awej 5 no.4 full issue 2014

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.3, 2014Dialogic Signs of Resistance: a Case Study of ReadingAbu-Shomar & AbuHilalnaturally in his speech, since the last phrase, from this point darkness comes, indicates that hismajor concern is still the darkness issue. Moreover, his digression about the river as a snake, andall come under the umbrella of darkness, indicates that darkness is the idea he is thinking of.Yet, Said‟s opinion of Africa, and the way he articulates that opinion indicate an impulsive viewof Africa when it is first mentioned. Said‟s „natural‟ and spontaneous connotations attributed toAfrica reflect a dominant worldview of Africa, which Said unconsciously reproduces.In the following quotation, the students‟ views regarding their interpretation of Africa are notdifferent from Said‟s. What is significant, however, is the nature of these responses and thedegree of assertiveness and certainty. Unlike Said‟s spontaneity while providing a view ofAfrica, Islam and Doa seem to be more conscious of the answers they articulate. The tend toprovide justification and elaboration to their answers, which they back up by interpreting certainevents in the text.R1: what kind of representations/ descriptions does Marlow give us about the Africans?Islam: he talks about them as uncivilised, savage, and primitive people/ I think he is realisticin his views/ we don’t have media to say that he maybe biasedIsra: he depicts them as scavengers who are just interested in things that make them alive/they do many other things for survival…Doa: I remember he called them cannibals/ Marlow tries to understand those cannibals/ Ithink they throw the dead body from the boat in order not to eat it/ because they were hungry/so he sympathises with them although they are cannibalsR1: you said they are cannibals/ is this yours or Marlow’s opinion?Doa: they are cannibals/ so he tried to understand them not like Kurtz or other whitecharacters (G2, S1).Islam refers to Marlow‟s representation and expresses her agreement with his representation asbeing realistic. The value of this response, we argue, is twofold: first, she is aware of the textualrepresentation of Africa, which indicates an interpretative ability that enables her to read theserepresentations, since Marlow‟s representations might be difficult for them to interpret. Second,and more interestingly, she refers to other sources of knowledge we don’t have media to say thathe maybe biased. The significance of this reference is that for readers like Islam whose interestin literature is exceptional, textual „realities‟ become sources of knowledge, and a „reality‟ thatshapes their understanding, position, and judgements. The occurrence of media in Islam‟s speechis also significant since she identifies another source of knowledge that she relies on for knowingabout different cultures.Like Islam, Doa, holds a similar view of the Africans, but she goes beyond that as she interpretsthrowing the dead body in the river as a sign of cannibalism on the part of the Africans. Whilethe burial custom for people travelling in the sea is to heave the dead body in water, Doa‟slinkage of this act to African cannibalism indicates that she articulates a far-reaching certainty inher worldviews about the Africans as cannibals eating human bodies. This becomes moreobvious when she confirms that this is her own opinion, not Marlow‟s, and through her searchfor Marlow’s sympathy with the Africans although they are cannibals. Such interpretationindicates that students like Doa hold a firm image of the Africans as cannibals, which might beestimated and stereotyping all Africans as cannibals. In fact, Doa finishes Isra‟s uncompletedutterance they do many other things for survival…by Africans as cannibals and justifies thatbecause they were hungry. Although Isra disagrees with Doa‟s opinion of Africans as cannibals,it is highly significant that Doa exploits Isra‟s utterance to articulate her own ideas. People oftentribute their meanings either of right and wrong reading to others‟ ideas.Arab World English JournalISSN: 2229-9327www.awej.org155