Another concept of nature that was employed in the storylines of Life on the Edge and The Tortoise was rain and storm. In the beginning of Life on the Edge the author operated with personification – illustrating resemblance between the behaviour of nature to the violent father of the protagonist, “Dark clouds began to gather behind the mountain peaks, filling me with fear as they formed shapes of strange creatures menacing us with cruelty and anger” (16). By doing so, the author sets an ominous atmosphere and position readers to feel slightly anxious of what’s to come. The protagonist in The Tortoise who has suffered the daily abuse and brutality from his family depicted himself as a “blade of grass in a raging storm” which consequently emphasises the idea of one fighting against the world (25). Readers are positioned to understand the feelings of defencelessness and powerlessness of the protagonist due to the extensive daily abuse. Mosbahi employs rain and storm as a vehicle to drive the notion of violence. Mosbahi demonstrate that the characters are unable to defy against it and must continue accepting the inhumane actions for “nature” encircles them therefore they are unable to escape from it.
By structuring the plot and employing nature in Life on the Edge and The Tortoise, symbolisms of mountains, hills and storm all signify the ideas of captivity and constraint which consequently confirms the themes of violence and brutality. In Life on the Edge, the protagonist is so accustomed to domestic violence that she constantly feels threatened and in danger, somewhat paranoid, and even when faced with an ordinary storm she subconsciously reminds herself of the daily torture and places herself in the same “menacing” situation again (16). By presenting the scope of situations, readers are positioned to sympathise for the victims and become disparaging towards ones blamed for the cause.
Both the authors of Life on the Edge and The Tortoise position the readers to view characters in a particular way by generating emotions of empathy, anger and distress by employing emotive writing, specific word choices and repetition. After losing numbers of the sheep, in Life on the Edge, the father becomes abusive and expels, “You devils, I will kill you all tonight” (16). The reader is positioned to understand that the father retains no love nor kindness towards his family who he refers to as “devils” thus emotions of anger is quickly established by the reader (16). Readers are compelled to feel contrasting emotions at the one time – feeling sympathetic towards the children and pregnant mother and angered by the inhumane actions of the father when the author displays the extent that domestic violence can reach to in the line “He unbuckled his belt to give us a thrashing…even my pregnant mother…was not spared” (18). Rachida el-Charni again illustrates the father’s abusiveness by explaining that he “hurled insults” towards women by describing them as “spoilt” and ”bad luck” and as a result readers develop strong emotions of detest and appal towards the father (16, 18). The author demonstrates to readers the gender insignificance and discrimination in North African countries in the line “Let her die, her life is cheaper than the sheep she’s made me lose” (18). The author purposely shows that in some North African countries, animals acquire higher importance and value over people but as a result it causes the fall out of families and permanent damage on sufferers of the situations.
The protagonist describes her father as “a man who had no conscience” after he “refused adamantly” to help her mother “give birth” (18). The “shocked” and “ashamed” protagonist later expresses “His wrath and anger had swept away all feelings I [she] held for him and destroyed them…plunging me [her] into a profound state of sadness” (18, 19) Readers are positioned to feel sympathetic and distressed for the protagonist when she is forced to courageously undertake the role of her father. Readers also understood that the protagonist had cease feelings of any love or kindness towards her father. The author creates emotions of horror and shock for readers by presenting confrontational situations of the father willing to let his own wife die. The reader is able to deduce that North African society approves the act of violence for in this story the father can be seen as a reflection of the attitudes of their society – the father believes it is acceptable to treat his family like such of an animal and to execute such brutal actions and emotions towards his family – he shows no reluctance or uneasiness whatsoever at doing so
Similarly, in The Tortoise the protagonist is beaten “almost every morning” but the author also explains that not only is domestic violence caused by the reigning male like in Life on the Edge but other elders of North African family also believe such thing is acceptable (21). This is evident in the repetition of the line “they all beat me” (21, 22, 24, 26). The author of The Tortoise utilises emotive writing – vividly describing each event in the storyline and in addition effectively applies repetition to build up emotions of fear, sympathy and horror for readers – somewhat enabling readers to live the story, “They used to beat me with a nail-studded stick that sometimes drew blood…it twisted like a leather belt and marked my back and thighs with red of violet weals” (21). The author extends the emotions of distress of readers by employing personification, describing the belt as a vicious snake, an animal which is considered one of the deadliest, “with each stroke it hissed with pleasure or revenge…there I would be, mouth agape, bloody” (21). The author strengthens the theme of domestic violence by confirming the fact that this manner is carried out in most North African families.
The extent of the effects of violence on the protagonist in The Tortoise is evident when he proclaims, “I were the cause of their hunger and thirst, the drought of their oppression, of the diseases of the olive trees and the beasts, the death of the wild figs before they had matures, and other calamites that afflicted them over the years” and by this readers are positioned to recognise the absence of justice and righteous of the situation (27). The author creates powerful emotions from both ends. The author exemplifies emotions of anger and the views of lack of justice for readers towards the antagonists and on the other hand sympathy and distress towards the victims of violence. The author purposely presents these situations to clearly explain to readers about the struggle of North African children and that all they truly desire is a slight sense of love and belonging and the experience of living in family without domestic violence.
Throughout the two texts, readers are confronted with the tolerance of domestic violence in North African society and how easy it is to trigger the start of something severe – something that is life-long damaging for those who are involved. A repetitive word choice for both authors of Life on the Edge and The Tortoise is “fear” (The Tortoise - 22, 27) Authors uses this word to describe the distressing human emotion of the victims due to the impending danger of threat. Both authors apply emotive writing and repetition of specific word choices in the storyline to develop significant and contrasting emotions for the readers. The authors create the powerful emotions of resent towards the antagonists due to the beating and abuse and sympathy and compassion towards the victims of the excessive domestic violence.
Sardines and Oranges is a texts which comprises of various stories that came from North African countries. One of the noticeable recurring ideas of the text is domestic violence and the tolerance of it in North African countries. Rachida el-Charni and Hassouna Mosbahi explores and highlights the idea of domestic violence in Life on the Edge and The Tortoise and also explains several causes behind this “common” manner by establishing that it is somewhat expected in North African society to use violence – it is accordingly acceptable. Although presenting the reasons behind the execution of violence in the stories, both authors were effective in proving that all the reasons that explained, were not significant enough to justify all the inhumane actions. Both Rachida el-Charni and Hassouna Mosbahi effectively creates emotions such as anger, distress and sympathy of readers by utilising various linguistic features. From the storylines and structures of the Life on the Edge and The Tortoise, the readers are able to have an insight on the severity of violence in North African countries furthermore let readers to arise and contemplate on how at times, we take the feeling of belonging and living in a companionable home and the loving relationships in our families all for granted.
