4 pages Textual Analysis essay (due after 24 hours)

Ideal and Reality

        When we were young, our teachers always taught us that the police force is there to protect us. However, there is always some deviation between reality and the ideal. Tahar Ben Jelloun, a Moroccan writer, was a nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. Even though Arabic is his first language, all of his writing is in French. He wrote the novella, By Fire, and Rita Nezami translated it from French to English. On September 2013, The New Yorker published it. Mohamed is the protagonist in this story. He suffers from both societal and familial pressures. Lastly, he ends his life to escape the pressure.  It is a tragic story of Mohamed’s life, and he is a victim of social injustice, corrupt regime and police violence. By Fire raises the issue of unemployment and police violence through imagery and metaphors.

        Mohamed is the eldest son in his family, so after his father passes away, he has to support his whole family. His mother has a serious illness, and she needs to take medication to live. After his father died, he is the only one who to earn a living. Unfortunately, there are no available teaching positions in the education system. Even though he has a college degree, he still cannot find a job. He experiences the feeling of falling from heaven to hell. Before he graduated, he dreamed that he could find a job that pays well, and that he will have a brilliant future. He dreams that everyday he will stand in front of the podium to answer questions from curious students. In real life, he has nothing but a diploma. His future is not bright. He feels very disappointed, and his dream is crushed. His previous efforts in university are totally wasted. He feels deeply hurt and disheartened, so he “ emptied it of all its papers and documents, including his diploma, made a small pile in the sink, and burned them” (Ben Jelloun 63). Under impulsive influences, people easily make the wrong decisions. Without the documents, he destroys his dream by his own hands, and now he cannot to be hired as a teacher forever.

        Although his dream is broken, his life still has to move on. The situation forced him to make money quickly; therefore, he reopens his father’s old fruit cart business. After several explorations, he gradually finds the way to sell more fruit and earn more money. Unfortunately, the good times are very short. The police look for him again and again, hoping that he would reveal the information about his former fellow-activists. One day, Mohamed encounters a member of the “unemployed graduates” on the road, and they have a chat about their life. The police see this and ask Mohamed the name of his friend, but Mohamed refuses to answer, and he is, in turn, physically abused for his refusal: “The first slap took Mohamed by surprise. He yelled and got a punch in his stomach”(67). In order to get the information of his old friend, the policemen continues to beat him. Mohamed does not yield although he received several punches. The police’s behaviors cause quite a commotion, and some people stop things that they are doing. “Clear off! He’s a thief. We’re doing this to protect you; let us do our job”(67). One of the policemen calls these violent actions as their job. These telling details show that the policemen are rude and unreasonable. They are distorting the truth, and they conquer the innocent people through beating them. Books do not always tell the truth. The concept of “police symbolizes justice,” something deeply ingrained before, is instantly gone. They do not protect people. They control people in a cruel way. In reality, the police force is a symbol of violence, not justice.

        Afterwards, yet another misfortune that befalls him. One day, the policemen ask him: “Your work permit?”(68). This simple question leads to a series of catastrophe that eventually cripples Mohamed. He doesn’t have a permit for his fruit cart, and because of his stubborn judgment, he doesn’t try to bribe the police. Displeased, the policemen tell Mohamed: “You have no right to sell illegally. You have no work permit, no license; you don’t pay taxes; you’re stealing from the state. So it’s over: your cart is confiscated”(69). They then violently take Mohamed’s fruit cart, his source of income, his last resort, his way of providing for his family. It’s all over; both his business and his life.

        Then there was a dream about Mohamed’s life that foreshadows what was to happen. “He had a dream. His father, dressed all in white, was beckoning to Mohamed to join him. He was saying something, but Mohamed couldn’t hear him. He had no desire to join the deceased. Suddenly his mother appeared and said, ‘Don’t listen to what he’s asking you to do; he is with God, perhaps in Heaven.’ Mohamed woke, disturbed; the dream had been so powerfully real”(67). After the policemen take his cart away, he tries to see the mayor for help. “There he asked to see an official. No one wanted to see him”(70). He tried to find a person who is powerful enough to help him to get his cart back. He tries several times. Unfortunately, no one wants to see him and help him, because he is a nobody. He feels very helpless, and he thinks that this society is cold and unfair. He loses his hope in this miserable world. “I don’t have a gun, but I still have my body, my life, my wasted life: this is my weapon”(70). He dresses all in white just like his father, and he chooses self-immolation to end this bitter life. Eventually, he used such an extreme way to escape this stressful society, and he gets the government’s attention through this painful way.

        If Mohamed can find a job in the education system, putting his college degree to use, this miserable ending would have been avoided. Unemployment marks the beginning of his misery.  If he were able to find a stable job at the beginning, he would not have had to reopen his father’s fruit cart to make money. Moreover, he would not have suffered from the corrupt regime and the police violence. Therefore, he could have escaped self-immolation as a means to end his suffering. I felt very sad about his painful experiences; I hope he can rest in peace now. He deserves to have a better afterlife. This is not a story about one Mohamed; there are a lot of other Mohameds in the world who have the same experiences. People should stand up and fight police violence, so that they can have a better life.