—José Saramago, the Portuguese writer, expresses in the novel Blindness (1995) the fear of dehuma... more —José Saramago, the Portuguese writer, expresses in the novel Blindness (1995) the fear of dehumanization in the contemporary globalized world. This unfavorable homogenization is represented in Blindness through a white blindness that obliterates the individuals' physical interaction with the world. The contagion, in fact, is related to the individuals' dependence upon the social constraints and working of power. It is evident in the nature of the relationships between the characters and the authorities and also in the interaction of the citizens with each other. Thus, Blindness can be read as a text demonstrating how subjection of the modern man to the power relations can bring about a real panoptical society. This feature makes the text suitable to be read in terms of Foucault's views on power relations and in particular, panopticism. As a result, this study attempts to investigate how Blindness society is in nature a Panopticon in which power relations are present in the context of all relationships.
Psychoanalysis studies people's feelings and characteristics during childhood to discover their p... more Psychoanalysis studies people's feelings and characteristics during childhood to discover their problems and solutions. Sigmund Freud is a pioneer in psychoanalysis who believes every single action of human roots in his/her past. Othello in Othello by William Shakespeare and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë are two characters that may appear irrelevant to each other on surface but deep down they share one childhood trauma which is being an outsider. The chief purpose of this article is to examine the effect of childhood trauma on self-destruction procedure in these two characters.
Cognitive linguistics is a modern school of linguistic thought that originated in the late sevent... more Cognitive linguistics is a modern school of linguistic thought that originated in the late seventies out of the work of a number of researchers who were interested in the relation of language and mind. It is a new linguistic paradigm which sees language not as an independent, self-sufficient system but as an instrument for organizing, processing, and conveying information. Recent studies and investigations in the field of cognitive linguistics have increased the range of possibilities for linguistic research regarding language and culture. Conceptual Integration Theory, proposed by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner (2002), is a further development of this line of research. It is a basic mental operation which is central to human thought, imagination, and the way we think. Conceptual integration performs an important role in construction of meaning in everyday life, in science, and even in literature. Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (2006) is a historical fiction exploring China's development during the latter half of the twentieth century. The author himself asserts that the novel encapsulates his writing styles and reflects his exploration in the arts of novel writing. The present study examined the Conceptual Integration Theory in Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. It also demonstrated the way the author made use of personification and conceptual blending in order to create a satirical atmosphere and to criticize totalitarian states.
By the advent of technology and mass media, fairy tales appeared in animation forms. Walt Disney ... more By the advent of technology and mass media, fairy tales appeared in animation forms. Walt Disney and Dream works companies are the pioneers of animated films industry in recent century. They masterfully used different fairy tales to make remarkable animations. As characterization is an important component of any fairy tale, in animations likewise, the spot light is mainly on characters. These known companies made the written heroes and heroines visual. Something that all these characters have in common is beauty but what the beauty is, is our concern. Two of the most renowned heroines of these fairy tales and animations are Cinderella and Fiona. Similar to other changes in history, beauty has also changed its concept from physical to moral. Cinderella was the protagonist of previous generations, a beautiful girl whose rights and belongings have been taken away by her cruel stepmother and sisters, is rescued by the prince only because she was physically beautiful and it was the time when children realized that since she is married to the richest boy in town, she would live happily ever after! Is physical beauty an essence for happiness?! Nowadays children are not amused by beautiful appearances but by confident characters who fight for their lives with love. Fiona, in Shrek animation made by Dream Works, could be just like other fairy tales heroines but she was not coward like Cinderella or other characters. She loved Shrek for his honesty and bravery and his other personality traits therefore she closed her eyes to her beauty and chose to live not as a beautiful princess in a castle but as an ugly ogre in a dirty swamp. This paper sets out to study the changes of beauty concept in classic fairy tales and modern.
Mirroring the complexities of the human psyche, literature has received new comprehension through... more Mirroring the complexities of the human psyche, literature has received new comprehension through a psychoanalytic lens. Alice Munro's "Runaway" (2003) is character-based and has the psychological analysis potential but it had never received such kind of study. The objective of the present paper is to read Munro's "Runaway" in the mirror of Sigmund Freud to detect the psychological aspects of its fictional characters. The characters are driven by the Freudian mental agencies and undergo phases of psychic disorder. In the present paper, Munro's short fiction has been discussed based on Sigmund Freud's theory of the Unconscious and its connection with the interpretation of dreams as well as the symbolization of three main characters based on tripartite agencies of the id, ego and superego. Clarifying the latent and manifest levels of characters and the world of dreams indicates the artistic creation of Alice Munro in handling complex characterization. The unconscious and its connection with the female character's dreams have been discussed. The unconscious of the female character is reflected in her dreams in result of repression and asocial drives and desires. Unconscious through dreams is the mirror of the repressed psyche of the female character. Scrutinizing the three main characters in terms of Freudian psychic trilogy, they prove to fit their psychological Freudian terms.
Like a number of other stories of Dubliners, " Two Gallants " because of it coded polyphony is de... more Like a number of other stories of Dubliners, " Two Gallants " because of it coded polyphony is debatable on the level of significance. It seems that the story strategically convey some crucial information to the reader by deciphering its symbolic codes. Accordingly, this study in accord with Roland Barthes " semiology and specified codes in S/Z makes an attempt to explicate the symbolic codes and structural components that carry an invisible message of James Joyce " s " Two Gallants. "
Romanticism extended to different countries around the Europe in eighteenth and nineteenth centur... more Romanticism extended to different countries around the Europe in eighteenth and nineteenth century. This school not only includes European countries but also countries outside the continent like Iran. Similarly, Romanticism developed some of its features out of Iranian contemporary literature. Sohrab Sepehri, the contemporary Iranian poet, has always been at the center of Romanticism investigation in Iran. Regarding Morse Peckham's view of Romanticism, this could be inferred that Sepehri has made a voyage from the "static mechanism" to "dynamic organicims". Sepehri's change of view causing this journey was his acquaintance with the Far Eastern mysticism. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate this phase shifting by focusing on its effect on his poems.
—The present study scrutinizes the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans life und... more —The present study scrutinizes the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans life under the impact of racism in the prize winning and American classical play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. This study argues that racism makes African Americans end up in unequal economic and social conditions. Therefore, not being first hand citizens, African Americans' effort, services and race are disdained. Integrating Dubois' ideas of racism into Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, this study reveals the belief that Blacks must severely demand their rights and firmly struggle against racial oppressions in order to transcend and eliminate racism. Blacks' insistence on full civil right in their homeland America is what Hansberry masterfully supported to defend the ideas of Dubois. Following Dubois strategy, Hansberry presented that African Americans economic and social conditions will not uplifted unless they get educated and with a wide knowledge insist on their American citizens' rights.
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour (1894) rehabilitates the female identity through the female ch... more Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour (1894) rehabilitates the female identity through the female character's struggle with strict social and traditional structures. Chopin portraits her feminist view in The Story of an Hour and uses her own inspiration for surviving normal life in the mind of the American woman. This paper tries to depict how women confront inappropriate social conventions. In this short story, Chopin explores the conflict between liberation and social conformity that is fundamental in establishing women's identity. Chopin also shows the significant role of women in defining their destiny to fulfill their desires. The richness of this short story relies on how women can attain freedom through developing a sense of identity. A strong desire for bringing about change leads women to create a new life because they have been victimized for the sense of freedom and joy. In order to explore Kate Chopin's treatment of female identity, Virginia Woolf's perspective will be analyzed in respect to her feministic approach. So, disregarding how Chopin demonstrates the idea of words, Woolf shows the false cultural assumptions and characteristics about gender identity of women and develops a female atmosphere in which women portray their status in the real world and their independence from men.
Moving behind the confines of the race has been the continuous efforts of African-Americans so as... more Moving behind the confines of the race has been the continuous efforts of African-Americans so as to reveal and confirm their true humanity and abilities to white race as well as their own race. African-Americans, Dubois posited, are shut out of the white America, inhabiting behind a vast veil which creates a deep division between the races. Veil is made of the fabric of racism interwoven thread by thread and imposed by white world. It is thrown discourteously and forcibly to the African-Americans whom their distorted images are imposed on them and their true humanity and identity are hidden behind the veil. This study overtakes to present how Loraine Hansberry, in her first and the most outstanding drama, A Raisin in the Sun examines the world within the veil. She demonstrated that Duboisian metaphoric veil is operating in the racist American society so that not only African-Americans are segregated physically and psychologically from the rest of the world but also are inflicted with obscurity of vision that are neither able to see themselves clearly nor be seen truly. On the other hand, it presents how the veil provides blacks with the second sight to observe and comprehend the racist nature of whites which is hidden and incomprehensible for them.
The rate of migration from the third world to America has increased considerably during the last ... more The rate of migration from the third world to America has increased considerably during the last century. Mostly, these people leave their country for a better situation of life in the other country. However, when they arrive in such countries like America, they should not only deal with the external problems such as unemployment and homelessness but also should cope with some inner problems like the doubleness of identity. As a result, they are torn between two cultures without any stable base for their identity. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer, has portrayed the various difficulties situated before the Nigerian emigrants who have emigrated to America. In her short story "Imitation", she has followed the life of a Nigerian couple living in American. She has tried to portray the difficult situations they encounter when they are entangled between two different cultures. Consequently, it is shown how this oscillation between the two cultures has caused the doubleness of identity in the male character of the story.
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is filled with different numbers of filicides. Mostly in each of them, the o... more Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is filled with different numbers of filicides. Mostly in each of them, the older side is privileged over the younger one. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of conflict between these two sides specifically in the tragedy of Rostam and Esfandiar with respect to its reason. As it is evident, Ferdowsi devoted a great deal of effort to revive the Aryan tradition ruined by Arab invasion through writing Shahnameh. Therefore, in most of the old/new conflicts, he favored the older side so as to restore the glory of the past traditions. Moreover, Ferdowsi has tried to show the unjustifiable stand of new side against the reasonable stand of the older side. Indeed Ferdowsi's willingness toward filicides in Shahnameh is actually showing his willingness toward the older tradition of Iran which has been destroyed by Arab invasion.
—In the age of technology, films have become the most popular form to convey the message of art. ... more —In the age of technology, films have become the most popular form to convey the message of art. With this issue in mind, the present study has examined Kiarostami's Through the Olive Tree (1994) from a postmodern perspective. The postmodern techniques used for this research are similar to those applied in literary studies. Through this investigation, it has been suggested that Abbas Kiarostami's Through the Olive Tree has some common features with a postmodern novel. In this respect, both focus on the instability of meaning and the inadequacy of language to thoroughly exhibit the truth. Accordingly, Kiarostami has more focused on the process of filmmaking to convey his message. In conclusion, he has emphasized the significance of audiences' involvement in a film by using postmodern techniques.
—José Saramago, the Portuguese writer, expresses in the novel Blindness (1995) the fear of dehuma... more —José Saramago, the Portuguese writer, expresses in the novel Blindness (1995) the fear of dehumanization in the contemporary globalized world. This unfavorable homogenization is represented in Blindness through a white blindness that obliterates the individuals' physical interaction with the world. The contagion, in fact, is related to the individuals' dependence upon the social constraints and working of power. It is evident in the nature of the relationships between the characters and the authorities and also in the interaction of the citizens with each other. Thus, Blindness can be read as a text demonstrating how subjection of the modern man to the power relations can bring about a real panoptical society. This feature makes the text suitable to be read in terms of Foucault's views on power relations and in particular, panopticism. As a result, this study attempts to investigate how Blindness society is in nature a Panopticon in which power relations are present in the context of all relationships.
Psychoanalysis studies people's feelings and characteristics during childhood to discover their p... more Psychoanalysis studies people's feelings and characteristics during childhood to discover their problems and solutions. Sigmund Freud is a pioneer in psychoanalysis who believes every single action of human roots in his/her past. Othello in Othello by William Shakespeare and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë are two characters that may appear irrelevant to each other on surface but deep down they share one childhood trauma which is being an outsider. The chief purpose of this article is to examine the effect of childhood trauma on self-destruction procedure in these two characters.
Cognitive linguistics is a modern school of linguistic thought that originated in the late sevent... more Cognitive linguistics is a modern school of linguistic thought that originated in the late seventies out of the work of a number of researchers who were interested in the relation of language and mind. It is a new linguistic paradigm which sees language not as an independent, self-sufficient system but as an instrument for organizing, processing, and conveying information. Recent studies and investigations in the field of cognitive linguistics have increased the range of possibilities for linguistic research regarding language and culture. Conceptual Integration Theory, proposed by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner (2002), is a further development of this line of research. It is a basic mental operation which is central to human thought, imagination, and the way we think. Conceptual integration performs an important role in construction of meaning in everyday life, in science, and even in literature. Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out (2006) is a historical fiction exploring China's development during the latter half of the twentieth century. The author himself asserts that the novel encapsulates his writing styles and reflects his exploration in the arts of novel writing. The present study examined the Conceptual Integration Theory in Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. It also demonstrated the way the author made use of personification and conceptual blending in order to create a satirical atmosphere and to criticize totalitarian states.
By the advent of technology and mass media, fairy tales appeared in animation forms. Walt Disney ... more By the advent of technology and mass media, fairy tales appeared in animation forms. Walt Disney and Dream works companies are the pioneers of animated films industry in recent century. They masterfully used different fairy tales to make remarkable animations. As characterization is an important component of any fairy tale, in animations likewise, the spot light is mainly on characters. These known companies made the written heroes and heroines visual. Something that all these characters have in common is beauty but what the beauty is, is our concern. Two of the most renowned heroines of these fairy tales and animations are Cinderella and Fiona. Similar to other changes in history, beauty has also changed its concept from physical to moral. Cinderella was the protagonist of previous generations, a beautiful girl whose rights and belongings have been taken away by her cruel stepmother and sisters, is rescued by the prince only because she was physically beautiful and it was the time when children realized that since she is married to the richest boy in town, she would live happily ever after! Is physical beauty an essence for happiness?! Nowadays children are not amused by beautiful appearances but by confident characters who fight for their lives with love. Fiona, in Shrek animation made by Dream Works, could be just like other fairy tales heroines but she was not coward like Cinderella or other characters. She loved Shrek for his honesty and bravery and his other personality traits therefore she closed her eyes to her beauty and chose to live not as a beautiful princess in a castle but as an ugly ogre in a dirty swamp. This paper sets out to study the changes of beauty concept in classic fairy tales and modern.
Mirroring the complexities of the human psyche, literature has received new comprehension through... more Mirroring the complexities of the human psyche, literature has received new comprehension through a psychoanalytic lens. Alice Munro's "Runaway" (2003) is character-based and has the psychological analysis potential but it had never received such kind of study. The objective of the present paper is to read Munro's "Runaway" in the mirror of Sigmund Freud to detect the psychological aspects of its fictional characters. The characters are driven by the Freudian mental agencies and undergo phases of psychic disorder. In the present paper, Munro's short fiction has been discussed based on Sigmund Freud's theory of the Unconscious and its connection with the interpretation of dreams as well as the symbolization of three main characters based on tripartite agencies of the id, ego and superego. Clarifying the latent and manifest levels of characters and the world of dreams indicates the artistic creation of Alice Munro in handling complex characterization. The unconscious and its connection with the female character's dreams have been discussed. The unconscious of the female character is reflected in her dreams in result of repression and asocial drives and desires. Unconscious through dreams is the mirror of the repressed psyche of the female character. Scrutinizing the three main characters in terms of Freudian psychic trilogy, they prove to fit their psychological Freudian terms.
Like a number of other stories of Dubliners, " Two Gallants " because of it coded polyphony is de... more Like a number of other stories of Dubliners, " Two Gallants " because of it coded polyphony is debatable on the level of significance. It seems that the story strategically convey some crucial information to the reader by deciphering its symbolic codes. Accordingly, this study in accord with Roland Barthes " semiology and specified codes in S/Z makes an attempt to explicate the symbolic codes and structural components that carry an invisible message of James Joyce " s " Two Gallants. "
Romanticism extended to different countries around the Europe in eighteenth and nineteenth centur... more Romanticism extended to different countries around the Europe in eighteenth and nineteenth century. This school not only includes European countries but also countries outside the continent like Iran. Similarly, Romanticism developed some of its features out of Iranian contemporary literature. Sohrab Sepehri, the contemporary Iranian poet, has always been at the center of Romanticism investigation in Iran. Regarding Morse Peckham's view of Romanticism, this could be inferred that Sepehri has made a voyage from the "static mechanism" to "dynamic organicims". Sepehri's change of view causing this journey was his acquaintance with the Far Eastern mysticism. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate this phase shifting by focusing on its effect on his poems.
—The present study scrutinizes the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans life und... more —The present study scrutinizes the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans life under the impact of racism in the prize winning and American classical play, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry. This study argues that racism makes African Americans end up in unequal economic and social conditions. Therefore, not being first hand citizens, African Americans' effort, services and race are disdained. Integrating Dubois' ideas of racism into Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, this study reveals the belief that Blacks must severely demand their rights and firmly struggle against racial oppressions in order to transcend and eliminate racism. Blacks' insistence on full civil right in their homeland America is what Hansberry masterfully supported to defend the ideas of Dubois. Following Dubois strategy, Hansberry presented that African Americans economic and social conditions will not uplifted unless they get educated and with a wide knowledge insist on their American citizens' rights.
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour (1894) rehabilitates the female identity through the female ch... more Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour (1894) rehabilitates the female identity through the female character's struggle with strict social and traditional structures. Chopin portraits her feminist view in The Story of an Hour and uses her own inspiration for surviving normal life in the mind of the American woman. This paper tries to depict how women confront inappropriate social conventions. In this short story, Chopin explores the conflict between liberation and social conformity that is fundamental in establishing women's identity. Chopin also shows the significant role of women in defining their destiny to fulfill their desires. The richness of this short story relies on how women can attain freedom through developing a sense of identity. A strong desire for bringing about change leads women to create a new life because they have been victimized for the sense of freedom and joy. In order to explore Kate Chopin's treatment of female identity, Virginia Woolf's perspective will be analyzed in respect to her feministic approach. So, disregarding how Chopin demonstrates the idea of words, Woolf shows the false cultural assumptions and characteristics about gender identity of women and develops a female atmosphere in which women portray their status in the real world and their independence from men.
Moving behind the confines of the race has been the continuous efforts of African-Americans so as... more Moving behind the confines of the race has been the continuous efforts of African-Americans so as to reveal and confirm their true humanity and abilities to white race as well as their own race. African-Americans, Dubois posited, are shut out of the white America, inhabiting behind a vast veil which creates a deep division between the races. Veil is made of the fabric of racism interwoven thread by thread and imposed by white world. It is thrown discourteously and forcibly to the African-Americans whom their distorted images are imposed on them and their true humanity and identity are hidden behind the veil. This study overtakes to present how Loraine Hansberry, in her first and the most outstanding drama, A Raisin in the Sun examines the world within the veil. She demonstrated that Duboisian metaphoric veil is operating in the racist American society so that not only African-Americans are segregated physically and psychologically from the rest of the world but also are inflicted with obscurity of vision that are neither able to see themselves clearly nor be seen truly. On the other hand, it presents how the veil provides blacks with the second sight to observe and comprehend the racist nature of whites which is hidden and incomprehensible for them.
The rate of migration from the third world to America has increased considerably during the last ... more The rate of migration from the third world to America has increased considerably during the last century. Mostly, these people leave their country for a better situation of life in the other country. However, when they arrive in such countries like America, they should not only deal with the external problems such as unemployment and homelessness but also should cope with some inner problems like the doubleness of identity. As a result, they are torn between two cultures without any stable base for their identity. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer, has portrayed the various difficulties situated before the Nigerian emigrants who have emigrated to America. In her short story "Imitation", she has followed the life of a Nigerian couple living in American. She has tried to portray the difficult situations they encounter when they are entangled between two different cultures. Consequently, it is shown how this oscillation between the two cultures has caused the doubleness of identity in the male character of the story.
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is filled with different numbers of filicides. Mostly in each of them, the o... more Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is filled with different numbers of filicides. Mostly in each of them, the older side is privileged over the younger one. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of conflict between these two sides specifically in the tragedy of Rostam and Esfandiar with respect to its reason. As it is evident, Ferdowsi devoted a great deal of effort to revive the Aryan tradition ruined by Arab invasion through writing Shahnameh. Therefore, in most of the old/new conflicts, he favored the older side so as to restore the glory of the past traditions. Moreover, Ferdowsi has tried to show the unjustifiable stand of new side against the reasonable stand of the older side. Indeed Ferdowsi's willingness toward filicides in Shahnameh is actually showing his willingness toward the older tradition of Iran which has been destroyed by Arab invasion.
—In the age of technology, films have become the most popular form to convey the message of art. ... more —In the age of technology, films have become the most popular form to convey the message of art. With this issue in mind, the present study has examined Kiarostami's Through the Olive Tree (1994) from a postmodern perspective. The postmodern techniques used for this research are similar to those applied in literary studies. Through this investigation, it has been suggested that Abbas Kiarostami's Through the Olive Tree has some common features with a postmodern novel. In this respect, both focus on the instability of meaning and the inadequacy of language to thoroughly exhibit the truth. Accordingly, Kiarostami has more focused on the process of filmmaking to convey his message. In conclusion, he has emphasized the significance of audiences' involvement in a film by using postmodern techniques.
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