What's in a Name?

One issue that I faced in reading Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree and that was briefly mentioned in class today is that of names. It does not seem like something that should be an issue in the first place. A name in literature is just a word we use to identify a character. Unless the author chooses to do so for a particular purpose, the name rarely has bearing upon who the character is. Certainly names in real life do not have bearing upon who we are, since those who name us have no idea how we'll turn out in the long run. So why then did I, as well as many of my classmates, have trouble keeping track of character names in Tariq Ali's novel?

I can't help but feel that it is all tied up in Orientalism. A "Western" reader is going to be rather more familiar with "Western" names. Differentiating between a "Joe" and a "John" is easy, despite the similarity between the words. This is because we have encountered these names before, and thus, we have preconceptions about the kinds of people to which these names belong. It does not matter if we think of different things when we think of those names; our familiarity with the names in the first place allows us to differentiate them from other names. Most of us probably have no such ability with the names in Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. We have never met a Yazid or Zuhayr. We cannot easily picture these characters, because we have no preconception of what kind of person a Yazid or Zuhayr actually is.

Although this adds to the difficulty of reading this book, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Having no preconceptions means that the reader is forced to look deeper. Rather than mentally "create" a character instantaneously based upon a name (which, as previously said, is unlikely to have bearing upon the character), our image of the character is built up as we read on. The reader is forced to pay close attention to the thoughts and actions attributed to a particular name, and to use that as a means of differentiating the character. Having no preconceptions actually lends itself to a deeper understanding of the characters, and thus a deeper understanding of the story as a whole. It is important that we learn to apply this technique to all literature (and life, as well). We must come at all characters, and all people, without preconceptions--especially preconceptions based upon a name.