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iii. Symbols and images in 'Memories Resurrected''.
The most important symbol used by Sumaili is that of an emergency
room( King Fahd Hospital) where Mona died, and departures lounge(
Riyadh Airport, ) where Rawan and her lover fell apart, frequently used
to suggest isolation and confinement . The tactful use of this symbol by
Sumaili gives his masterpiece ''Memories Resurrected'' a clausephobic
atmosphere appropriate to its theme- theme of love frustration and death-
There are also symbols related to their particular meaning. The pen was
the symbol of Rawan's fidelity of love. Also, the pen stands for the
potential or actual communication of one personality with another.
.. I thank her for the gift and told her she needn't have bothered...the
only things left from her were memories and the pen she had given
me... (MR73).
Nothing, satisfied Rawan's yearning for love until near the end of love
relation. The narrator spoke the love words frankly,
... I have hidden it for more than twenty years (means that
he kept love of Rawan for more than two decades)** ...I boarded
the plane and throughout the trip I was thinking off Rawan and
what her face would look like...(MR73)
The narrator felt a promise of real feeling and real love in above-
mentioned words. Sumaili used effective, imagery and symbols in order
to evoke a variety of feelings and emotions, for example, the pen.
... the only things left from her were memories and the pen she had
given me...(MR73).
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These symbols become highly evocative and their meaning keep on
expanding .They also act as means of achieving structural unity of the
novella. However, the values attached to many symbols are not constant.
This is basically, because Mr. Sumaili's technique is focused on contrast,
comparisons and parallels. The most important images in Sumaili's
''Memories Resurrected'' are perhaps the mosque which stands for piety.
Also, the mosque symbolizes Muslim harmony and unity. The minor
image is the hospital, which symbolizes life-giving and life taking in it,
Mona died. By the command of its creator, the Almighty, the hospital
gives and takes. No keen reader will miss such striking images .They are
highly evocative and their meanings keep on expanding.
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iv. The Symbolic Characters in ''Memories Resurrected''
Most of characters in Sumaili's Memories Resurrected' are capable of
symbolic interpretation ,in other words, the novella created many
symbolic character who can be interpreted symbolically. The narrator
stands for parents' obedience. Rawan stands for a rooted individualistic
urban culture that affects women. She stands for women who belongs to
conservative and pious homes who do not break away from the accepted
norms of social life. Jazan city and the narrator's village stands for a
conservative society.
Mr.Sumaili's narrator not only creates interest and suspense, but also
produces in his readers a ''vicarious responsibility '' (Hunt,1988:90)for the
successful completion of the story. The reader can understand this
relationship between him and the narrator. Often the narrator becomes
emotionally involved while narrating his story. In way , the narrator's
reminiscences are his burden. He seeks to unburden himself of the chaos
of the past.
... we started the day by promising that we would pray for each
other and ended it with an argument...(MR62)
Sometimes, as inMemories Resurrected, both Sumaili and his narrator
appear to be puzzled by the complex events of the story. In final analysis,
however, the story acquires compactness and becomes absorbing .
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v. The Plot Structure in ''Memories Resurrected''
The structure of ''Memories Resurrected'' appears any critical and
careful reader to be simple and least complicated. The novella has unity
and organic coherence. There are many literary devices which contributed
to the unity of the novella. The novella is carefully and skillfully
organized by Mr. Sumaili into obvious sections.
vi. Conclusion
It is clear that Sumaili's Memories Resurrected has a peculiar structure.
The whole of his novella was recollected and presented from the vivid
and fevered memory of the narrator. Thematically, the title provides a
clue to the theme and the meaning of the novella. The researcher suggests
different title of the current novella. It is supposed to be Memories
Lane'', which contributes accurately to expose the theme of the novella.
The new title stands for the great insight of the narrator himself.
The novella is mainly based on Saudi setting. Of course, one cannot, by
any means, evaluate literary Mr.Sumaili's Memories Resurrected in such
a condensed study, but, one can say without hesitation that Mr. Sumaili is
the pioneer and his contribution to the development of Saudi novels
would be immense.
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References
Primary Source
Sumaili, Mohammed, Charlotte , Memories Resurrected., Cairo: Egypt
Press.
Secondary Source:
Accad, Evelyn, (2005) the Portrayal of Women in Tayeb Salih's
Seasons of Migration to the North. Khartoum: Khartoum Univ. Press
Alexander, Sally(.2001.)Women's Work in Nineteenth Century London:
A Study of the Years 1820-1850. London: Journeyman,
Bently, Walter. (2002)The English Novel. London: Longman York Press.
Hunt, Linda. (1988.)A woman's Portion : Ideology, Culture and the
British female Novel Tradition. New York: Garland.
Rickett, Captain. The Rise of the Novel.. London: Oxford Univ. Press,
2004.
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- , 2015, Mohammed Sumili's Memories Resurrected, Hamburg, Diplomica Publishing GmbH, https://www.anchor-publishing.com/document/294008
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