“The string of the bow is drawn taut and the arrow must needs shoot forth.” pg 24
I chose this passage because it originally stood out to me as an odd way to phrase a metaphor for an event that must come to pass. The language, the “must needs”, and the metaphor were all highly interesting to me, and though I read on thinking I might find a different passage that interested me, I kept coming back to this one.
One of the reasons I think it represents a counter story is because in many parts of Mustafa’s retelling of his story, he questions whether different actions or circumstances could have brought him to a different ending. But this quote seems to show his understanding that once something is set in motion, it cannot be undone; the arrow needs to shoot, to go forth.
It is very effective in saying that things happen inevitably because it is a forceful metaphor; there is not a lot of room to say that the arrow may not propel forward. It specifically states that it must go, it must shoot. In effect, whatever must happen, will happen. It seems to me that you could make and argument for the metaphor going on further, and something coming in the way of the powerful arrow, but this quote states, simply and finitely, that there will be stopping the arrow.
This quote also made me read it twice because of the unique way in which Salih puts it; he seems redundant at the end, and it is a metaphor that is sort of handily thrown into that part of the paragraph. There seems to be very little segue into the discussion of Mustafa’s unavoidable path, and this quote brings his whole perspective into the situation. I like to think that his double use of necessity related verbs helps to enforce its story. It might have not caught my attention as much as it did had it not been strangely worded and placed strategically to get me thinking about how Mustafa views his tale.
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This analogy to the bow and arrow shows up a lot in this story. It certainly stands out! One thing I like about the author's writing is that it flows like poetry and this example of coming back to the same theme and words over and over again. I like that you chose it for that reason and you are absolutely correct that the image of a bow string being so tightly that it is impossible for the arrow to do anything but fly. Incredible! Sometimes it feels like in life we are almost forced into decision. It is out of our control. I mean there is certainly something creepy and almost pathlogical killer-esque about this quote. It reminds me when murders say they just "snapped" and were almost forced into their action. Being powerless in your actions is a scary thought.
ReplyDeleteThis passage stuck out to me as well, it was incredibly strange to me. As I read your post it really started to get me thinking about all the metaphors within this book and to pay more attention to them. I think you are right that it is a foreshadowing of something to come. I think on the other hand I believe that the "bow is drawn taut" indicates that there might be a tension in Mustafa's life that would lead him to do something. I addressed a possibility of this tension in my blog in that the tension could possibly be that of the religious and cultural tension. I could be horribly off so please correct me or add to my theory.
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