World Lit Comparative Essay Miramar,Wonderful Fool

International Baccalaureate World Literature

English Comparative Alwin 11A

Word Count : 1309

“Characters moving from a traditional to a contemporary environment with independence, not acceptant and innocence change the stereotypes that are imposed on them”

People act towards a newcomer in their society by looking down upon them. in Wonderful Fool by Shusaku Endo and Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz, conflicts are caused because of they way the newcomers are treated. In both books assumptions and expectations were established for the newcomers and if they failed to meet the locals’ expectations, they are often being stereotyped and ignored. In Endo’s Wondeful Fool, the newcomer is Gaston, who acts as an idiot in crucial situations but is portrayed as a Christ-like figure for his honesty and non violent acts to stop conflicts. In Mahofuz’s Miramar, the newcomer is Zohra, a servant girl in the Pension Miramar who hails from a village in Egypt that still honors the traditional values of Egypt, where women had no say for their future. During each of their journeys, both characters overcame the stereotypes that were imposed on them through their innocence, independence and not acceptant. With their attitudes, they proved how society underestimated their potential.

Being independent is a way to fight through troubles in both books. Being independent means that a person’s decision should not be influenced by outsiders’ opinions. Zohra is unafraid to stand up for her own decisions. She escaped from the troubled village life as her Grandfather wanted to exploit her. In the new contemporary society however, Zohra struggles to gain her freedom of speech in a pension filled with men from different generations of Egypt. In the Pension, if Zohra depends on one of the men, her hopes of being an educated woman in the new society of Egypt will vanish. By having an initiative to pursue an education, she rejected the gender norms and discrimination in the Egyptian society. By being independent and gaining education, Zohra challenges the stereotype of how women are economically and socially dependent to men. Zohra’s challenge of the stereotype through independent decisions makes her symbolize the new era of Egypt. Gaston and Zohra saw being independent in different ways. Gaston sees being independent as a way to help others. In the novel Gaston is able to keep his trust in others even when they have deceived him. Even though Gaston acted foolishly at times, his independent decisions, such as helping a prostitute out of trouble in a Love Hotel made society changed their views on him. Through his brave independent behavior and decisions, people were able to find understanding and compassion in Gaston. The similarities that can be found are that in both stories is that both characters had to face a lot of outside influence to protect their independent decisions. With Gaston and Zohra being newcomers to each of their societies, the locals tried to influence their decisions. Some of the men in the pension tried to use Zohra as a sex object, while the Japanese tried to discourage Gaston from experiencing their daily lives.

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Being not acceptant can change the perception of society towards a newcomer. Being not acceptant means experiencing a situation while having an intention to change that situation. Gaston is the prime example of how a foreign individual does not seek acceptance in a new society. He is an embarrassment because he does not live up to the hurried expectations people have of him and acts idiotically. But, Gaston does not try to fit in with everybody else in the society and does not accept the view that people live differently in many ways. Instead of trying to seek acceptance within him self, Gaston tries to change the bad in everybody and tries to improve lives of those who are on the decline in Society such as Endo. Gaston’s Christ like approaches made people consider him more than a regular idiotic fool. Tomoe, who first thought Gaston was a silly person, now thought of Gaston as a special fool, as evident by the quote “ He is not a fool. Or if he is, he’s a Wonderful Fool”. Likewise in Wonderful Fool being not acceptant is embodied by how Gaston dislikes another person’s way of life and tries to improve the person’s life. In Miramar, it is shown by how one dislikes their life and tries to improve their own life. Zohra was not satisfied by her village life and took the initiative to pursue an education for a better future. Like Gaston, Zohra did not seek to fit in with everybody else in the Pension. But, unlike Gaston, she had to face hardships from her fellow pension members. She had to gain the change of perception from society harder. Zohra also had the feeling of freedom of determining her future to accept, as she was a maid in a pension escaping harsh village life, where her life was controlled.

Through innocence, the perception of people towards a newcomer in their society could change. For Gaston, being innocent is to resist the violence and hatred that is happening around him. In Endo the character’s declining situation, where Endo the character had to risk his life to fulfill his goals, Gaston sacrificed himself in order for the feud between Endo and Kobayashi to escalate into a physical fight. The action that Gaston took shows he lacks the knowledge of evil and being sinful. Gaston showed society how it is fine to care for others, without asking anything for return. Gaston’s actions also did not come unnoticed by society, as strangers from prostitutes to an old man gave Gaston something in return for his actions. Also from his action’s, Gaston’s place in society changed from a clueless foreigner to a helpful one as a result of his kindness and faith and humanity. A similarity between the journeys of Zohra and Gaston is that their innocent spirit causes tensions between the characters they met along the way, but both did not intend to create a troublesome situation. The notion of innocence that is different in Zohra and Gaston is the way in which both expressed their feeling of innocence. Gaston showed innocence by preaching Christ- like behavior, such as non-violent acts. Zohra showed innocence by attempting to avoid the conflicts in the pension and determined to fulfill her goal of becoming a modern woman in Egypt where she would get the same benefits as men. But, Gaston’s acts were noticed by society and Zohra’s was not accepted because she was still rendered useless by her society, which valued the wealth of a person more than a person’s feelings. Coming from a traditional village society where man controlled her life, Zohra had no evil intentions when she migrated to the city, all she wanted was to make a living and escape the situation she had to face in her village. But, unlike Gaston, Zohra shows how her patience has limits and her emotions spill over to the conflict between Sarhan al-Behiery and his girlfriend, Safeya. She is in fact a character who jumps into a life revolved around manipulation, betrayal, sex and money without any say.

If a character tries to be innocent, not acceptant and independent, society’s view on them will change. But, it can be concluded that through the experiences and journeys that Zohra and Gaston went through, external factors may or may not help a person to overturn society’s view on them. Both Naguib Mahfouz and Shusaku Endo have revealed that it takes patience and determination for one to change society’s perception towards them, which are illustrated in both books by changes in a social status for a character and how people acted towards a character that is new to the society.

Reference:

1. Endo,Shusaku, Wonderful Fool Peter Owen Modern Classics: London,1974

2. Naguib Mahfouz, Miramar . Doubleday: New York,1993

Miramar pg 25

Wonderful Fool Page 65

Wonderful Fool Page 180

Miramar Page 141

Miramar Page 151