The journey of self-discovery is a recurring theme in francophone
Maghrebi literature and film. Characters are often placed in a struggle against forces
in both French and Maghrebi society, where authors and directors evoke various themes through which characters define themselves. Despite the differences in how characters
choose to define themselves, the similarity they share is that these identities
are not rigid. They are fluid and are shaped by a multitude of factors that can be
traced to power and power contributes to perceptions and the day-to-day
experiences in these societies. One of the common ways characters embark on this journey of self-discovery is through gender. Two
characters who do this differently are Nina in Garçon manqué by Nina Bouraoui and Zahra in La nuit sacrée by Tahar ben Jelloun. Each of these characters
demonstrates the complexity of gender, the ways in which power shapes these
complexities, and how, throughout their evolution as characters, they flow
between identifying as male and female for different reasons. In both stories, gender remains central in their quest
to define themselves as individuals.
Before diving into the different ways Nina and Zahra
approach their identities through gender and how power plays a role in their
realities and experiences, these two characters share an important similarity.
Throughout both the book and the film, the characters do not maintain one
gender. They both, at different moments in the development of their respective
stories, identify both as male and female. Moreover, the evolution of their
characters and the progression of the plot centers on the change in their
self-identification. It is a central conflict for both characters. They also share a similarity regarding the terms of gender they choose to
define themselves with—a decision shaped by a combination of voluntary choices
and imposed definitions, whether from society or specific people in their
lives.
In Nina Bouraoui’s book, Garçon
manqué, Nina narrates her experiences as the child of an Algerian father
and a French mother. Nina must explore her identity in a world of "opposing dualities," as she frames it. Despite the fact that she was born in France, she grew up in
Algeria and a vast majority of her self-discovery took place in Algeria. Beyond
the conflicts she faces as a person of mixed origins, she finds refuge in the
creation of alternative identities that serve multiple objectives. At the
beginning, all the alternative identities, namely her identity as Ahmed, Brio,
and Steve, are all male. However, for the sake of concision, her alternative
identity as Ahmed will serve as the most relevant example in this context. One
of the reasons Nina creates this identity as Ahmed is due to the patriarchal
nature of Algerian society. Nina recognizes that men have the greatest amount of privilege and
she seeks to attain this privilege by identifying as male. While it may seem
that this decision is based on a voluntary choice, the powers in society rooted
in this dominant patriarchal narrative are what push her to make this decision.
Nina says, “I want to be a man. To be a man in Algeria means to become
invisible” (Bouraoui 37). She repeats this desire to attain masculine privilege
when she describes her childhood friend, Amine, who is male. She says, “His
body is what I desire” (Bouraoui 28). Through physical and psychological means,
Nina embarks on a path where she begins to discover herself as Ahmed.
Zahra’s situation in Tahar Ben Jelloun’s film, La nuit sacrée, faces the subject of gender in a different way. Zahra’s father, in an attempt to secure an heir for his family business, decides to raise Zahra, his youngest daughter, as a son. Zahra grows up with the name Ahmed, and that is the name given to her for the entire first half of the film. Zahra, as Ahmed, entirely embraces this masculine role imposed on her by her father by dressing as a man and acting as a man as dictated by societal and traditional norms in the context of late twentieth century Moroccan society. There are even moments when Zahra, as Ahmed, imposes a certain hierarchy in the household, even in the presence of the father. This is demonstrated through the way Zahra, as Ahmed, treats her sisters and mother by making them cook and clean for her. There are also instances where the dialogue between Zahra/Ahmed carries a heavy misogynistic tone towards the female members of the household.
Certain conflicts arise when the masculine identity of Ahmed clashes with the biological female identity of Zahra. An example of this conflict is when Zahra/Ahmed begins her menstruation cycle, an event that deals a heavy blow to the masculine side of her identity. She responds by using violence and aggression as the means through which she asserts her masculine identity. It is also a catalyst for her decision to marry her female cousin, which becomes a redline for the family, even for the father who was the person who initially imposed this masculine identity upon her. It becomes a turning point for the story and Zahra/Ahmed’s path of self-discovery. In his deathbed, the father’s last wish was for Zahra/Ahmed to renounce her masculine identity and to fully embrace her identity as a female, a wish that Zahra/Ahmed initially reacts to with anger. Eventually, Zahra abandons her masculine identity and she ceremoniously buries the main objects that were associated with her male identity in her father’s grave. She then embarks on both a literal and psychological journey to discover her identity as a female, which becomes the focus of the second half of the film.
In both the contexts of the book and the film, gender is not the only factor of these characters’ identities. Because of the postcolonial context in both these stories, the self-discovery of the characters parallels the self-discovery and emerging identities of these recently independent countries. In Garçon manqué, for example, Nina constantly evokes the fact that her existence comes from a violent past: “I come from the war” (Bouraoui 32). Yet, in Nina’s own effort to define herself, she also hosts a bigger struggle in the context of the construction of a national identity. The use of female characters in the narration and experience of this struggle is a recurrence, as Ilkkaracan argues:
“Concentrating on the imagery of desire, eroticism, and male gaze in poetry, songs, plays, and popular films […] the ‘sexual’ and women’s bodies have become a terrain of projection in the construction of communal or national identity” (Ilkkaracan 764).
In both La nuit sacrée and Garcon manqué, the characters are
born female and there is an emphasis on their initial identity as females. As they
matured, they undergo a conflict that centers on gender—a conflict that pushes
and pulls them back and forth between identifying as male and female. Yet, in
both stories, the characters complete their journey in self-discovery by
falling back on their identities as females. This evolving pattern also
parallels that of the countries where these stories took place: Morocco and
Algeria. Before French colonialism, they were a collection of land with inhabitants
in a certain location. In neither Morocco nor Algeria was there ever a uniform
“identity” that inclusively drew the whole population together, whether that
identity was based on ethnic, religious, linguistic, political, or social class
terms. However, during colonialism, there was a conflict that was driven by
exterior forces. Sometimes the conflict was violent and sometimes it was
political. Yet, powerful external forces shaped the conflict, like the conflict
Nina and Zahra faced. After colonialism, these countries were left to deal with
a process that required they come to terms with their previous struggle, which
involved the construction of a “national identity.”
La nuit sacrée is especially interesting in the way
history and this gender-based struggle can be viewed through the lens of a
postcolonial struggle. La nuit sacrée,
as Hayes argues, is a “national
allegory that, by describing how a girl raised as a boy finally becomes a
woman, tie the search for gendered identity to the search for national identity”
(Hayes 556). This search and self-discovery that unfold during the film may not
immediately appear to be a political matter, but the political cannot be discounted from the history of
Zahra/Ahmed. Saunders also sees the connection, arguing, “Gender is a
colonization of the body by melding together the troubled gender identity of
its main character with the (de)colonization of Morocco” (Saunders 136). And in a similar war, this struggle and this
“colonization” unravel on the body and through the character of Zahra/Ahmed,
who was initially a female.
Gender cannot be removed from the
formula that brings together someone’s identity. It is a factor largely shaped
and influenced by its context and opposing forces rooted in power relations.
Nina and Zahra confront their respective contexts and societies with the audacity
and courage to reject nominal labels by choosing to define themselves on their own
terms. Their journey to self-discovery demonstrates the nuances in Maghrebi
society and depicts a profound commentary that steps beyond the rigid framework
of what dominant narratives have shaped the realities of Maghrebi women as.
Related:
- Bouraoui, Nina. Garçon manqué. Éditions Stock, 2001.
- Dillman, Bradford. Rev. of Queer Nations: Marginal Sexualities in the Maghreb by Jarrod Hayes. The Journal of Modern African Studies Sept. 2001
- Ilkkaracan, Pinar. “Women, Sexuality, and Social Change in the Middle East and the Maghreb.” Social Research 69.3 (2002)
- La nuit sacrée. Dir. Tahar Ben Jelloun. Perf. Amina Annabi, Miguel Bosé, Maïté Nahyr, François Chattot, and Carole Andronico. France 3 Cinéma, 1993. Film.
- Saunders, Rebecca. “Decolonizing the Body: Gender, Nation, and Narration in Tahar Ben Jelloun's ‘L'enfant de sable.’” Research in African Literatures 37.4 (2006)
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