Sexuality in Season of Migration to the North and Men in the Sun (Delayed blog post 2)

The subversion of sexuality in Season of Migration to the North ties in with the absence of sexuality found in Men in the Sun, in that both revolve around a modernist dissonance and displacement from ones identity and homeland. Sexuality brims from an instinctive need and ties with a sort of primitive aspect of humanity. In this sense, it is something immediately human and part of the very base that defines us, and at the same time it is which if left uncontrolled could mean we are tying ourselves to that very base rather than rising above it.

With this in mind, we can consider how sexuality as an absent element among people in Men in the Sun becomes a pull away from human base and basic need. The men are never shown interacting with women in this regard; the same can be said for the women. Abu Qais’ relation with his wife is solely sensual in nature. Assad and Marwan are never connected to women and Marwan’s father married for money; Abul Khaizuran is castrated, which is the ultimate death of sexuality for one of our protagonists. Even the men at the check point, although they talk of women in such a way as can only reveal sexual interest and nothing beyond, are never shown with a woman, nor do they describe holding any such relations. Hence sexuality in this text is a deadened element, depriving the men of the very base that ties in with identity.

Season of Migration to the North deals with sexuality in a perverse manner, where for one, the village has an unhealthy indulgence of it both physically and in their open, frank discussions on it. Wad Rayes with his 70 wives “changed women as he changed donkeys” and married Mustafa’s widow Fatima to satisfy his sexual appetite. His murder by Fatima, while trying to force it upon her, adds to the subversion of sex as Fatima plays the role that rejects sex with her husband to the point of murdering him.

Bint Majzoub , on the other hand, openly shared her time with her first spouse, “He’d lift my legs after the evening prayer and I'd splayed till the call to prayers at dawn.” At the same time, we have Mustafa Saeed who spent his youth indulging his voracious needs by luring women to his bed through deceit and lies. Isabella Seymour, Sheila Greenwood and Ann Hammond are all victims of his deception and manipulation that leads to him satisfying himself while they hit a downward spiral that eventually results in their suicides. Jean Morris reveals her unwillingness to share Mustafa’s bed; this plays a part in his murdering her.

Herein we can see that in both texts, sex is never shown naturally, as a normal part of everyday life. It is contorted, abusive, corrupt, unwanted, inordinate, denied or even absent. With such a distortion of one’s basic inclination, it is no wonder these modernist texts take on a lack of conclusiveness as the people are denied an important element of the very base that makes up their nature as humans and as people with identities. They cannot rise above their animal instincts, or are denied that very primal instinct, the id that defines infancy and ones basic impulse. Without even their basic inclinations being natural or fulfilled, one doesn’t hold onto much hope for their reaching a point of conclusion or closure with themselves anytime soon.