Motif of Eyes in “Sound of Waves” and “Woman at Point Zero” 9
Motif of Eyes in “Sound of Waves” And “Woman at Point Zero”
In both the novels “The Sound of Waves” (By Yukio Mishima) & “The Woman at Point Zero” (Nawal El Saadawi), many motifs have been used to show strong emotions within the characters of both novels. But, the most important motif which reoccurs in both novels is the “eyes”. Since eyes are described as the “mirror of the soul” (a German proverb), they are successfully used by El Saadawi and Mishima to describe feelings of their chracters.These eyes portray their aggressive and sometimes their peaceful emotions, which shapes the plot also. Therefore, by analysing this motif of eyes, one can gain insight into how efficiently the authors have used them to demonstrate their emotions. At the beginning of the novel ,the importance of eyes in revealing one’s emotions is established when the warden says about Firdaus, “If you look into her face, her eyes you can never believe that so gentle a woman can commit murder”. Firdaus’s character is established by the reference of eyes, as eyes can always tell the truth. She says about that meeting “they were the eyes that killed, like a knife, probing, cutting deep inside, their look steady, unwavering.” This all tells that her emotions are so authoritative like a knife that would be able to kill anybody. The knife also alludes to revolution, so it is used to show her revolutionary power against all the atrocities she faced. To show her pride and power, she says “it was though I died the moment her eyes looked into mine”. As she describes her childhood, she speaks of all her observations that she did as to find the truth, these were also done by her eyes only. Firdaus says “I would observe them nodding their heads....”and “I saw them as they watched what went on around them”. In the opening lines of her introduction, she states that throughout her life, she kept “searching for something that would fill me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else” and so, she
In both the novels “The Sound of Waves” (By Yukio Mishima) & “The Woman at Point Zero” (Nawal El Saadawi), many motifs have been used to show strong emotions within the characters of both novels. But, the most important motif which reoccurs in both novels is the “eyes”. Since eyes are described as the “mirror of the soul” (a German proverb), they are successfully used by El Saadawi and Mishima to describe feelings of their chracters.These eyes portray their aggressive and sometimes their peaceful emotions, which shapes the plot also. Therefore, by analysing this motif of eyes, one can gain insight into how efficiently the authors have used them to demonstrate their emotions. At the beginning of the novel ,the importance of eyes in revealing one’s emotions is established when the warden says about Firdaus, “If you look into her face, her eyes you can never believe that so gentle a woman can commit murder”. Firdaus’s character is established by the reference of eyes, as eyes can always tell the truth. She says about that meeting “they were the eyes that killed, like a knife, probing, cutting deep inside, their look steady, unwavering.” This all tells that her emotions are so authoritative like a knife that would be able to kill anybody. The knife also alludes to revolution, so it is used to show her revolutionary power against all the atrocities she faced. To show her pride and power, she says “it was though I died the moment her eyes looked into mine”. As she describes her childhood, she speaks of all her observations that she did as to find the truth, these were also done by her eyes only. Firdaus says “I would observe them nodding their heads....”and “I saw them as they watched what went on around them”. In the opening lines of her introduction, she states that throughout her life, she kept “searching for something that would fill me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else” and so, she