تأویل و تحلیل داستان «شبیه گالیله» از عالیه عطایی بر مبنای رویکردهای روانکاوانه و فمنیسم مارکسیستی
محورهای موضوعی : پژوهشهای ادبیات معاصر ایران
همایون جمشیدیان
1
*
,
لیلا نوروزپور
2
,
مرضیه نخعی
3
1 - دانشیار گروه زبان و ادبیات فارسی، دانشگاه گلستان، ایران
2 - استادیار گروه زبان و ادبیات فارسی، دانشگاه گلستان، ایران
3 - دانشجوی کارشناسی ارشد زبان و ادبیات فارسی، دانشگاه گلستان، ایران
کلید واژه: عالیه عطایی, تأویل, نقد روانکاوانه, فمنیسم مارکسیستی و مجموعه داستان «شبیه گالیله». ,
چکیده مقاله :
«شبیه گالیله»، داستانی است در مجموعة «چشم سگ» از عالیه عطایی. داستان، بیان احوال و ماجرای مردی است که ماری را از افغانستان برای فروش به ایران می‌آورد. ضیا، شخصیت اصلی داستان در مواضع متعدد، صفات، حالات و کنش‌هایی به همسر و دختر و گاه دیگر زنان داستان اسناد میدهد که پیشتر برای مار نیز به کار برده بود. مسئلة مقاله، یافتن توجیه یا علتی برای این اسنادهاست. از این‌رو با رویکرد روانکاوانه به بررسی ناخودآگاه متن و شخصیت اصلی پرداخته شد و از آنجا که این رویکرد، وجوه اجتماعی و رابطة قدرت را در بر نمیگیرد، در بخشی دیگر با رویکرد فمنیسم مارکسیستی، متن تحلیل و بررسی شد. روش پژوهش، توصیفی- تحلیلی و مبتنی بر تفسیر و تأویل است. نتایج پژوهش نشان میدهد که ناخودآگاه متن از طریق شخصیت اصلی با ادغام و جابهجایی، تداعی و نماد، مار و زن را به جای هم مینشاند. و زن/ مار به شیئی برای بهرة اقتصادی فروکاسته میشود. طبیعیشدگیِ رابطة زن/ مار مطابق خواست شخصیت اصلی و سرانجام رهایی از سلطة شخصیت اصلی در قالب خودبودگی و استقلال در زندگی و تأمین نیازهای اولیه پدیدار شده است. مفاهیم ارزشی ذکرشده در داستان طبق نظرگاه و گفتمان غالب شخصیت اصلی و در جهت تثبیت سلطة او بر زن/ مار، تغییر معنا مییابد.
Interpretation and Hermeneutic Analysis of Aliyeh Ataei's "The Likeness of Galileo" Through Psychoanalytic and Marxist Feminist Approaches
Homayoun Jamshidian*
Leila Nowruzpour**
Marzieh Nakhaei***
The Likeness of Galileo, a narrative from Aliyeh Ataei's collection Eye of the Dog, tells the story of an Afghan man who travels to Iran with a snake intended for sale. The protagonist, Zia, ascribes various characteristics, feelings, and behaviors to his wife, daughter, and occasionally other women, mirroring the traits he attributes to the snake. This article seeks to uncover the rationale behind these attributions. To achieve this, the text is examined through the frameworks of psychoanalysis and Marxist feminism. The research employs a descriptive-analytical methodology, focusing on interpretation and exegesis. Findings indicate that the text's unconscious elements, as expressed through the protagonist, interchangeably depict women and the snake through mechanisms such as integration, displacement, association, and symbolization. Both women and the snake are objectified for economic gain. The normalization of the relationship between the woman and the snake reflects the protagonist's desires, ultimately leading to a semblance of liberation from his oppressive control, manifested as self-identity, independence, and the satisfaction of fundamental needs. The value systems articulated in the story are reinterpreted through the protagonist's dominant viewpoint, reinforcing his authority over the woman/snake dynamic.
Keywords: Aliyeh Ataei, interpretation, psychoanalytic criticism, Marxist feminism, the short story "The Likeness of Galileo".
Introduction
In the story "The Likeness of Galileo", the traits and characteristics attributed to the women—especially the wife of the main character—are shared with those of his snake. The question arises: why does the protagonist use the same descriptions, images, and emotional states for women, particularly his wife and daughter, as he does for the snake? It appears that this text, as a work of art, possesses both conscious and unconscious dimensions, much like a dream. Richard Wollheim uses the term “unseen dreams” for those artistic works dominated in part or whole by fantasy and the unconscious. Therefore, one may approach a work of art in the same way one interprets a dream. To access the unconscious and uncover the meanings of its signs, it is necessary to return to conscious experience and lived reality.
Research Questions
- What is the reason behind the similarity between the states and attributes assigned to women and the snake in this story?
- What is the social position of the woman/snake in the narrative?
Methodology
The theoretical approach of this study was not predetermined but selected after reading the text and encountering the central problem. Accordingly, the method will be descriptive-analytical and hermeneutic, interpreting ambiguous concepts based on textual evidence.
Theoretical Framework
In a psychoanalytic reading of the story, the same approach used in analyzing human psychology may be applied. As with dreams—where there is a manifest level (what the dreamer remembered and recalled) and a latent level (the hidden and underlying meaning)—literary texts may also contain deeper meanings that lie beneath the surface and must be uncovered through interpretation. Dream-like manifests through integration, displacement, association, and symbolization. In the manifest level of a dream, signs and images stand in for hidden meanings—a process known as displacement. Sometimes, multiple meanings converge into a single sign, known as integration. The dreamer—and by extension the critic—must engage with these mechanisms of representation.
In Marxist criticism, the primary focus lies on the economic systems that shape human societies and constitute their relations and power hierarchies. The acquisition and maintenance of power drive many human endeavors across different domains. The dominant social class acts in ways—or constructs reality in such a manner—that its position seems natural or even invisible to the masses. A key goal for Marxist critics is to uncover and demystify these seemingly natural concepts, which in reality arise from specific ideological discourses.
Story Summary
This story narrates the journey of a man named Zia from Afghanistan, who takes advantage of the chaos of war and the abandonment of his wife and daughter to pursue what he calls “progress” by engaging in animal smuggling—specifically snakes. Upon arriving in Tehran, he takes up residence in the home of a woman named Maria and becomes involved in both real-life and virtual communities in Iran in an attempt to sell the snake he brought from Afghanistan. Ultimately, he fails in this endeavor. The snake, which over time has grown distant from its natural instincts, developed human-like behaviors, and become completely domesticated, is eventually released. Once set free, it reverts to its intrinsic serpentine nature.
Through the narrative, Zia repeatedly speaks about his wife and daughter. In the end, the story remains an incomplete ending. Just as the fate of the snake remains unknown, so too does the fate of Zia’s wife and daughter, who had fled Afghanistan at the onset of war.
Discussion and Analysis
The central concern of this article is the position of women and the symbols, signs, and qualities attributed to them, making the text particularly suitable for a feminist critique. Since these elements are often implicit and subtly embedded, interpretation and analysis are essential. The protagonist, Zia, repeatedly uses the same human descriptions, metaphors, and emotional states for both his wife and the snake. As these parallels occur multiple times throughout the narrative, they are clearly not coincidental and demand a deeper interpretation. In light of the story’s dreamlike quality, the subconscious aspects of the main character, and based on Freudian psychoanalytic theory, one plausible reading is to view the narrative as resembling a dream, comprised of both manifest (surface) and latent (hidden) content.
In this framework, Zia’s explicit comments about his wife and daughter represent the manifest content, while the characteristics attributed to the snake—which contradict its inherent animalistic nature—form the latent content. It is as though we are reading two overlapping stories: one clearly about his family, and another, more veiled, about the snake, which serves as a symbolic projection of deeper psychological truths.
Conclusion
The central question of this study has been: Why does the main character of the story describe women—particularly his wife and daughter—using the same language and imagery he uses for the snake? Why does he frequently recall his wife and daughter when speaking of the snake he has brought to Iran to sell, and vice versa? This article has aimed, by reflecting on these questions, to uncover one or more possible meanings of the narrative.
The article operates on the assumption—based on Freud’s psychoanalytic approach—that like human beings, some texts contain multiple layers and unconscious depths, whose hidden meanings may be revealed through interpretation. The first part of the study drew upon Freud’s theory of latent and manifest content in dreams and literary texts to explain this phenomenon. In the story, the snake and the woman are merged and substituted for one another. When Zia speaks of the snake, he is unconsciously referring to his wife and daughter as well. The images and symbols presented in the narrative express Zia’s unconscious attitudes toward women. Therefore, to speak of the snake is, simultaneously, to speak of the woman.
In pursuit of his own desires, Zia objectifies not only animals—specifically the snake—but also his wife and daughter, aligning with a Marxist reading in which people are reduced to commodities. On another level, the snake, wife, and daughter become the same entity. Given that the main character occupies a position of power, he strips concepts such as intelligence, consciousness, and natural life of their original meaning—an indication of a hierarchical discourse and Zia’s dominance over the woman/snake.
The snake’s dependence and eventual liberation are intimately tied to its mode of life and sustenance. As long as it consumes food contrary to its natural instinct—specifically frozen chicken, a symbol of urban consumerist life—it remains under Zia’s control, behaving in humanlike ways. Its emancipation begins when it hunts for its own food, reclaiming its natural and independent way of life. The snake/woman thus journeys from dependence to autonomy and ultimately to freedom from Zia and objectification. In his role as the dominant figure, Zia disrupts the snake’s natural mode of existence.
For most of the story, the woman/snake lacks agency. Her agency only emerges at the end, as a direct result of escaping Zia’s control. This is physically manifested in actions such as curling—a movement she was forbidden to perform—hunting instead of eating frozen chicken, abandoning the suitcase that confined her, and moving freely through nature. There is no dialogue between the female characters in the story; they are presented only through Zia’s perspective or, in one instance, through another man who also views them with contempt. This aligns with the overarching dominance of the male gaze in both narrative and power dynamics.
The idea of Zia’s wife and daughter leaving Afghanistan stands in contrast to remaining under his control. They break free from his dominance at the very beginning of the story. The snake, by contrast, begins in a state of subjugation and only gains freedom by the end, reclaiming its true and natural identity. The story concludes with an open ending: the fate of Zia’s wife and daughter outside Afghanistan remains unknown. Yet through the agency and emancipation of the snake, one may infer a possible, though unspoken, trajectory for them as well.
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*Corresponding Author: Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Golestan University, Iran.
homayunjamshidian@yahoo.com
** Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Golestan University, Iran.
l.nowruzpur@gmail.com
*** M.A Student, Persian Language and Literature, Golestan University, Iran. marziyehnakhaei@gmail.com
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