Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
The fifth important feature of a novel is the Setting (or Environment). Environment refers to the surroundings in which a person, animal or plant lives and operates its function. The portrayal of the environment in a novel involves the customs, traditions, lifestyle and other special peculiarities of the place where the incidents of the novel take place. The depiction of the environment makes a novel life-like and imparts vividness and fidelity which in turn increases the gusto for the enjoyment of the novel. The depiction of the environment in a novel should always be consistent with the place, time and occasion. For example, in portraying a town life the novelist must create an environment that is peculiar to a town. Thus in representing rustic or peasant life the novelist should portray the surrounding which is peculiar to rustic life. Along with other elements, the success of a novel depends on the faithful representation of the environment also.
The depiction of the setting (environment) of the novel is unique and the novelist has been able to show his dept in full. It may be said that he is very keen on observing the surrounding of any event that he goes on to depict in his novel. The novel begins with the picture of the bedroom of the prosecutor and his physical state that succeeds in bringing out the mental state of the Prosecutor. The setting with which the novel opens reads as:
“I went to bed early last night. I had an inflamed throat- an affliction which comes upon me quite often these days. I tied a wooden rag round my neck, baited me here mouse-traps with bits of ancient cheese and laid them round my bed, as one lays protective mines around a hospital ship. I put out the paraffin lamp and closed my eyes- praying that God might cause erring human instincts to rest awhile within the district so that no crime should compel me to get up while I was feeling indisposed. I laid my head upon the pillow and was soon sleeping like a log.”
The novelist seems to be very sensitive to the natural object as he makes a vivid picture of the surrounding of the maize plantation in the following manner:
“The two vehicles drove on between the maize plantations. Nature slept and all voices were stilled, save for the croaking of frogs and chirp of crickets, and the melodious sound of Shaik Asfur’s voice coming from the interior of the Ford.”
The novelist has given a realistic picture of the court surrounding as below:
“The user began calling the names of the accused from a paper which he was holding. Kuzman Effendi, the usher, was an old man with white hair and a white moustache, endowed with a presence and bearing fit for a Justice of the Supreme Court. Whenever he called anyone to the box, he was extremely majestic in his movements, gestures and voice. He would turn to the court attendant with an air of supreme authority, and that worthy fellow would echo the name outside the chamber just as he had heard it from the usher, except that he would introduce a long-drawn-out chant and an intonation like that of a street-hawker.”
The novelist is very minutest in giving the detail of the physical countenance of a woman as:
“A woman’s name was called. It was the village prostitute. She had blackened her eyelashes with the point of a match and smeared her cheeks with the glaring crimson colour which can be seen painted on boxes of Samson cigarettes. On her bare arm was tattooed the picture of a heart pierced by an arrow. She was wearing on her wrist several bracelets and armlets made of metal and colored glass.”
The novelist is very conscious in matters of giving a detailed village environment as he has pictured:
“To make him still more wretched, there was this stillness which descended on the village after sunset; thereafter there was no sound except of the lowing of the oxen, the barking of the dogs, the braying of donkeys and the creaking of water wheels, pumps and hydraulic machines, apart from the sound of shots let off in the dead of night by private or official watchmen trying to frighten other people, or to keep up their own courage.”
Thus the novelist in depicting the setting (environment) is so minute and exact that by means of setting he tries to make his plot life-like and realistic and in this respect he has succeeded well. 0 0 0 Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
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Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
N. B. This article entitled ‘Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor’ originally belongs to the book ‘Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf-An Analytical Study‘ by Menonim Menonimus. Setting or Environment of Diary of a Country Prosecutor
Books of Literary Criticism by M. Menonimus:
- World Short Story Criticism
- World Poetry Criticism
- World Drama Criticism
- World Novel Criticism
- World Essay Criticism
- Indian English Poetry Criticism
- Indian English Poets and Poetry Chief Features
- Emily Dickinson’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Walt Whitman’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Critical Essays on English Poetry
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: Return of the Spirit-An Analytical Study
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf’-An Analytical Study
- Analytical Studies of Some Arabic Short Stories
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period …
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