Who Am I? Identity and Its Relationship to Heritage
In Orhan Pamuk’s
novel The White Castle, the Hoja repeatedly asks the Venetian narrator “Why am I
what I am?” (58). Obsessed with the idea of learning ‘who’ he is, the Hoja and
his Venetian look-alike slave sit at a table and begin to write long personal
narratives exploring their own identities. While the unnamed slave navigates the
idea of identity by immediately turning to his past and writing about his
childhood and relationship with his siblings, the Hoja seems able to define his
existence only through the absence of others; the enslaved narrator turns to
others such as his siblings to form and establish his identity, but the Hoja
uses the existence of the ‘other,’ the Westerner, to establish what he is not.
As the narrator states in the novel, the Hoja questions who he is by writing
“nothing but reasons why ‘they’ [Westerners] were so inferior and stupid” (64).
Thus, while the Westernized Venetian narrator utilizes his heritage to define
his identity—ironic since the idea of tradition and heritage is normally
associated with the stereotypical Easterner—the Turkish Hoja is able to define
himself only in contrast with the typical Westerner—he is what the Westerner is
not.
But who is the Hoja? When the narrator is introduced to this
character, he is simply referred to with the title ‘Hoja,’ meaning “master”
(23). Ironically, the Hoja’s title seems to evolve as the relationship between
the Hoja and the narrator changes. Because the Hoja and the narrator are
introduced as somewhat equals and tasked with creating a firework display for a
wedding ceremony together, I first interpreted the title ‘master’ to mean a
master of intellectual or academic means, such as a master of science, math, or
other discipline. Thus the term ‘master’ seems to reflect a respect garnered by
academic or intellectual accomplishment. However, once the Venetian narrator is
given to the Hoja as a slave, the term ‘master’ takes on a whole new meaning. As
the narrator is reduced from intellectual equal to teacher and finally to slave,
the Hoja begins to exert his dominance over the slave-narrator and transforms
himself into a master of the household. Ordering the narrator to sit alongside
him for extended periods of time and write, the Hoja even turns violent at one
point, hitting the narrator and hurting him “very badly” (67).
While the
relationship between the Hoja and the narrator evolves through the progression
of the novel’s plot, the question remains: who is the Hoja? Refusing to be
called by his birth name “because he didn’t like being named after his
grandfather” (24), the Hoja seems to reject the stereotypical view of Easterners
defining themselves through tradition and heritage. Rejecting even the name
given to him by his parents in honor of his grandfather, the Hoja seems to
disconnect his past and heritage with his present sense of identity. As we
continue to read The White Castle, I forward to learning more about the
relationship between identity and heritage, the Hoja and the narrator, and the
true identity of the self-proclaimed ‘master,’ the Hoja.
I also think it is interesting that the Venetian is forcing this question onto the Hoja, when we really know little about the Venetian other than his instant memories and dreams. We don't even know his name! I am wondering if this is a metaphor for the West - as westerns act as if they are distinctly defined, while the east needs help to define itself. I thought you had an interesting point, too, on how Hoja so angrily rejected his history, even ripping his paper up at one point. I wonder if this contrast also has anything to do with the fact that the Venetian comments on his dreams - something that is mystical?
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the various connotations of the word, "master," having positive associations of academic and intellectual esteem as well as negative associations of dominance over another, supposedly "inferior" being. I am curious as to whether or not this is merely a product of the translation or if both connotations exist in the original Turkish. If it is merely a by-product of the English translation, perhaps we are not meant to have as much respect for the Hoja as an academic (certainly his predisposition towards pseudoscience makes us lean toward the more scientific Venetian). But if the word has the same original meaning in the original Turkish, we are faced with a contradiction. We must simultaneously see both good and bad in the Hoja. Instead of seeing two different "sides" of a conflict, we are forced into a more complex view of Orientalism, wherein the author's choice of how to balance positive and negative characteristics in his characters (particularly in the case of the Hoja, here) tells us much about how he himself is affected by Orientalist stereotyping. It is this sort of recognition that gives us a much less biased view of the text, and to be able to analyze that bias that we recognize in the text and understand why it is there.
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