The Narrator and Hoja

August Heinrich

English 241

Blog Post #5

The Narrator and Hoja

            The relationship between the narrator and Hoja fluctuates between phases of attachment and hatred. From the moment Hoja requested the narrator’s service as a slave from the pasha, it seemed he felt a hint of sympathy, genius, or both in the narrator’s character. The striking physical resemblance between the two characters may also have contributed to Hoja’s interest in the narrator’s service. Later in the novel, it appears as though the two form a bond and even converge on the same thoughts simultaneously. Despite rescuing the narrator from execution, Hoja was not a compassionate master.

On multiple occasions Hoja berates and insults the narrator when he refused to say what Hoja wanted to hear, or when Hoja became more vehement than usual. On nights when he was particularly quarrelsome, these verbal assaults became physical, and Hoja would resort to beating him. More often than not, these attacks were the outcome of writing exercises he forced upon the narrator that didn’t produce the results Hoja preferred; more often than not because the narrator was at a loss for producing work that would please Hoja. It’s Hoja’s ambiguity and the mysteriousness of his ways that makes him so detached from social interaction, at least between he and the narrator.

Despite Hoja’s faults, the narrator becomes attached to him on numerous occasions, oftentimes when they set out to complete a project for the sultan. Before the narrator had delighted in Hoja’s frustration and anger towards himself and his work, but as time progresses he begins to see Hoja’s failings as his own. Near the end of chapter 8, Hoja begins to refer to their projects as “our” plans and “our” future, and this encouraged the narrator to drive toward success with Hoja.

As visits with the sultan became more frequent, it was as if both characters

embodied one another. The sultan began to point to uncharacteristic actions and idiosyncrasies of one character opposed to the other. Late in the novel, they essentially exchange roles. The narrator begins visiting the sultan frequently while Hoja remained isolated working on the weapon.

            Despite the lingering tension, both characters seem to have a mutual respect for one another that is never fully revealed or understood. They could work together as colleagues and argue like siblings, and at times, they could almost become one in the same.