6: Abul Khaizarun and the Metaphor of the Sun

The title and recurring imagery of the sun in ‘Men in the Sun’ opens questions regarding the relationship between the sun and the men in the novella. This blog post will argue that Abul Khaizarun’s experience under the sun is completely distinct from that of the 3 refugees. The main focus will be to explore this distinct experience.

For the refugees the sun is a crippling object minimizing the chances of their survival. The sun is nothing more than ‘God’s hell’ pouring down its blazing inferno on them without any reprieve (65). On the other hand, for Abul Khaizarun the sun represents illumination. This concept of the sun as metaphor for the source of illumination finds its root in Plato’s ‘The Republic’: According to Plato, the eye needs a medium, namely light, in order to operate. The strongest and best source of the light is the sun, and with it, objects can be discerned clearly. And only through this light can we see reason and grasp reality.

In the novella , the trauma and denial of Abu Khaizarun and his inability to deal with the consequences of his castration is poignantly illuminated under the piercing and blazing bright light of the sun which  acts as a stimulus for him to engage with a continuously tormenting past- the physical and mental pain of castration

This argument can be realized by focusing on the visual and emotional-cognitive after effects from sun exposure:

"Abul Khaizarun... narrowed his eyes to meet the sunlight. The light was shining so brightly that at first he could see nothing. But he felt a terrible pain coiled between his thighs. After a few moments he could make out his legs were tied to two supports…ten years had passed since they took his manhood from him and he lived that humiliation day after day…And still he hadn’t accepted it…No he couldn’t accept…
The light blazed to piercingly that his eyes began to water. Assad stretched out his hand at the moment and brought down the long sun shield to shade Abul Khaizarun’s face"(52-53).

Here, the blaring light triggers the hauntingly familiar flashback transporting him back to the hospital bed which breaks through his optimistic yet false sense of escapism-that he created for himself by assisting the smuggling of Palestinian men from Basra to Kuwait. The sun then serves to function. Overtly, it symbolizes Abul Khaizarun’s lost masculinity. But at another level within this illumination there Is both knowledge and awareness. It presents a choice- a conscious choice on Abul Khaizarun’s part to compensate his lost manhood with money and life under the shade of constant denial. He says: ‘I want more money, more money, much more’ and ‘to rest in the shade’ (56) . And this shade is not different that the one we see before- it only presents his temporal escapism motivated by his desire to gain money.