Blog 6

One gets the sense that Mustafa is immortal and infallible within the text and certain parts with the novel and particularly the part I have chosen from Taleb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North elaborate this notion. “There is no justice in the or moderation in the world .I feel bitterness and hatred, for after all those victims he crowned his life with yet another one Hosna Bint Mahmoud,the only woman I have ever loved.” The hatred is a testament to the power that Mustafa Saeed truly possessed ,the power to woo and manipulate any and every women black ,white, Arabic, English or Sudanese. Mustafa’s ability to manipulate these women was due to the power that he held in being this exotic commodity that so many women sought after .Furthermore, not only was he able to entice them to his bed ,such was his prowess that he left his victims with a sense of emptiness ,a void within themselves and a lack of lust for life. This explains the hoards of women that killed themselves after being wooed by the godly Mustafa.” I love your sweat. I want to have the smell of you in full the smell of rotting leaves in the jungles of Africa..”(pg 118).This shows the degree of manipulation possessed by the character ,it is clear from the expression of lust and even love that one develops for him that his power is immeasurable. The nature of his wooing is also extremely imperious of power Mustafa simply uses words and falsified impressive adventures; adventures that lure in what is referred to as easy prey. This only elaborates the portrayal of females within the book ,females are the victims ,but not only that, they are viewed as prey or simply put animals. Society assumes the males are dominant and females in Sudan especially draw their status from their husbands. English women are portrayed only slightly differently ,they the premier victims of Mustafa in his crusade to avenge the colonial sufferings .These women are portrayed as fledglings in Mustafa’s game of manipulation. They are exposed to him due to their fascination with the exotic and orientalism. This makes the ‘easy prey’ for Mustafa. So clearly women are seen as the weak within the novel and their differences relate to how Sudanese women are tied to their husband in search for identity whilst their English counterparts are weak due to their obsession with the exotic. Mustafa is the intellectual in our post colonialism plot within the plot and he has lost touch with his culture as a result of his escapades in foreign lands. So despite looking to avenge and liberate his people Mustafa loses his culture much like many intellectuals do .Mustafa’s loss of identity is much like the loss of identity his home nation suffers ,he is different from the typical intellectual in that he does not really seem to be the bridge between colonized and colonizer; he is not an educator in the nature of other Westernized intellectuals. There is a loss of identity and such is the transition between homeland and foreign land ,that in the end the individual is not truly sure of his place .This confusion leaves one to wonder if there is truly hope considering the character does not even know his place in society.