9
International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences © 2016 Available online at www.irjabs.com ISSN 2251-838X / Vol, 10 (6): 801-809 Science Explorer Publications A Comparative analysis of two stories: ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Husband’ by Sadegh Hedayat and ‘The Woman Destroyed’ by Simon de Beauvoir Zahra Salehi Department of Literature, Payam Noor University (PNU) ABSTRACT: Family is the main social institution that is made up with the marriage of man and woman and continues with a mutual love, confidence and forgiveness. Perhaps, the main fatal blow that can cause the disruption of this sacred institution is the betrayal of one of the main members of the family to the love of the wife. By comparing the two Iranian and European stories in this article, the attempt is to compare the men’s unkindness to this sacred institution in two Western and Eastern societies and to represent the cultural differences between the thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. Key words: Iranian woman, European woman, stories’ similarities, stories’ differences INTRODUCTION ‘The Woman Destroyed’ by Simon de Beauvoir and ‘The Woman Who Lost Her man’ by Sadegh Hedayat are stories that are compared in this article. The first is the story of the narrator’s autobiography. It is about a European woman, who after twenty two years of life with her husband, understands that her husband has betrayed her and has an affair with another woman. She loves her husband and has spent all her life for the happiness of her husband and her two daughter. Now at the aging threshold, she feels devastated. Although being aware of her husband’s unkindness toward her, she cannot make decision on going out of his life. In all over the story, we witness the behavioral inconsistencies of this woman whom on the one hand, her emotions have been hurt and on the other hand, she is in love with her husband. This story has been written through a series of diary entries and because the narrator is the first person, the reader has the sense of sympathy with the protagonist and is curious about her destiny. In the second story by Sadegh Hedayat, we read the story of a rural woman who enthusiastically and with a world full of hope and dream marries a stranger from another village. After several months living with her beloved husband, she loses the beauty of her life with the entrance of the wrongdoers to the scene of her life and then the addiction of her husband. After two years of hard life accompanied with the misbehavior of the husband, she loses him forever. Then when she goes to her husband’s village to find him, she becomes aware of his betrayal and his remarriage. Suddenly, her look toward the life and the man changes and the story ends vaguely. Authors’ biographies and works Sadegh Hedayat Sadegh Hedayat was born on February 17, 1903 in Tehran. He was of a highly educated aristocratic family. His parents were of the ancestry of Reza Qoli Khan Hedayat who was a poet and historian in the thirteenth century. In 1908, he entered the seminary primary school in Tehran and after finishing his curriculum in 1914, he began his secondary education in Dar-al Fonoon. In 1916, he was afflicted with eye injuries and as a result, a halt occurred in his education. However, he continued his education in College Saint Louis (French Catholic School) in 1917. There, he got familiar with the language and the literature of France. He finished his studies in 1925 and he was among a selected few students who traveled to Belgium to continue his studies in 1926. He initially went on to study Engineering in a port in Belgium. However, he was dissatisfied of the weather condition in this port and his educational status. Then he abandoned his studies in Belgium and went to Paris to continue his studies there. Hedayat attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Marine in 1927, but he was rescued by a fishing boat. Finally, he returned to Tehran in 1929 and he was employed in Iran’s Melli Bank. In these days, a group of four was formed with its members as Bozorg Alavi, Masood Farzad,

The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

  • Upload
    buinhi

  • View
    321

  • Download
    12

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences © 2016 Available online at www.irjabs.com ISSN 2251-838X / Vol, 10 (6): 801-809 Science Explorer Publications

A Comparative analysis of two stories: ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Husband’ by Sadegh Hedayat and ‘The

Woman Destroyed’ by Simon de Beauvoir

Zahra Salehi

Department of Literature, Payam Noor University (PNU)

ABSTRACT: Family is the main social institution that is made up with the marriage of man and woman and continues with a mutual love, confidence and forgiveness. Perhaps, the main fatal blow that can cause the disruption of this sacred institution is the betrayal of one of the main members of the family to the love of the wife. By comparing the two Iranian and European stories in this article, the attempt is to compare the men’s unkindness to this sacred institution in two Western and Eastern societies and to represent the cultural differences between the thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. Key words: Iranian woman, European woman, stories’ similarities, stories’ differences

INTRODUCTION

‘The Woman Destroyed’ by Simon de Beauvoir and ‘The Woman Who Lost Her man’ by Sadegh Hedayat are stories that are compared in this article. The first is the story of the narrator’s autobiography. It is about a European woman, who after twenty two years of life with her husband, understands that her husband has betrayed her and has an affair with another woman. She loves her husband and has spent all her life for the happiness of her husband and her two daughter. Now at the aging threshold, she feels devastated. Although being aware of her husband’s unkindness toward her, she cannot make decision on going out of his life. In all over the story, we witness the behavioral inconsistencies of this woman whom on the one hand, her emotions have been hurt and on the other hand, she is in love with her husband. This story has been written through a series of diary entries and because the narrator is the first person, the reader has the sense of sympathy with the protagonist and is curious about her destiny. In the second story by Sadegh Hedayat, we read the story of a rural woman who enthusiastically and with a world full of hope and dream marries a stranger from another village. After several months living with her beloved husband, she loses the beauty of her life with the entrance of the wrongdoers to the scene of her life and then the addiction of her husband. After two years of hard life accompanied with the misbehavior of the husband, she loses him forever. Then when she goes to her husband’s village to find him, she becomes aware of his betrayal and his remarriage. Suddenly, her look toward the life and the man changes and the story ends vaguely. Authors’ biographies and works Sadegh Hedayat

Sadegh Hedayat was born on February 17, 1903 in Tehran. He was of a highly educated aristocratic family. His parents were of the ancestry of Reza Qoli Khan Hedayat who was a poet and historian in the thirteenth century. In 1908, he entered the seminary primary school in Tehran and after finishing his curriculum in 1914, he began his secondary education in Dar-al Fonoon. In 1916, he was afflicted with eye injuries and as a result, a halt occurred in his education. However, he continued his education in College Saint Louis (French Catholic School) in 1917. There, he got familiar with the language and the literature of France. He finished his studies in 1925 and he was among a selected few students who traveled to Belgium to continue his studies in 1926. He initially went on to study Engineering in a port in Belgium. However, he was dissatisfied of the weather condition in this port and his educational status. Then he abandoned his studies in Belgium and went to Paris to continue his studies there. Hedayat attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Marine in 1927, but he was rescued by a fishing boat. Finally, he returned to Tehran in 1929 and he was employed in Iran’s Melli Bank. In these days, a group of four was formed with its members as Bozorg Alavi, Masood Farzad,

Page 2: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

802

Mojtaba Minoori and Sadegh Hedayat. In this year, he resigned from his work in Melli Bank and got a job in the Department of Trade. He travelled to Shiraz in 1932 and he resided for a while in his uncle’s house, Dr. Karim Hedayat. He resigned his work in the Department of Trade in 1933 and got employed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He learned the language of Pahlavi under the supervision and the guidance of an Indian researcher and professor called Ankel Sarya. He returned to Tehran in 1936 and got employed again in Melli Bank. He resigned from his work in Melli Bank in 1936 and began his work in the Department of Music and at the same time, he started his cooperation with Music Magazine. He worked as a translator in the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1939 and then he initiated his own cooperation with the Journal of Speech in 1942. He set off to Tashkent in 1944 upon the invitation of the state university of Middle Asia in Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, he began his cooperation with the Journal of Payam-e-Noor. In this year, Sadegh Hedayat’s commemoration was held in the cultural society of Iran and Soviet. In 1948, he was invited to attend in the global congress of fans of peace; however, he could not attend in this congress because of some official problems. In 1950, he left Iran for Paris. There, on April 9, 1951, he committed suicide by grassing himself in a small rented apartment. He rescued himself of the sufferings of life at the age of forty eight. He was buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery. He lived all his short life in his own parental house. Sadegh Hedayat’s Works

Saye-ye Roshan, Zani ke Mardash ra Gom kard(A Woman Who Lost Her Man), Aroosake poshte parde (The Doll Behind the Curtain Opera), Afaringan, Shabhaye Waramin (Waramin Nights), Akharin Labkhand (The Last Smile), Zende be gur (Buried Alive), Haji Morad, Se Qatre Khoon (three drops of blood), Boof-e Koor (The blind owl), Sage-e velgard (The Stray Dog), Dash Akol, Ayeneyeh Shekaste (Broken Mirror), Mardi ke Nafsash ra Kosh (The Man Who Killed Himself), Morde-Khorha, Abe-e Zendegi (The Elixir of Life), Mohallel, Gerdab (Whirlpool), Gojasteh Dej. (Yusefi, 1997: pp. 310-320) Simon de Beauvoir

Her original name was Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir. As a French writer, philosopher, intellectual, she was born in Paris on January 9, 1908. Her family had a Bourgeois status and they were affluent and influential. After passing baccalaureate exams in Mathematics and Philosophy in 1925, she studied Mathematics, Literature and Language at the institute Sainte-Marine. She then studied Philosophy in Sorbonne. This author had close relationships with French Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre; so she was familiar with the courses at the Ecole Normale. De Beauvoir is known as the Feminism Mother from 1968. Her most famous work is ‘The Second Sex’ which is a detailed analysis of the women’s oppression during the history. This book, after several years of publication in France, was translated into English and was published in the United States and was known as Feminis Manifesto. ‘The Second Sex’ is translated into Persian by Ghasem Sanavi and is published in Iran. After passing baccalaureate exams in Mathematics and then in Philosophy, de Beauvoir studies Mathematics at the Institute Catholique de Paris and Literature/Languages at the Institute Sainte-Marie. She then studied Philosophy at Sorbonne. Although not officially enrolled, she sat in on courses at the Paris’s Ecole Normale in preparation for the aggregation in Philosophy in which Jean-Paul Satre was a member. Satre was her close friend. De Beauvoir and Satre maintained a lasting and inseparable relationship with each other during lifetime. Simon de Beauvoir died of pneumonia on April 14, 1986 at the age of 78. She is buried next to Jean-Paul Satre in Paris.

Beside Sanavi, other translators such as Mahdi Sahabi, Gisoo Parsay, Elham Darchinian, Amin Moayed and Iraj Bagherpour have tried to translate the works of this author into Persian. Simon de Beauvoir’s Works

She Came to Stay (1943), The Blood of Other (1945), We Shall Die (1946), The Second Sex (1949), Mandarins (1954), Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (1958), A Very Easy Death (1964), Les Belles Images (1966), The Woman Destroyed (1947), The Coming of Age (1970), A Farewell (1984) are some other works of this author that are translated into Persian. ‘The Woman Destroyed’ is written in 1947 and is translated into Persian by Nase Iran Doost in 1985. Similarities

The fist noticeable similarity in the two stories is the women’s great love toward the men. Although the type of affection is different, there is not any difference between the two in the principle of genuine love.

Page 3: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

803

“….As much as she knew, all the particles of her body wanted Gol Baboo and from this moment, she needed him and life without Gol Baboo was impossible and intolerable for her.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 226) Gol Baboo’s separation was unbearable for her. His hot breath, his body’s heat, his rough wool, and the smell of the barn; and now in his absence and separation, all of these properties appeared in her mind. Certainly, she couldn’t live without Gol Baboo. Come what may be, this was not in her control.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 238) And as an example in de Beauvoir’s story “I haven’t left Maurice without being homesick” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p. 4). I felt gloomy. For the tragic holidays that we left behind. And if I was happy in a salt marsh beside the sea, it was because of the fact that I was feeling Maurice next to me even though he was miles away” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p. 11). “Maurice asked me to kiss him and we hugged each other warmly. And neither coldness nor fatigue was important to us and we thought to anything except our love” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p. 37). “Only when the plane flied and raised Maurice to sky, I felt my heart was blown away.” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p.57) “And this was I who loved him exceptionally and the elapse of time couldn’t ruin my love” (De Beauvoir, 1985;p.86). “However, my love was real and firm, just like an indestructible fact.” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p.121) The important issue in this topic is the one-sidedness of the Iranian woman’s love.

“Do you mean Gol Baboo? He went there to come down the next year with snow. He left you, has a wife and child, and went to Zainabad. He has told me not to tell anyone his address” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 234). “First he fussed about some trivial things. For example, he used to say: why the corner of your praying Chador is burnt or why you fired up the Samovar late, or why the chowder was salty the day before yesterday. Then his unexpressive torn eyes turned around and he rounded about the black leather whip with its two knots over his head, the same whip used for hitting donkeys, and thrashed it on the arm, the thigh and the back of Zarin Kolah.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 232) Although, at first, Gol Baboo was seemingly in love with his own wife, he gradually stopped it: “ Zarin Kolah was full of joy. She was speaking loudly. Moonlight came up and Gol Baboo threw his brawny hands across her neck and kissed her lips a lot” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 232). “Gol Baboo kissed Zarin Kolah’s tearful eyes and they become reconciled.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 233) In the case of de Beauvoir’s story, the man has not lost his love to his wife. “When it was announced through the loudspeaker that Rome’s passengers board on the airplane, he hugged and kissed me firmly and said: do not be sad in the airplane and the bus. When he was disappearing from my view, he turned his head and looked at the airplane. I saw anxiety, apprehension and a revolution in his eye which was felt by the depth of my being.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.121). “He always showed his love more than me. When we were on the bus in the narrow road of St. Petersburg, he hugged me firmly and said: I will always be enough for you” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.17). “Paying attention to Gutor’s speech, I understood that Maurice loves me yet. Because a man can love two women through two different ways and two different manners” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.94). “He caressed my hair and said: do not cry. I am in love with you.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.100) In many cases, Maurice regrets his disloyalty toward his wife: “and I told that I will free up her from this time on. However, unlike what I was thinking, she didn’t get happy of this word and a sorrow and tedium shimmered in her eyes and told: I know that I have high expectations from you and I have extravagated in this case. Do not think that I regret this” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.34). “Now I remember Maurice’s countenance in the airport. Regret, shame and fear of being dishonored and being revealed his secret of love and betrayal was shimmering in his eyes” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.57). “The thought of betrayal was terrifying to me. Therefore, I kept silent. In these two stories, the man has been disloyal to the woman and he chooses another woman as the partner of his life; however, the man’s behavior with the second woman is different in these stories. European man has the sense of responsibility and kindness toward the second woman: “they came out of the Nueli’s house…crossed a big street and entered a cafeteria. They were cheerful and lively walking arm in arm.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.63) While in Hedayat’s story, the man is unkind to the second wife as much as he is to the first. He has with her the same brutal behavior he had with Zarin Kolah: “and a slim woman with big eyes came to him and attached herself to Gol Baboo. The warmish of the whip could be seen in her arm and forehead; she was trembling as she was afraid to lose her husband” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 241). Here once again, we witness an oppressed woman who has a one-sided love for her husband and despite being tortured by him, she loves him adorably. In both stories, the woman is optimist to the man before the disclosure of his betrayal: “…the next year, he gave Zarin Kolah five Toman as a pocket money and told her that I go to work for twenty days and then I’ll come back. His twenty days became a month and a few days. Although Zarin Kolah was frugal and was able to afford her family well and she used to work and she could wait one or two years if she gets sure that Gol Baboo is her

Page 4: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

804

husband and will come back” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 234). This confidence in the European woman is more optimist because Zarin Kolah was a little doubtful to Gol Baboo’s disloyalty based on his behavior. “The only thing that made me feel at ease was speaking with Maurice. He was not there before the midnight. Since he had returned Rome, he used to spend nights in laboratory with Talboo and Kotoriyeh. He was saying that he had approached to his desired result. I can understand that all of his life was sacrificed in the way of research and experiment (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.9). However, this betrayal is quite unexpected to Monic: “I turned my head back; this stroke broke me and consternation disabled my brain. I needed time to understand what happened” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.16). Although Monic feels the danger because of her womanliness, she does not pay any attention to these feelings: “Yeah, I should confess that Muarice has been changed. He has allowed his work to destroy all of his life. He does not study any book anymore, he doesn’t listen to music…” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.10) In both stories, the man has some reasons for his unkindness and this reason is discovered by the woman; Zarin Kolah understands that the reason for Gol Baboo’s avoidance of her is because of his tendency to achieve his own ambitions and wishes in his home-village: “Zarin Kolah understands that she has lost everything, she fixed her eyes to Gol Baboo’s face, but his eyes was so wildish that she had never seen him so. He was in a mood that showed that his life is secured, he has become the lord and he has achieved all his ambitions. He doesn’t want to feel anguished and from his contemptuous look, it was clear that he didn’t want to see her anymore (Hedayat, 1993; p. 242). And Monic understands that the reason for her husband’s betrayal is her indifference to his feelings and successes: “…and I confess that I was impartial and indifferent to his occupation and I was watching his success from afar…” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.83) Both women refer to another man in order to forget their husband’s betrayal. The European woman ventures this in order to make her husband aware of his mistake and unkindness; and because she doesn’t get the desired result, she abandons it: “for a time, I spent putting on makeup…During these two years, Kilan had become slim and slender. I had never thought that his countenance and his body was so good. Because he liked me, he was hurried to see me. He used to endear the past memories…We went to a restaurant that was behind Panteon…He could remember my favorite food or my favorite song. He bought me a red rose and he did thousand things in order to attract my attention. While Maurice had done none of them for me. He used to adore me in a thousand ways while Muarice did not use to admire me at all…I got gradually habituated to his adoration like a child who is in the cradle and I got accustomed to his kindness. I forgot that Maurice is simultaneously smiling to Nueli because I was smiling to another man too” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.56). However as mentioned, Monic’s attempt is useless and she stops meeting the man because she cannot forget her true love for her husband: “He was not moving, but he was monitoring me with his own eyes. It seemed silly for me to see him in the place of Maurice. Happiness has left me (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.56). “Ah, I have no pride of doing this work and I am not proud of it. I did an experiment. But what was the use of this experiment and where did it take me? I myself didn’t like this experiment.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.55) While in Hedayat’s story, this familiarity with another man occurs at the end of the story. Zarin kolah does this work in order to forget her sorrow and her love. She didn’t do this in order to take her husband back. Gol Baboo doesn’t exist for her anymore: “That man stopped his donkey and said: what do you want? - I am a stranger here. Pick me up too. She showed the donkey with her hand. The man stopped his donkey and picked Zarin Kolah up. He himself got on another donkey, but he didn’t give her even a glance. Then he swiveled his whip around his head and…All her life, her youth, her mother’s curse, that moonlit night coming with Gol Baboo to Tehran and the curse of Gol Baboo’s mother, all passed over her eyes. Though she was hungry and thirsty, she got happy in the bottom of her heart. She didn’t know why she got on and where she was going; however, she wondered: maybe this young man is accustomed to whipping and his body may have the smell of donkey and barn.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 244) There is a difference here in which ‘the second man’ has already been existed in the life of the European woman because of their culture, However in the case of Iranian woman, only when she gets sure that she has lost her husband forever and she doesn’t have any way backward or forward and she can’t refer to her parental house, she resorts to another man. In the two stories, we witness the woman’s reliance on her own man. In Hedayat’s story, the woman has a mere allegiance to her husband: “She knew that she couldn’t speak even a word in front of Gol Baboo. Her tongue was becoming numb and all of her abilities was being exhausted. It was so that there was a special strength in Gol Baboo that was neutralizing her thoughts, wills and forces” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 224). While in de Beauvoir’s story, the woman introduces the man as her supporter and her comfort: “I have a great deal of apprehension and I fear, I fear and Maurice is not here. I know that his experiments and researches should be wrapped up. However, I am angry with him and I say in my heart: I need you and you are not here…” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.10)

Page 5: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

805

The loneliness of these two women in these stories is clear and it is even more evident in Western story: “Maurice’s goodness and kindness is painful to me. I feel I am wretched” (De Beauvoir, 1985; p.50). She expresses her own feelings and emotions so easily while in Hedayat’s story, there is not anyone to understand Zarin Kolah’s feelings or expresses them: “I don’t know anything. The life behind me has destroyed everything like the ground that opens its mouth during an earthquake. Everything behind me has been ruined. I am escaping fearfully like earthquake affected people because I know coming back is impossible. House, village, valley and foothills are disappeared and there is no trace of them.”(Hedayat, 1993; p. 85) The European woman experiences miserable feelings after she loses her husband’s love while the Iranian woman has been accustomed to these feelings from the time that she was a child and after she lost her man, she saw herself free from every misery and destitute: “She cried bitterly. At this time, all the wretchedness of her lifetime was visualized in front of her eyes. The curses that she had heard and the beatings that she had undertaken. From the time that she was a child, her mother used to punch her on the head and used to give her a piece of bread and put her behind the door of their house… She had never seen a little kindness from her mother. “All of these wretchedness seemed to her thousands of times bigger and terrifying” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 228). “It was so that the life didn’t give any importance to her circumstances. What will happen to her? She wanted to escape as soon as possible at least from her child. Now she was free from all the burden of responsibility upon her shoulders.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 243)

DIFFERENCES

The most obvious difference in these stories is the women’s reactions to the men’s betrayal. Monic tries different ways of reacting. Although she is angry from the fatal blow occurred to her, she first tries to compromise: “I wanted to shake him and shout insults but I controlled myself” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.16). Although sometimes she decides to divorce her husband, this is virtually impossible to her: “I wonder whether I want to divorce him swiftly. But how can I define swift when I was in live with him for many years?” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.18) Sometimes she argues with herself and justifies his behavior: “Although he was wrong and told me a lie, I should understand him. Everyone makes mistakes. At first, he is hesitant to tell the truth because after admitting the truth, he should confess to his own lie” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p.18). Sometimes she consults with others in order to solve her problem and sometimes she finds her own success in being indifferent to the man’s discouraging behavior” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 22). “Nueli has a new attraction. Maurice will become young with her. This issue has become unimportant to me…” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 23) and sometimes she finds the solution in giving her husband up so that by being beside the second woman, his love to her may become paler: “ now that I have chosen a friendly and peaceful solution, I should keep my promise and I should not disagree with his desires. If I don’t let him follow his desires, he would be sad and in this case, his lover would be more beautiful and attractive to him and he will yearn for being beside her continuously. If I behave logically and make him free, he would be tired soon...” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 24). She uses other ways in order to solve this problem like taking help of psychologists and graphologists: “Diana gave me a good idea. She believed that we three give our handwritings to graphologists till they evaluate our soul, thoughts, feelings and our behavior in order to see which of these two women is more suitable to Maurice.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 95) Although Zarin Kolah initially finds a sense of hatred in the wake of the truth, she forgets him and her love at the end of the story and doesn’t make any attempt to get him and bring him back to life: “aimlessly and planlessly with steep steps, Zarin Kolah passed the front of the houses and streets…” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 243) The role of the child in these stories is completely different and quite the opposite. Zarin Kolah, though, has heard that the existence of a child adheres the man firmly to the house, she doesn’t have any affection to her child and if she loves him a little, it is because of his little resemblance to his father. Here, we still witness her excessive love to her husband: “she didn’t feel any love for her kid just as her mother didn’t have any love to her. However, she had, perforce, found the need for her kid; because she had heard that the kid is the nail among the scissors and now with this weapon in her hand, she was hopeful to weld this broken love through her son…and her low affection to her kid was because of the resemblance of the color of his hair to Gol Baboo’s” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 237). At the end of the story, we see that when she got disappointed of her husband’s coming back, she abandons her kid and goes for her life free from constraints: “Mother, you sit down here, I’ll come back soon. The child sits there like a cotton doll but Zarin Kolah didn’t want to come back. Even, she didn’t kiss her child. Because the child was of no use to her, he was only a heavy burden and an extra bread eater and now she abandoned him” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 237). Hedayat believes that the reason for this woman’s disinterest to her child is in her sense of disappointment and in her internal obsessions: “…As she was rejected by her husband and as she was driven away by her mother, as she had learnt motherly tenderness from her mother. No, she didn’t have any need to her

Page 6: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

806

kid, she was penniless, without a penny, without a kid, without any load and package, she took deep breath. Now she was free and she knew what to do.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 242) While in de Beauvoir’s story, one of the important pleasures of the woman in her life was her children and being proud of rearing them: “I doubted whether in this hill overlooking Paris, I could find my favorite loneliness and solitude. Except for Maurice, my children were with me in travels. I thought that the Kolet’s enchanting and Lucien’s indulgence squeezes my heart and I didn’t want to be separated from them. And now I am accustomed to a l ife far from happiness” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 4). “…and he indirectly considered my method of spoiling my daughters as wrong and absurd. We often disagreed with each other over our children’s education…He didn’t give me any favorable answer. His silence showed that he liked Nueli’s method more than mine. I was annoyed. It was clear that Nueli had adjusted the plan of her life better than me, because she didn’t pay any attention to the psychological and ethical needs of her daughter and also to her hidden sufferings and obsessions. She only thought to her own pleasure. While I was behaving unlike her and I was sacrificing my pleasures of life for my children’s happiness and prosperity.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 67) Monic is not indifferent to her rival and has different feelings to her. Sometimes, she is irritated and angry from her behavior toward her husband and her attempt to seize him and so she judges her behavior: “meanwhile, I am annoyed of Nueli’s behavior that admires his work undoubtedly because her provocations has caused the change of Maurice’s behavior and his violent speech with me. I am sure that Nueli is not a good mother for her daughter; and a woman who is so severe and apathetic cannot give her daughter what I can give to my daughter” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 68). Sometimes she compares her rival’s behavior with her own behavior and of course she considers her own behavior as appropriate: “my encounter with Nueli and according to what I had heard about her made me understood that she unlike me likes the things that I dislike. Ostentation, money, ambition, beautification and make up. No opinion and thought is important to her and she does not have any feelings. She bends knee against fashion. She does coquetry foppishly” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 23). In many cases of her quarrel with her husband, she vilifies the second woman and is pessimist to her. (de Beauvoir, 1985; pp. 38, 40,42) The condition of zarin kolah’s rival in the story of ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Man’ is very regrettable and it is because of this fact that Zarin Kolah does not have any feelings to her: “she wanted to find him at any cost. Assuming that he has taken another wife or he doesn’t want her, being beside her was enough for her…” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 237). She only yearns for the marks of whipping on her rival’s body: “Zarin Kolah understood that the entreaties are futile and regretfully looked at the marks of whipping on the body of the young woman attaching herself to Gol Baboo…” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 40) The European woman is worried about her own destiny because life is important to her: “my first job is to determine the path of my life with Maurice and to find out whether Maurice chooses me or not...” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 32). “The night that Maurice spoke with me, I thought that my condition was not desirable. However, the path of my life with him had become clear and I didn’t know where I was and why and with whom I should fight and whether should I fight or not and why? Are other women helpless in such a situation?...” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 39). The reason for such feelings in the story of ‘The Woman destroyed’ is that the man has not abandoned the first woman completely and the woman is unaware of her position in the man’s life. Sometimes she considers herself better than her rival and is hopeful that her husband will come back (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 19) and sometimes she feels down and is sure that she has lost her husband forever: “the bus moved on and got far away. I felt my heart was blown away. He went soon and disappeared. I thought that he went forever and he will never come back. (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 35) However, the Iranian woman passes over this important issue indifferently. She is sure that she has lost the man with whom she was in love and coming back to her parental house will bring her misery and dejection. After being sure of her husband’s unkindness, she walks toward an unclear and even dangerous destiny. (Hedayat, 1993; p. 242-244) As it is mentioned, both women were so attached and interested to their husbands. However, the reasons that the authors of these stories mention for these kinds of love are completely different. Monic loves her husband because she has spent most of her life with her love and has found him a pleasant man. During their twenty two years of life, she never thought that he is uninterested to her. It is because of this reason that when she finds out about his betrayal and his attachment to someone else, she gets depressed and anxious; therefore, tolerating this situation was is unbearable to her: “I carefully looked at his things and then I cried. Another woman caresses his cheeks. Another woman touches his silk shirt and slides her fingers over his pullover. I can’t tolerate this situation” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 25). So her feelings to the man completely changed. Monic’s feelings to the man was unstable after being aware of the existence of another woman in his life: “before this, when Maurice was getting angry and was shouting, I liked it and I enjoyed seeing the compression of his lips and his sharp eyes. But when I understood that betrayal surges behind the curtain and under the guise of this face and he flirts with another

Page 7: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

807

woman, I couldn’t admit his anger and his sulky mood” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 60). “I hit my head to the wall of this deadlock. I wonder that during these twenty two years, I loved a dirty and treacherous person. It was better if I wouldn’t know the truth. Because now I feel that I am a frustrated person who has loved such a person and loves her yet.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 121) Why did Zain Kolah fall in love with Gol Baboo? It seems that this simple rural girl fell in love at first sight with a man who enchanted her with his looks and his captivating smiles. However, other reasons have been mentioned for this romantic relationship including the fact that Zarin Kolah was completely rejected in her parental house. Her mother and sisters didn’t value her at all and they were receptive of her only because of the money they were getting from her working. The second reason is that Zarin Kolah needed a support and a confident guard till she could forget the sufferings of her parental house. This guard was not anyone except for Gol Baboo who was seemingly in love with her. And this sense of a need to a guard and supporter is always with her and it is this need that causes her to tolerate even the existence of another woman beside her or to be happy of seeing her man faraway or to tolerate his torture and his brutal behavior. Authors’ purposes

Both authors are after criticizing their own society. Hedayat, like a compassionate father, has a feeling of disgust for the existing abomination in the society and he never accepts this kind of oppression toward the women in his society. His reaction against these kinds of behaviors is a biting criticism that is expressed in his stories tangibly and clearly. In this story, Zarin Kolah is a representative of the oppressed Iranian women; a woman who has worked from childhood, has tolerated the harshness and the bad-temperedness of the people around her and even her mother; as a junior, she has fallen in love and has failed in her love. Zarin Kolah’s love indicates her innocence. Her love is one-sided. Her husband abandons her without any logical reason and goes for another woman. The woman whom her innocence is not less than Zarin Kolah. During their common life, the story’s protagonist does not see anything in life except tolerating the pain, suffering, torture and torment. However, she not only complains about it, but also she feels happiness wholeheartedly because she knows that she has a shelter overhead and she believes that this torment is natural and normal. As it was mentioned, the European author wants to criticize too. Her criticism is not about the evils of the society; de Beauvoir ridicules the family life. She implicitly questions the sacred system of family. As it is written in her biography, she has no trust in the system of the family. It is because of this fact that the woman who is faithful to her family and her husband is broken in this story. Finally, she ridicules Monic’s behavior; her loyalty to her husband, her sense of responsibility, her loneliness…; Instead she cleverly adores Nueli’s behavior as a woman free from all constraints of family.

CONCLUSION

The woman in ‘The Woman Broken’ as a contemporary and modern European woman is completely different from the woman in ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Man’ as a contemporary Iranian woman. This difference is in the insight, behavior and the reaction of these two women toward a unitary affair, i.e. the man’s betrayal to the life and his unkindness. Also the two women are different in culture, age and thoughts. Zarin Kolah is fifteen years old who got married at the age of fourteen with a man whom she doesn’t know; she has a little experience about the life and she doesn’t have any power to struggle against this big problem; she knows the solution in forgetting the problem and erasing the form of this problem. She is jealous to the woman who has taken her place in life and sees her as an oppressed woman who not only does not protest the man’s brutal behavior but also considers it as his main duty and doesn’t have any choice except satisfaction. This woman who is the representative of a great classes of oppressed women of the author’s era, does not have any interest in her life and even she doesn’t have motherly feelings which is the most beautiful and the most sacred sense in a woman. She doesn’t want her kid and abandons him alone in an unfamiliar town. Why? The author sees the reason in the woman’s childhood and explains that Zarin Kolah has been quite rejected as a child, her mother and her sisters do not love her and the only person who is kind with her is Mehrbanoo, the neighbor girl. She is the same girl who helps Zarin Kolah in reaching Gol Baboo. Many critics criticize Zarin kolah as the person having masochism because she liked the man’s tortures. Is there really such a thing? There are two solutions for answering this question. One, as it is mentioned, is that this strange behavior of a woman is because of her sense of need to a safe shelter and this is still quite evident in the Iranian society. Second is that the story’s author does not have any knowledge about the mentalities of the Iranian woman whom he considers as the devoted lover of the man; If Zarin Kolah does not protest the man’s aggressive behavior, it’s first because of the fact that she doesn’t have any choice. Gol Baboo, whatever he is, is her husband and the breadwinner of her house. Second, she can’t return to her parental house

Page 8: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

808

because there waits nothing for her except her mother’s moans and curses and her defamation. Zarin Kolah has destroyed all the paths behind herself and she steps toward an unclear future and the story ends vaguely. Monic, the protagonist of ‘The Woman Broken’ writes her life events in the form of diaries from September 22 to March 25. Her behavior after the disclosure of the truth is different. Although she loves her husband adorably, sometimes she wishes for his death; sometimes she is so optimist to life and at other times she passes her life with complete disappointment. This forty year old woman who has spent about the half of her life for her husband, beside being a successful woman is a good mother and one of her honors is the rearing of her children. Monic is the representative of those European women who give importance to the family life. Her behavior is completely contrary to the behavior of Nueli (her rival) who doesn’t pay any attention to the family life; like many European women, she begins her romantic relationship with several men after being divorced from her husband and is indifferent to the life and the interests of her daughter and is consistently after her own beautification, flirting, fame and status… Monic, unlike Zarin Kolah, is not indifferent to her rival and is jealous to her. Moreover, she is sensitive to her own destiny and she tries to get her husband back to her life as much as possible. She tests different ways; sometimes for making her husband attentive to his mistake, she shows a reaction and gives a positive reply to the love of another man and because she doesn’t see her husband sensitive to this, she gives it up; sometimes she remembers the past memories she had with her wife and sometimes quarrels with him and defames her rival. Sometimes, she pursues her husband and because she doesn’t get any result from using these methods, she goes to a psychologist and takes action for saving her life; also she spends sometimes for working in order to forget this sorrow. However, all of these methods are useless; the sense of disappointment covers all of her body because her husband wants to be physically separated from her. He wants to have a single and independent living in another house. The story like the story of ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Man’ ends vaguely without a desired result for the woman. “I should be accustomed to loneliness. I sat behind the table and gazed at the two closed door of the Maurice’s workshop and my own room. A thing had waylaid behind the door. A thing was behind the closed door. If I don’t move, the closed door will not be open. However, I know that finally I will move and the door will slowly be open and will be appeared what is behind it. Future is behind the closed door. The door to the future will be opened gently and invisibly. I am at the threshold. There is not anything except this door and I cannot ask anyone for help. I am scared.” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 155-156) The shape of the story Considering the principles of storytelling, these two stories are similar and different to some extent which are mentioned below. At the beginning of the story, Hedayat uses the method of step backward; first he explains the position of Zarin Kolah and her son in the bus who is going to an unfamiliar city in order to find her husband and at this time, she remembers her past memories. However, de Beauvoir explains the story through the diaries of a woman. Therefore, the events of the story happens chronologically. The narrator in the ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Man’ is the third person and the author writes his story from this window. Therefore, the reader cannot establish a direct relationship with the thoughts, the sorrows and the ambitions of the protagonist while the narrator in ‘The Woman Broken’ is the protagonist and the first person, so she establishes a direct relationship with the reader and makes him curious toward her destiny and also the continuation of the story. In both stories, the authors use description. They speak less about the natural phenomena and only in one part of the story, the beauties of the nature attracts the attention of the reader. (Hedayat, 1993; p. 240,224 & De Beauvoir, 1985; p. 43) In his own story, Hedayat describes the details of the characters’ countenance. He describes Zarin Kolah as “she was a woman with big black eyes, braiding narrow eyebrows, small nose, plump lips and hollowed cheeks. The skin of her face was fresh and tawny (Hedayat, 1993; p. 222,229) and he describes the other character of the story: “as she saw Gol Baboo as a man who was physically fit, had a rough neck, red lips, blonde hair, white arms with hair grown on them and especially the vivacity which he showed in moving heavy doors, she lost herself.” (Hedayat, 1993; p. 225) The side characters involved in the story are more in de Beauvoir’s ‘The Woman Broken’ and also they have more basic roles. One of the main characters is Monic’s friend called Izebel who guides her in dealing with her main problem (the man’s brutal) and asks her to be patient. “And I spoke with Izebel and she gave me a guidance. She helped me as usual…However, she invited me to patience” (de Beauvoir, 1985; p. 19). Another important character of this story is Kolet, Monic’s daughter who appeases her mother; also another character is Lucien, her other daughter who prepares her for being separated from her husband. There are other characters

Page 9: The Woman Who Lost Her Husband' by Sadegh Hedayat and

Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 10 (6), 801-809, 2016

809

playing in this story including Margeret, the fugitive girl; Nueli, the narrator’s rival; and Diana, the mutual friend of the narrator and her rival. In Hedayat’s story, however, the side characters have short roles and only Zarin Kolah, her son and her husband are present from the beginning up to the end of the story. Chauffeur, driver, Zarin Kolah’s mother and her sisters, Mehrbanoo and her mother, Mandegar Ali, Shirzad, the village’s Mullah at the beginning of the story, Gol Baboo’s mother and his wife, and also the old man and the village girl and the young man who was taking Zarin Kolah to an unclear future. All of these characters have short roles in the story; among these characters, Mehrbanoo, the kind neighbor girl and her mother have helpful roles and try to assist Zarin Kolah in reaching to Gol Baboo. Even they hold up their wedding at their own house because Zarin Kolah’s mother doesn’t have any interest to her and repulses her. In both stories, the sentences are short and successive and the authors of these stories reveal the protagonists’ feelings for the reader.

REFERENCES

De Beauvoir, S. (1985). The woman broken. Translated by Naser Irandoost: Ordibehesht Publication: Tehran. Hedayat, S. (1993). A collection of works by Sadegh Hedayat. Collection and introduction, M. Baharloo. Tarh-Noo: Tehran. Yusefi, Gh. (1997). Visit with literati. Scientific Puublication: Tehran

.