Research Question: How and to What Effect Does Salih Use Narrative Voice

in Season of Migration to the North?

Name: Juan Agostine
Subject: English Literature: Standard level
Grade: 12 (High School Program)
Date: 15th December 2014
Submitted to: Mrs. Lynn Najem
Abstract:
This research paper looks at Salihs novel, Season of Migration to the North, in which the
purpose is to investigate the use of narrative voice by looking at the literary features in order to
portray their effect. This research paper draws upon secondary sources including a few scholarly
articles, and a certain section of Schmids Narratology: An Introduction. Most prior research is
focused on the framed, perceptual and figural point of view, internal focalization, and stream of
consciousness in Season. This focus shows that the authors use of narrative voice is to portray
the identity crisis as a result of colonialism, responding to Conrads Heart of Darkness. By
justifying the importance of each literary feature, and by relating each to quotes from the text,
this research explains and highlights the effect of colonialism on ones culture. This will allow
readers to view the effects of colonialism, and thus, allow them to realize whether their cultural
identity has been altered indirectly.
Word Count: 160

Introduction
Throughout literature, authors use narration, the way a story is told, since it allows them
to present their work through a set of methods known as the narrative mode. It includes narrative
voice, which authors use to help readers in visualizing events and thoughts in a narrative through
a certain point of view in order to convey a message. Tayeb Salih uses narrative voice in his
framed, postcolonial novel, Season of Migration to the North, to mimic the colonizers, by
showing how both the unnamed narrator and Mustafa Saeed, comprehend their identity crisis as
a result of the postcolonial alterations by the colonizers. Salih responds to the false image of the
oriental portrayed in Joseph Conrads imperialist novel, Heart of Darkness, by writing Season of
Migration to the North. He opposes the savagely image set by the occident by using narrative
voice to influence the readers view of the thoughts and actions of the characters.

Effects of Framed Narrative

To begin with, a framed narrative is a narrative consisting of a story within a story. This
guides the reader through the first story into another one and thus, provides the reader with
context about the main narrative and gives meaning beyond the text. In Season of Migration to
the North, Salih begins his novel with the narrator telling his story, It was, gentlemen, after a
long absence seven years to be exact.. (Salih, 1) and proceeds to Mustafas personal narrative
of his story of his education when he says, Its a long story, but I wont tell you everything.
(Salih, 19) Salihs use of this technique allows the reader to hear both stories, in which both
similarities, such as both attaining a British education, and differences, such as their childhood,
can be seen. Salih shows the mimicking of the colonizer when Saeed attempts to switch the roles
of the colonized and colonizer by trying to liberate Africa with his penis. (Salih, 120) Through
sexual intercourse with Isabella Seymour, Ann Hammond, and Sheila Greewood, Mustafa Saeed
liberates Africa with the truth. Salih uses the word penis as a symbol of the truth which, when
the British women discover that the Africans are not as savagely as they are told, they commit
suicide. Salih achieves this as well with the narrator, when Mustafa tells him We have no need
of poetry here. It would have been better if youd studied agriculture, engineering or medicine.
(Salih, 9) Salih represents the narrators time in London as useless, since he does not study
something that would benefit his town. Instead, all the education in London did was colonize
him, resulting in losing part of his culture. The author uses this technique to convey the truth to
the reader by allowing each characters story to be heard and perceived.

Narrative Point of View

Figural Point of View
In Season, the diegetic narrator reports his experiences from the perspective of the
earlier narrated self at the time when he met Mustafa Saeed. (Schmid, 109) Salih uses this
point of view to help tell his story, in addition to the framed point of view. The narrator allows
the reader to go through self-realization by describing his experiences of how he was blinded by
colonialism, thinking he was one with his culture. Salih uses the narrative voice here to mimic
the colonizer by acknowledging the readers of indirect colonialism, and for them to realize the
effects of obtaining something as simple as an occident education.
Perceptual Point of View
Salih uses perceptual point of view in order to show the reader the perspective of the
characters and what affect it has on them. Schmid says: It is at the perceptual point of view that
questions such as the following are aimed: Through whose eyes does the narrator look at the
world?(104) At first, the narrator is blinded due to colonization, but after meeting Mustafa
Saeed, learning what he did, and seeing a bit of himself in him, he finally realizes that he is a
hybrid, and sees from the view of a person who is neither black nor white but grey; neither
wholly Eastern nor wholly Western, neither completely European nor completely Arab.
(Patricia Greesey) Salih uses perception to show the narrators process of self-realization.
Moreover, during Mustafa Saeeds personal story and through his perceptual point of view, we
see that he is like Othello, being Arab-African, but is no Othello. Othello was a lie. (Salih, 95)
Salih again mimics the colonizers by saying that Othello is a lie and that the image of the

Easterners put by the West is false.

Internal Focalization
Furthermore, Bal (1985, 104) defines focalization as the relationship between the
vision, the agent that sees, and that which is seen. (Schmid, 94) Salih uses internal
focalization, which is when the narrator says only what a given character knows (Schmid, 92)
Internal focalization is seen through the narrators response to Mustafas criticism of studying
English poetry, Look at the way he says we and does not include me, though he knows that
this is my village and that it is he not I who is the stranger. (Salih, 9) Salih shows the
narrators disturbance that a stranger questions his loyalty to his culture. To add to that, internal
focalization is seen when the narrator questions his identity, Was it likely that what had
happened to Mustafa Saeed could have happened to me? He had said that he was a lie, so was I
also a lie? I am from here is not this reality enough? I too had lived with them. But I had lived
with them superficially neither loving nor hating them. (Salih, 49) Through the internal
focalization, Salih adds emphasis to the narrators identity apprehension by the narrator, being
limited to what Mustafa told him, comparing himself with him. The diction here gives the reader
a tone of confusion leading to his individuation process. By throwing himself into the Nile river,
he achieves his individuation process, and can be seen as his baptism (re-birth) since it
symbolically represents rebirth on a higher plane of moral and psychological awareness: "The
idea of baptism lifts a man out of his archaic identification with the world and changes him into a
being who stands above it." (Siddiq, 103) Internal focalization emphasizes the description of
the thoughts and feelings of characters and analysis and interpretation of their actions.
(narrative.georgetown.edu) Through internal focalization, Salih takes the reader through the
narrators process of realization of his cultural identity and the effects of colonialism.

Free Indirect Discourse

Free indirect discourse is a pattern that can be seen through the form of stream of
consciousness, which portrays the thoughts, perceptions, and emotions of the narrator. Through
the use of free indirect discourse, authors can convey the characters words more directly and
clearly than in other styles.
Stream of Consciousness
The narrators stream of consciousness is apparent throughout the entire novel. Salih uses
it to allow the reader to go through the mind of the narrator. Schmid says: Stream of
consciousness is the technique in which the diegesis is no longer presented as a story reported by
the narrator, but rather as a sequence of fleeting impressions, free association, momentary
recollection and fragmentary reflections by the characters. (152) Salih not only uses it for
clarity and simplicity purposes, but also, to oppose the colonizer: How strange! How ironic!
Just because a man has been created on the Equator some mad people regard him as a slave,
others as a god. Where lies the mean? Where the middle way? And my grandfather, with his thin
voice and that mischievous laugh of his when in a good humour, where is his place in the scheme
of things? Is he really as I assert and as he appears to be? Is he above this chaos? I dont know.
(108) First, through the syntax, the short sentences allow the narrator to make a clear point to the
reader. Second, the use of question marks and exclamation marks shows that stream of
consciousness is used through how the narrator speaks directly to the reader asking rhetorical
questions. Salih uses this method to convey the message that there is no middle way in between
two cultures; you cannot be both. The result is a hybrid. Salih opposes the image of the Oriental

by questioning the colonizers of why they represent the Oriental so negatively. He even wonders
whether his grandfather, who is a symbol of unity of man and nature, is a hybrid or not. (Siddiq,
90) The narrators perspective of the world begins to change after he learns about the indirect
colonialism. Salih uses this technique to reflect this message to the reader clearly.
A Response to Conrads Heart of Darkness
A comparison of Season of Migration to the North with Heart of Darkness may show
the impact, which Conrad has on Tayeb, whether in relation to the general theme and
background of the narrative, or to the specific details of characterization. (Shaheen, 156) To add
to that, in a lecture at the American University in Beirut, Salih pointed to the influence of Joseph
Conrad on this project: as far as form goes, I have been especially struck by Conrad in
Heart of Darkness. (Davidson, 385) This is evident since Mustafa Saeeds journey reiterates
Krutzs; however, Mustafas journey was from Africa to Europe, from the South to the North
(comprehended in the name of the novel). Salih reverses the roles of the colonizer and colonized.
Kurtz and Mustafa, were both partially educated in England, both invaders and colonizers to the
countries they traveled to, both their fathers are dead and their mothers died abroad etc. In
Season, the unnamed narrator is obsessed with Mustafa and similarly in Heart of Darkness,
Marlow (the narrator) is obsessed with Kurtz. In order to respond to Conrad, Salih keeps the
characterization parallel. Moreover, Season is a framed narrative just like Heart of Darkness and
the narrator is telling the audience Saeeds story just like how Marlow tells his audience the tale
of Krutz in Congo. Krishnan says: Salih's novel is significant, not only for its appropriation of
the topoi (themes)the journey into the unknown, the quest for self-identityof Conrad's Heart
of Darkness, but also for its efforts to resist, reinterpret, and revise from the perspective of the
colonized Other, the epistemology and language of discourse signified in Conrad's novel. (7)
6

Salih responds to Conrads novel, by giving light to the darkness. Salih tells the reader that the
only darkness in Season is from the colonizers. He does this through the perspectives of the
characters in Season. Both, Mustafa and the narrators perspectives, allow the readers to see how
colonization results in hybridity and darkness by the colonizers, not the colonized. All the
similarities between the two novels show how Salih mimics Conrad in order to send the reader
the message that the colonized were just there; it was the colonizers who entered their country.
Moreover, it can be seen that Season of Migration to the North is a muaradah in which a parallel
poem is written in response to another. (Davidson, 385) The novel in which Season responds to
is clearly Heart of Darkness.
Narrators Reliability
To oppose all that was said, a major question rises which is how reliable is the narrator?
The novel, being a framed narrative, means that the narrator is telling his audience both his story
and Mustafa Saeeds within. Plus, another question rises which is how reliable is Mustafa
Saeeds story to the narrator, Its a long story, but I wont tell you everything. (Salih, 19) An
unreliable narrator works under the limitations of knowledge to convey information that may
seem justifiably suspect to the reader. (narrative.georgetown.edu) Therefore, the narrators
reliability is uncertain due to the fact that first, he is telling the story through his perspective and
subjective view and so, actions could not have happened or have been altered; and second,
Mustafa Saeed tells the narrator his story through his subjective view. Hence, the narrative voice
could be unreliable and both the narrators and Mustafa Saeeds identity crises could have other
factors, not just the colonizers. Consequently, Salihs aim of portraying the colonizers as the
motive behind identity loss, is doubtful since there is a lot that the readers do not know about
other situations in the characters lives.
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Conclusion
The narrative voice in Tayeb Salihs Season of Migration to the North continuously
mimics the colonizers through the use of literary elements and techniques such as, framed
narrative, point of view, internal focalization, and stream of consciousness. Salih attempts to
show the postcolonial effects of merging two cultures resulting in cultural hybridity, through the
narrators individuation process. Through the use of narrative voice, Salih responds back to the
Oriental image in Conrads Heart of Darkness. However, the narrative voice is questioned due to
the reliability of the narrator.

Word Count: 2149

Works Cited
Davidson, John E. "In Search of a Middle Point: The Origins of Oppression in Tayeb Salih's
"Season of Migration to the North"" Research in African Literatures 20.3 (1989): 385400. JSTOR. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Geesey, Patricia. "Cultural Hybridity and Contamination in Tayeb Salih's "Mawsim Al-hijra Ila
Al-Shamal (Season of Migration to the North)"" Research in African Literatures 28.3,
Arabic Writing in Africa (1997): 128-40. JSTOR. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
"Internal Focalization." Narrative. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
<http://narrative.georgetown.edu/wiki/index.php/Internal_focalization>.
Krishnan, North Dakota State University, R.S. "Reinscribing Conrad: Tayeb Salih's Season of
Migration to the North." (1996): 7-15. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
Salih, Al-Tayyib. Season of Migration to the North. London: Heinemann Educational, 1969.
Print.
Schmid, Wolf. "Point of View." Narratology: An Introduction. New York: Walter De Gruyter,
2010. 89-120. Print.
Shaheen, Mohammad. "Tayeb Salih and Conrad." Comparative Literature Studies 22.1, EastWest Issue (1985): 156-71. JSTOR. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Siddiq, Muhammed. "The Process of Individuation in Al-Tayyeb Salih's "Novel Season of
Migration to the North"" Journal of Arabic Literature 9 (1978): 67-104. JSTOR. Web.
11 Dec. 2014.
"Unreliable Narrator." Narrative. N.p., 6 June 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
<http://narrative.georgetown.edu/wiki/index.php/Unreliable_narrator>.