Tragedies of Faith
Many authors parallel the protagonist of their novels to other figures to make a direct comparison. Marquez forms congruence between Jesus and Santiago while Saadawi embodies a goddess of truth in Firdaus’s character. Both these authors compare their main characters to heavenly figures and perceive their own individual perspective of truth. The parallels are woven within the pages, and the idea of an ultimate truth is attempted to be found. Truth by the narrator can be defined in many ways. In both Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Marquez and Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi each authors explores the idea of a truth with their own discernment. In Marquezs’ Chronicle of a Death Foretold the truth is believed to be impossible to recover; on the other hand in Saadawis’ Woman at Point Zero the truth is considered necessary and an important aspect of Firdaus’s life. Marquez’s and Saadawi’s different approaches toward finding the truth will eventually lead to their own representation of it. Through the narrator’s reliability, pursuit of the truth and the realization of this truth; both narrators achieves their own unique idea of representing truth.
In Woman at Point Zero, Saadawi portrays Firdaus as a simple, honest woman who is driven by a tenacious and profound passion for an absolute truth. Firdaus, who plays the role of a first-person narrator, reveals no inner desire to change and believes that although details may alter, life remains essentially constant. She lacks enthusiasm and has no ambition. This is partly because Firdaus accepts the ready-made structure that the society functions in and has an “absolute refusal to live” (Saadawi xii). When Firdaus is imprisoned she feels this to be her ultimate shrine. The death of another by her hands are accepted and justified by her beliefs. She does not fight for her rights but accepts whatever justice or injustice crosses her way. Throughout this novel, Firdaus refuses to lie even for her own convenience. She expresses her emotions bluntly and never alters what she says to conform to societal expectations. When the officer asks Firdaus if she has killed a man, she honestly replies yes, and further states “I will never stop killing” (111). Also, when the examining officer pressurizes Firdaus to look at the killing in a rationally and apply for a pardon, Firdaus simply refuses. She does not even try to hide her lack of emotion by grieving falsely over someone she killed. Thus, she challenges the society’s accepted moral standard which dictates one should grieve over death. This suggests that Firdaus is very honest, and she stubbornly sticks to her own beliefs. As a result, the reader believes the facts provided by Firdaus and concludes that she is a reliable narrator. In contrast to Firdaus, who appeals to the reader because of her basic honesty and trustworthiness, the unnamed narrator in Chronicle of a Death Foretold is far less appealing because of inconsistencies which lead to an unreliable narrator. Firstly, this narrator does not reveal his name or age. Minimal information can be generated from his and his families’ testimonies. Throughout the novel, the narrator switches from first to third-person and tells the story as a witness to the events that occurred. Since this novel is written twenty-seven years after the crime was committed, it is assumed that a lot of the facts are dislocated or forgotten. Secondly, a lot of discrepancies are found in this novel because of the imperfect memory. For example, on the day of Santiago’s death, many people recall “it was a radiant morning with a summer breeze” while there were some who claimed “the whether was funereal, with a cloudy low sky” (Marquez 2).These inconsistencies raise questions about reliability. Next, the narrator uses descriptions which are overly factual “twenty two people had claimed they had heard about the murder” (58). This quote seems flawed since the numbers seem too precise to be remembered; Moreover, any references to a reputable source have not been made. Furthermore, the source that the narrator uses also raises doubt. The narrator himself declares that he rescues “some 322 pages filched from the more than 500 that the brief must have contained” (116). This assures the reader that a lot of the facts have been lost. Lastly, the narrator suggests that he rescued a lot of the facts from his memory; however, the reader is aware that the narrator has a “very confused memory” while the crime was committed. The narrator of Chronicle of the Death Foretold fails to capture the reader’s trust and proves to be deceitful and erratic.
