فصلنامه نقد ادبی (Oct 2023)
Initiation of Facing Death in the Story of "Fal -E Khoon" by Dawood Ghaffarzadegan
Abstract
Myths and rituals are fundamental elements of human life and culture, reflecting people's desires and fears. The confrontation with death and the consciousness of death is one of the most fundamental themes of mythology and its rituals. Contemporary narratives are one of the most prominent formats that can be used as vehicles for mythological and ritual themes, including death consciousness. This article is based on the mythological approach, using a descriptive-interpretive method and aiming to reveal the inner effect of confronting death and reaching the consciousness of death formed by the ritual of initiation, in order to examine the structure and depth of the story "Fal -e Khoon" by Dawood Ghaffarzadegan. the story "Fal -e Khoon", which highlights the theme of death consciousness, is obviously based on the structure of initiation; Expulsion, mystery learning and mystery education. The main character of the story, a budding soldier, is confronted with various phenomena and events on his mission to achieve his goal. These events form the basis for the rookie to pass his most difficult and final test. The most difficult test of the main character in the story is to become aware of death and to accept death as part of one's existence. This theme, which was one of the first and constant concerns of mankind, is juxtaposed in the story with mythological elements such as mountains, trees, numbers, cows, names and huts, so that it gives a mythical tinge to a modern story and conveys an ancient ritual. In this way, modern art, literature, and ideas cannot only be separated from ancient mythological and ritual strains; ; Rather, these strains, by blending with human's constant reflections, such as death, provide the context for the richness and brilliance of today's narratives. Extended Abstract 1. Introduction A person, in their living world, does not take their actions and thoughts from the same source. A person's existence is multifaceted and these multiple strains provide different formats for his mentality, thought and behavior. One of the most important components that shape human thought and action are myths and then mythological rituals. The rituals, in the first stage, are the manifestation of the influence of the myth in the life and social world of the human personality; when the rituals have mythological themes, they, like myths, influence the formation of human mentality and actions. Hence, the myth and rituals arising from it have the same functions. Myths and mythological rituals express people's wishes, fears and desires (Guerin et al., 2005, p. 183). In a world where the sense of existential loneliness does not leave a person, myths and rituals are a tool for understanding one’s situation in the world, reducing their fears and sufferings as well as fulfilling their wishes, though in a symbolic form. Narratives are one of the most prominent human creations, and the myths and rituals arising from them, play a distinct role in shaping its structure and texture (Bressler, 2012, p. 132). 2. Methodology The present article deals with the role and function of the myth and the ritual of initiation in revealing the theme of death in the short story "Fal -e Khoon" by Davud Ghafarzadegan. In an artistic and distinctive way, " Fal -e Khoon " has used the themes and the structure of the mythological ritual of initiation in its narrative to depict the phenomenon of death. For this reason, it is necessary to examine this story from the mentioned point of view. This article aims to reveal the role and function of the structure of the ritual of initiation and its mythological elements in shaping the narrative of " Fal -e Khoon" and its main theme; That is, facing death and death-awareness, to answer the following questions with a descriptive-interpretive method: Which of the mythological elements create the texture and structure of the narrative of "Fal -e Khoon"? How does the ritual of initiation advance the events of the story? How do the mythological elements and the ritual of initiation create the basic theme of this story, i.e., facing death and death awareness? The source of life, birth, survival (Guerin et al., 2005, pp. 200-201) and the death and destiny of a person (Campbell, 2010, p. 168) are among the topics that a person always faces in the world of his thoughts and reflections; and to reach their understanding, he has benefited from the myths and rituals. "Rituals, emotions and myths mutually affect each other" (Whitehead, 2017, p. 29); Therefore, mythological rituals and customs are the objective and external continuity of those mythical beliefs and mentalities that are useful for the consistency and continuity of social order. The ritual of initiation is one of the rituals that has its roots in the world of mythology. In this ritual, the immature teenager is prepared to leave the world of immaturity and step on the path of maturity. Maturity of the teenager provides him with independence that starts from geographical mobility; It means that the teenager starts moving away from home (Richards, 2011, p. 136). The ritual of initiation is based on three stages of separation (repulsion), transformation (mystery learning) and return (mystery education) (Guerin et al., 2005, p. 190). In this ritual, the immature teenager becomes aware of the mysteries of existence. Death, the understanding of man's mortality and encountering with death are among the fundamental elements of the mythological themes that the teenager, as a novice, should be informed about within the initiation ritual (Eliadeh, 2011, p. 195). 3. Discussion The narration of "Fal -e Khoon" is the longest story in the book "21 Stories" by Dawood Ghafarzadegan. This story is divided into six chapters. Each chapter contains events whose basic actions and functions are created and discussed by the three main characters, soldier, lieutenant, and lieutenant assistant. The function of the characters ultimately goes in such a direction that they prepare and preface the final and fundamental action of the soldier. The story of "Fal -e Khoon" is obviously about the different aspects of a person's encounter with death; It relies on ignorance, fear of death and death awareness. The theme of death and its related components are the most basic intermediate and organizing link in the episodes of the "Fal -e Khoon" narration; As an example, on pages 284 and 307 of the story, apart from the propositions related to death, the narrator mentions the word "death" four and three times, respectively. Each of the characters of the story reveal different actions related to these strains. The character who the story is formed around his external and internal actions is a soldier who must come to the understanding of death and face it consciously through the stages of discovery and secret learning, and finally face it freely and without any fears. In facing death and accepting it in his existence, he must go through the stages before and after his secret learning - just like the worlds he lived in - so that he can become aware of death and learn the secret. 4. Result The author of "Fal -e Khoon" has been able to use the theme of facing death and death-awareness through the use of the structure of the ritual of initiation. The main character of the story, who takes action in the form of a novice soldier reaches maturity through the stages of being driven, secret learning and secret-educated. The maturity of the soldier is his being secret-educated in the conscious face of death. In tests and difficult events, he accepts death as a part of his existence, and thus he is freed from the fear of death and extinction. The story of "Fal -e Khoon" uses the theme of death-awareness in the structure of the initiation ritual and in association with mythological elements; Like a tree, a mountain, a name, a cow, and a hut, and with its artistic structure and its fusion with mythological elements, conveys the theme of death awareness to the audience of his narrative in today's horizon and context. Based on this, it seems that a person, in the horizon of modern literature and art, will never be empty and useless of ancient and mythological themes and rituals. 5. References Bressler, Charles E. (2012). Literary criticism: An introduction to theory and practice. (5th Edition). Pearson: New York. Campbell, Joseph (2010). Ghodrat-e Osture. Translated by Abbas Mokhber. 6th edition. Tehran: Markaz Publication. [in Persian] Eliade Mircha (2002). Osture, Ro’yā, Rāz. Translated by Roya Monajem. Tehran: Alam Publication. [in Persian] Ghafarzadegan, Dawood. (2005). "Fāl-e Khun". Dar Bist-o Yek Dāstān. Tehran: Rozaneh, pp. 267-352. [in Persian] Guerin Wilfred L. et al. (2005). A Hand Book of Critical Approaches to Literature. (5th Edition). New York: Oxford University Press. Richards, Barry. (2011). Ravānkāvi-ye Farhang-e Āme; Nazm va Tartib-e Neshāt. Translated by Hossein Payandeh. 2nd Ed. Tehran: Sāles Publication. [in Persian] Whitehead, Alfred North. (2015). Tahavol-e Din. 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