Literature of the Picaresque – Writing

Jimmy Amah “The Sudanese Hero who Journeyed and Conquered His Colonial Masters”

JPeer

November 15, 2016

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 JIMMY AMAH

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 ENGLISH 2850

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Good day

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 THE SUDANESE HERO WHO JOURNEYED AND CONQUERED HIS COLONIAL MASTERS

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 In this book  “Season of Migration to the North”, the main character Mustafa Saeed was a very interesting character. Not only was he very smart, but he Applied his genius to the real world. He presents himself as a hero who travelled from Africa to Europe and conquered the females of his colonial masters. Tayeb Salih wrote The Seasons of Migration to the North in and opposite point of view of the writing style of the heart of Darkness.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0                          While heart of Darkness was about a colonialist voyaging from Europe to the shores of Congo, The season of migration to the North is about an African travelling from the just recently independenced British colony Sudan to Europe. He presents himself as a hero who was successful in his endeavors abroad, achieving all his aims and returning to Africa. I systematically showed and argued that he was very heroic and successful in all his endeavors from childhood to adulthood whereby he performed his sexual conquests.

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¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 AMAH JIMMY

¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 ENGLISH 2850

¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 4         Tayeb Salih wrote his book as a narrative. As the introduction says, he wrote from an opposite point of view to a tale of colonialist’s narrative style of writing back then. In his narrative, Mustafa Saeed portrayed himself as a smart hero who infiltrated conquered the western world back then. Mustafa Saeed was not only skilled in attracting females and having a good time with them, but too in luring them to his bed only to have sexual intercourse with them and dump them off, for a fresh new start on another female conquest. Then he would repeat the same plot on successive females, as many times as he could. As Saeed said “I got to know the pubs of Chelsea, the clubs of Hempstead, and the gatherings of Bloomsbury. I would read poetry, talk of religion and philosophy, discuss paintings, and say things about the spirituality of the East. I would try everything possible to entice a woman to my bed. then I would go after a new prey”. Mustafa Saeed viewed his whole upbringing and travel to England as a huge heroic achievement. In contrast to the Heart of Darkness instead of writing from the point of view of a European colonialist who journeying into the depths of Africa, instead it is the reverse. Mustafa Saeed showed himself in the point of view of an Africans journey from Africa to Europe and cleverly dominating and conquering them, it at his level. Tayeh Salib wrote and narrated all these from Mustafa Saeeds tale and recount about his life and achievements while in London.

¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0           Mustafa Saeed was proud and even praises himself and genius when he tells his story to Tayeh Salib. He says he was very smart at school and learning and took unto it with strength hence his excelling in school which would eventually push him to Europe. He said “I learnt to write in two weeks after which I surged forward, nothing stopping me. My mind was like a sharp knife, cutting with cold effectiveness”. (p.20) As we see he was very proud depicting himself as a champion of studies. He depicts himself as perfect and excellent with this school system which the colonial masters had set up and invited him to participate in. It means with his abilities he would efficiently complete the colonial education system easily. This shows how he conveyed himself as a hero and champion who conquered the western world ways as he conquered school challenges easily.

¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 1                In addition to portraying himself as smart in school, He shows that even from childhood he was destined to end up in Europe amongst the people of the west, and being pushed by education. He showed himself as a genius and hero completing education in the village school, and there was nothing else left but to proceed with higher education. As we see from the text “I viewed the vast world in the geography lessons as though it were a chess board. The intermediate was the furthest education one could reach in those days. After three years, the headmaster- who was an Englishman -said this ‘country has not got the scope for that brain on yours. So take yourself off. Go to Egypt or Lebanon or England. We have nothing more to give you.’” (p.21) as we see he was well onto his path to England, since had excelled in his school work and completed it all, and had nothing more to be taught but further education outside the country. He portrays himself to be an unstoppable hero bound for the western world who not only could excel in studies but had completed them all and finished them with nowhere else to go but further to Cairo and the western world.

¶ 16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 1                 Mustafa Saeed portrayed himself as a ladys man and champion and skilled at attracting females. As we see in the passage he said “I was drunk, my glass two-thirds empty. With me were two girls. I was saying lewd things to them and they were laughing” (p.26) Saeed depicts himself as a females man having attracted women, drinking with them and telling them jokes while they laughed. It is a classic achievement for a visitor and stranger from the eastern part of the world and race to socialize and be surrounded by several foreign females who are laughing at his jokes and talk back then. I view it as a great achievement for a local inhabitant male of a colony to travel to the colonial masters world and be surrounded by their female citizens, a norm which would usually be a servant and master relationship. Here we see that Mustafa Saeed is a hero having achieved such a non-norm.

¶ 17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 3                  Mustafa Saeed was not only skilled in attracting females and having a good time with them, but too in luring them to his bed only to have sexual intercourse with them and dump them off, for a fresh new start on another female conquest. Then he would repeat the same plot on successive females, as many times as he could. As Saeed said “I got to know the pubs of Chelsea, the clubs of Hampstead, and the gatherings of Bloomsbury. I would read poetry talk of religion and philosophy, discuss paintings, and say things about the spirituality of the east. I would try everything possible to entice a woman to my bed then I would go after some news prey.” (p.26) We see this same genius he used to excel in school, he had applied it to the fields of art and culture and in luring females to his bed. This was a great conquest and endeavor which he succeeded at. This was his main passion and his greatest achievements. He viewed it as vengeance and payback to the wrongs of the colonialists. He performed it so without care of the females, even leading to the suicide of two English females Jean Morris and Ann Hammond.             

¶ 18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 1                    “When I woke up Ann Hammond was beside me” (p.27) a lively young English female from a rich Liverpool family who was studying oriental language was one of Sa’eed’s preys. She sparked with curiosity liked Mustafa Sa’eed but was married to a member of the British parliament. Had slept with her and claimed he turned her into a harlot. As he said” my bedroom was a graveyard that looked unto a garden. Its curtains were pink and head been chosen with care. The carpeting was warm greenness …the room was heavy with the smell of burning sandalwood and incense, and in the bathroom, were pun gent eastern bathroom perfumes, lotions, powder and pill.” (p.27) This shows the extent to which saeed had gone to get women to lay with him. He planned every step and plotted them to the details. Even the color of his curtains and the incense of his room likewise the different incenses of his bathroom. Due to his efforts, in the details of plans we see this was clearly a big achievement for him. One cant plan the excruciating details of such undertaking of his without it being a huge achievement. His plans and speech all showing how important these acts were valuable to him. And he speaks the detail of his success in them showing himself as a hero who had come from the east from the colonies to the western world and conquered their female as he so desired.

¶ 19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 1             Mr Saeed had caused two good cheerful English ladies to commit suicide over wanting him. He had caused them to want him then broke their heart. Amid their broken heart, they committed suicide. Yet though one had vowed he would be punished for her suicide. As we see from the text as Saeed boastfully claims “there is a still pool in the depth of womens heart that I knew how to stir.one day they found her dead. She had gassed herself. They also found a small piece of paper with my name on it. It contained nothing but the words ‘Mr Sa’eed may god damn you’” (p.27) As we see she had committed suicide angry with Mr Saeed and prior to that Sa’eed was married to Jean Morris.

¶ 20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 1                              Mr Saeed was concerned with only laying with new women. He had no other ambitions. It is hard to tell if Mr Sa’eed had had his doctorate degree by then, but that was all he was pre-occupied with. He had no ambitions then because that was his only ambition. In the text Sa’eed says “The plays of Bernard Shaw were put on at the Royal Court and the Haymarket. Edith Sitwell was giving wings to poetry and the prince of wales theatre pulsated with youth and bright light…the island was like a sweet tune, happy and sad changing like a mirage with the changing of seasons. For thirty years, I was a part of all these, living in it, but insensitive to its real beauty, unconcerned with everything about it except the filling of my bed each night.” (p.31) Seeing Sa’eed fared well in this undertaking and goals for thirty years, it was thereby accompanied with the fairings of success, such as heroism and sense achievement.

¶ 21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 2                           Mustafa Saeed proudly talks of his methods of conquest of the females who fell to his preying back then in London. He talks of it as a heros successful achievement as he explains it to Taleb Salih. He says “As we drank tea she asked me about my home, I related to her fabricated stories about deserts of golden sands and jungles where non-existent animals called out one to another.” (p.32) As we see Saeed relates to Tayeb Salih some of the methods and manners he used to seduce women one after another to his bed. He recounts his methods to Salih with the tone of a hero who had achieved some great achievements. It is evident that in his undertakings, he succeeded even in sleeping with many females such that two had committed suicide. In his point of view he had travelled to and conquered his colonizers. He had infiltrated and conquered his western colonizers in his point of view. We have seen numerous proofs of this in the text as he recounted his story to Tayeh Salib.