Walaa grew up as a quiet, but a keen child, and he was lived with secrets. The things he heard from his parents inflicted fear in him. For example, he was advised not to sing in the shower, and only whisper when passing any information. However, when he grew up, he discovered independence from his family by breaking their code of secret telling (Ḥabībī 34). Walaa’s independence gives Habiby’s novel a satirical point of view because he challenged mainstream narratives, just like Day claims. Walaa discovered that his parents’ stories were significantly influenced by cultural phenomena, which people could challenge, and they depend on some level of improved person-to-person interaction that seems to sabotage or reveal (Ḥabībī 56). Habiby’s use of her character also gives her novel a satirical perception. Israeli guards trapped Walaa and ordered him to surrender his treasure of weapon. However, he acquired some courage through his sense of belonging and ignored the guards’ order as his mother was pleading for mercy (Ḥabībī 89). His father listened from far as Walaa cried, and argued that his son’s life has been living in suffocation. Even his mother asked him to surrender, and ask for forgiveness. He instead, told her mother that he has been suffocating for a long time, and it was time to breath in freedom even if it was for the last time, in his life. His mother then suddenly gained some form of heroism and jumped into the, and then escaped together with her son (Ḥabībī 89). According to Day’s claims, I feel that Habiby’s literary work is a satirical piece because it reinvigorates and engages communities. One of the main themes presented in Habiby’s piece is the conflict between Israelis and Palestinian. Israel, as a community, is determined to oppress Palestinian immigrants so that they would not engage in terrorist activities while Palestinians as a different community are determined to fight for their freedom and identification as Israeli citizens (Ḥabībī 107). This is the reason why the guards ordered Walaa to surrender his treasure of weapon to protect Israel from terrorist attacks while Baqiyaa and Walaa flew into exile to gain freedom. In this context, we ironically witness two communities engaging each other in the fight for their personal interests. Like Day suggest, differences in Israeli and Palestinian cultural phenomena, which entails different forms of hybrid performatives, might be the leading cause of Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Peteet 163). Day claims that political satire has gained strong ground in different cultures. This is depicted in Habiby’s novel of how the Israeli political satire has gained ground in their popular culture. The Israelites believe that everybody, across the globe, admires their lifestyle and cultural phenomena, and this is the reason why they impose tough political rules on other cultures, especial on people from the Muslim community. In Habiby’s novel, Saeed and other Palestinian immigrants, in Israel, were denied citizenship, and they were regularly deported because of the Israeli political satire that they are causers of the various social unrest, in different parts of the globe. This gives this Habiby’s novel it satirical outlook. Additionally, the satirical perception of this novel is revealed when Walaa, in contrary to his parents and other Palestinian immigrants, gain independence of free speech, and even goes ahead to purchase weapons by using his family treasure, which his father had earlier failed to get. Walaa has long been perceived as a quiet child, but he eventually turned to be a Palestinian hero, in Israel. Walaa and his mother escaped into freedom living behind his father, who still believed the notion of pessoptimism. It is also ironic that Walaa’s father met another Saeed, in jail. The second Saeed was saved by a donkey when a stray bullet almost killed him. Walaa’s father then tells him that his son is a courageous soul and a martyr, and he escaped into freedom. Day also claims that satirical outlook of a literary work is achieved when the irony presented reinvigorates and engages communities. Habiby, in her novel, cited the Israeli and Palestinian conflict that gives her literary piece a satirical outlook throughout the novel. Works Cited Day A. Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. London: Indiana University Press, 2011. Print Habībī I. The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist. New York: Arris, 1985. Print Jacobs et al. The Rough Guide to Israel & the Palestinian Territories 2: The Rough Guide. New York: Rough Guides, 1998. Print ONeil R. M. Great World Writers: Twentieth Century. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2004. Print Peteet J. "Words as interventions: naming in the Palestine – Israel conflict." Third World Quarterly Volume 26, Issue 1 (2005): 153-172. Print Sadi A. H. "Catastrophe, Memory and Identity: Al-Nakbah as a Component of Palestinian Identity." Israeli Studies Volume 7 (2002): 175-198. Print Read More