Shields and Identity
When discussing the concept of identity as it relates to characters who have been transformed by traumatic events it is imperative to also discuss the ways in which these characters protect their identities. In Death and the Dervish and The Houses of Belgrade, both leading characters employ their own devices to preserve their idea of self. To begin, a baseline sense of identity must be established in order to better understand and examine the shields each protagonist uses.
In the case of Ahmed Nuruddin, a devote dervish living under Ottoman rule, his identity is rooted in religion and relies deeply on his role as a dervish. Serving this role for 20 years at his tekke, his part as a religious figurehead is all that he …show more content…
Ahmed is able to avoid the perils and temptations of the world through sheer religious devotion but at a cost. By using religion as his shield, Ahmed can continue living a pious lifestyle, but he understands the detachment he has created with the world when he muses, “I had been generalizing about the world so much that I began to lose my grasp of it.” (Selimović). In the pursuit of maintaining his identity, Ahmed’s religious shield has created a divide between him and the real world allowing him to be naïve to the corrupt and deceit that ran rampant in the government (Butler). Because of his commitment to the tekke and his role as dervish, few people talked with him about the sins of the world. This winds up causing him uncertainty when presented with something sinful, such as when he verges on conspiring with Hassan’s sister to save his own brother. Ahmed reflects on this conversation after the fact saying, “Something shameful had happened between us, and I was not sure that I had remained completely clean.” (Selimovic). This interaction illustrates just how uneasy Ahmed becomes at the mere mention of anything devious and is reflective of the distance his religious shield has created between him and
When discussing the concept of identity as it relates to characters who have been transformed by traumatic events it is imperative to also discuss the ways in which these characters protect their identities. In Death and the Dervish and The Houses of Belgrade, both leading characters employ their own devices to preserve their idea of self. To begin, a baseline sense of identity must be established in order to better understand and examine the shields each protagonist uses.
In the case of Ahmed Nuruddin, a devote dervish living under Ottoman rule, his identity is rooted in religion and relies deeply on his role as a dervish. Serving this role for 20 years at his tekke, his part as a religious figurehead is all that he …show more content…
Ahmed is able to avoid the perils and temptations of the world through sheer religious devotion but at a cost. By using religion as his shield, Ahmed can continue living a pious lifestyle, but he understands the detachment he has created with the world when he muses, “I had been generalizing about the world so much that I began to lose my grasp of it.” (Selimović). In the pursuit of maintaining his identity, Ahmed’s religious shield has created a divide between him and the real world allowing him to be naïve to the corrupt and deceit that ran rampant in the government (Butler). Because of his commitment to the tekke and his role as dervish, few people talked with him about the sins of the world. This winds up causing him uncertainty when presented with something sinful, such as when he verges on conspiring with Hassan’s sister to save his own brother. Ahmed reflects on this conversation after the fact saying, “Something shameful had happened between us, and I was not sure that I had remained completely clean.” (Selimovic). This interaction illustrates just how uneasy Ahmed becomes at the mere mention of anything devious and is reflective of the distance his religious shield has created between him and