LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 8 August 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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“Why am I what I am?”: Hoja’s Impatience at Turkish Identity in Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle

Abdur Rahman Shahin, M.A. in English

Abstract

The quest for identity is a human predicament in this universe which is also pervasive in Orhan Pamuk’s novel The White Castle. Hoja, the protagonist of this novel, was searching for a stable identity and finally he exchanged his vulnerable identity with the Italian scholar who was captured as a slave in the hand of Turkish Ottoman sultan. In Pamuk’s other novels, this change of identity takes place for romantic notion or getting a new life but in The White Castle Hoja changed his identity being impatient at the foolish activities of Ottoman pashas and sultans. Hoja was the imperial astrologer who had to answer of many questions about science and the world. However, with his European slave, Hoja designed an enormous iron weapon for the sultan that eventually failed and consequently he was going to face execution. As, he shares the strong physical resemblance with the European captive scholar, finally he accepts his slave’s identity to get rid of this execution order of the Ottoman sultan. But the mystery is that Hoja and the slave were capable of knowing the thought of each other, even the intimate secret of their lives and finally they easily succeeded to change their identity. Michael Mcgaha, a prominent critic of Pamuk’s novels, says in his book Autobiographies of Orhan Pamuk that the master in The White Castle could not tolerate being himself, or being Turkish, so he exchanged identities with his Italian slave. The aim of this paper is to explore the reasons of Hoja’s intolerance to his Turkish identity that finally compelled him to change it. In fact, the gloomy oppressive relationship with the sultan during the Ottoman Empire in 17th century Istanbul impelled this imperial astrologer to exploit his slave’s identity.

Key words: Identity changing, Ottoman Legacy, Westerner, Turkish intelligentsia, Sultan, Pasha.

Introduction

Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle (1985), tells us the story of a young Italian scholar who was imprisoned by pirates and brought to the Istanbul slave market for auction. He is bought by a Turkish pasha who gives him to Hoja who wanted to learn Western technological developments and at one stage, their relationship becomes more complex than master and slave because both of them were engaged by the sultan and in this way they faced the interrogation of identity in this novella. From the very beginning, Hoja was showing his disliking towards the activities of the Pashas and the Sultans for their too much depending on the astrology and the illogical interpretation of the dream. He also disliked them because they showed very little interest in science and scientific research for inventing different wonders by which they could upgrade their life styles. He thought of them to be foolish and childish as they used to spend much time on hunting and gossiping. As he was a Turk, he did not like all these imperial meaningless activities though Hoja spent a long period there for getting appreciation from the sultan by doing many unnecessary activities. The events of this story take place in the 17th century Turkey and at that time, Hoja wanted to learn Western science and technology from the Western slave. But the Ottoman sultan didn’t show interest to establish the observatory or the house of the science rather he used to remain busy with silly ideas in a playful manner.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Abdur Rahman Shahin, M.A. in English
Assistant Professor
English Discipline
Khulna University
Khulna-9208
Bangladesh
arahmanku@yahoo.com
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