Character and Characterization in “Palms and Men” novel

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays one of the most significant elements in story writing is character and characterization. Character in a narrative or a play, is a person that his mental and moral qualities reflect in his deeds and what he says and does. Creating such characters in a story or a novel that seem to be like real people to the reader is called characterization (Mir Sadeghi, 1382: p 85). In this article character and characterization in one of the novels about the eight year war between Iran and Iraq, calling “Palms and Men”, is investigated. Character types, methods of characterization, character appearance, prototype, the relation of character with other elements, and characterization defects are some of the subjects studied in this article. Character types: these characters are generally categorized in two groups of stereotype and type. Samir, Touraj, Reza, Hamid etc. all belong to Sepah forces category which are type characters. Some women characters such as Zeinab, Samir’s mother, Kolsoum, Hanieh’s mother etc. are stereotype characters. Methods of characterization in “Palms and Men” novel: The description of characters is done in two methods by Mr. Nematollah Soleimani: a) Direct characterization: If not all the characters, most of them are certainly characterized in this way. For example in expressing Hamid’s characteristic who is the commander of the mission, he writes, “Hamid didn’t bat an eyelid in any incidents. Hamid was lion-hearted”. (Soleimani, 1380: 128). In describing uncle Heidar, he writes, “wisdom and insight, and the effects of years of suffering, difficulty, and experiencing could be clearly seen in his limpid eyes. The rural man was indeed a wise and experienced man” (the same: 264_265). b) Indirect Characterization: Although in novels and long stories, direct characterization method is often used, in “Palms and Men” this kind of characterization is also appeared in different conversations, stream of consciousness, deeds and behaviors, appearance descriptions and names. For instance, the inner personality traits of a character such as colonel Nowrouzi, who in the writer’s eye is a courageous, adept warrior while being a disciplined, adamant commander, is reflected in his conversation with the captain. “Colonel we wish u returned behind the lines, we would take u to the field hospital. Again the voice was broken up and after a few seconds the colonel’s voice could be heard, it seemed he was arguing with the soldiers around him. “I won’t withdraw. I tell them too that I won’t return behind the lines… until God willing I make these bastards withdraw for 5 to 6 kilometers tomorrow morning, I won’t move away from here” (the same:173). Or in describing the appearance of characters, most southern characters are described as being brunet, skinny and tall, such as Samir (the main character), Mahmoud, Reza, Hamid, Touraj etc. “Samir was tall and so skinny that it seemed you could always see his profile. He was dark skinned and had a bony body” (the same: 175). Prototypes can be categorized in different types, including religious, historical, political, social classes, epic, literary prototypes etc. In this novel the characters are categorized in 3 categories of religious, political, and social classes’ prototypes. Because of belonging to the type of “Holly Defense” soldiers and being martyred, the characters of this novel have religious prototype. And the time president’s character (Bani Sadr) is a political and historical prototype in this novel. Social classes’ prototype can be seen in Zarkhedr and Zar Adozahra characters. The relation of character with some story elements: Point of view, time, and theme are the story elements that have affected on better description and process of the characters. By choosing third person point of view, description of characters by omniscient narrator, selection of war period of time, description of real characters at that time, theme of frontage, and liberation of Khoram Shahr, the relation of this theme in deeds and dialogues of characters, the writer better introduces and processes them. Character appearance a) External indicators: job, gender, and age are external indicators that the writer introduces his story characters using them. In this novel the characters are normally young men who belong to “Sepah” troops, which is consistent with the theme and plot of the story and the characters dialogues, thoughts, feelings, and psyche are based on this. b) Internal indicators: internal indicators are used to describe the characters are the characters emotional and spiritual matters, their thoughts and aptitudes for example Samir’s (the main character) fear of death which is an emotional and spiritual matter is described as: “Samir suffered from a great anxiety, he knew in a vague way that this dreadful worry is caused by fear of death. The consecutive days of fight and flight had wrecked him mentally and spiritually” (Soleimani, 1380: 106). Also, reasoning of uncle Heidar about war and his eyes that see the appearance of things in another way is narrated as: “The old man said that war is simple as well as a hard subordination of God. Escaping from that is not possible. The ones who escape from the war are actually escaping from themselves. What do they know about the reality of life? You that are in the heart of war have perceived reality if you approach it with a pure, pleased and satisfied soul. He said how great it is to love and to have unshakable faith (the same: 266). The defects of characters in this novel One of the things that has defected the plot of the story is irregular appearing and disappearing of characters. During the story the author repeatedly brings some characters into the scene and takes them out without introducing them and just mentioning them so briefly by their names in a way that the it seems to be the author’s diaries rather than a novel. Another problem is about Hanieh that the writer does not mention her previous studies in nursing but in different parts in the story she is pictured as a skillful nurse and being busy with this job. Also, Zarkhedr, Hanieh’s father, is totally disagreed with Samir and Hanieh’s marriage but in the first 100 pages of the story without any logical reason he agrees with their marriage and gives them a power of attorney to wed, while such a revolution requires time and adequate background. The characters are introduced in a direct method while today readers prefer to read between the lines and indirectly discover the inner part of the characters and analyze them. Direct method presentation is necessary for clearness and thrift but it is not ever adequate. Results: In general, this study shows that besides direct description of the characters during the series of events in this novel, the author introduces characters through conversations, behaviors, deeds, thoughts, even description of appearance although slightly. Gender, age, name, even the logic that the author presents about the characters and the coherent relation between the characters and other elements of the story such as theme, time, place, etc. have a great role in firm basis of the story