The novel ‘The Day Dreaming Boy’ by Micheline Aharonian Marcom is a fictional short novel in which the author introduces a character Vahe who is a boy living in Beirut, Lebanon. As the novel unfolds, the boy was stricken by grief when his parents were taken away from him. Vache’s father was killed during the American genocide whereas his mother was taken to a place unknown to him. The boy’s story introduces us to various moments and recollections from life in Beirut of the 60s by mesmerizing Vahe’s daydreams.
Throughout the novel, it is also possible to pursue the moments of his slowly frustrating marriage to Juliana and inexorable memories of his severe youth at the Mediterranean Sea. In this regard, various experimental devices have been developed by the author, in which the novel revolves around them thus explaining and interpreting the context and the main idea of the novel.
The first experimental device applied by the author is borrowing of the biblical motives to render the historical events which serve as the basis of the novel. This can be brightly illustrated by the first lines of the order: “We are naked like Adam and the blue wideband now becomes what it is, the long sea rises before us, the notfish become what they too are…” (Marcom 3). As it can be seen from the phrase, the novel refers to the historical and biblical narration about Eden. However, the author appeals to the moment right after the Fall when Adam recognizes his nakedness. At this point, the transient innocence of the scene is immediately dispersed when referring to children as to “djinn”, which means demons.
Marcom later reminds of this particular comparison while describing children in the orphanage as “Adams in the wasteland, eating the bread made from the sweat of their brow” (87). The comparison of the shores of the Mediterranean Sea with Heaven is closely associated with solace and bliss. On whole, the implementation of Biblical comparison has largely contributed to the interpretation of the past thus referring the event to real historical facts.
The next important device impregnated in the novel is a detailed description of the seashores of the Mediterranean. Throughout the novel, the author repeatedly appeals to the first scene of the novel that serves as the emblem of the past, of something that had been lost forever. From time to time, the characters of the novel occasionally recollect the sea thus binding their dreams and expectations to it when looking out of their windows. In particular, Vahe’s attitude to the sea is also enigmatic and peculiar; he suggests that “the sea has always been a solace, his haven, and she is sadder than you know and dangerous; beautiful” (Marcom 72). The personification of the sea is also an important device that emphasizes its historical and symbolic meaning thus serving as the hope for a better life.
In the novel, the Mediterranean Sea is also closely bound to other characters of the novel, like Vahe’s friend Vostanig who drowned himself in it. While reading the novel, it is possible to pursue Vahe’s extreme desire to search for the past when he could lead a carefree life near the seacoast. He cannot satisfy his quest; and, therefore, he ends his life while looking eagerly at the Mediterranean Sea.
Another significant experimental device that the author used in the novel is the letters that Vahe was always sent to his mother and ended up remaining un-answered for any of the letters. Knowing very well that his mother was taken to an unknown fate, the author explains how Vahe was writing letters to his mother whose fate was unknown; bringing an element of daydreaming in the boy.
As things turn out to be, none of the boy’s letters was unanswered as they are assumed not to reach the person addressed; who is the boy’s mother and whose fate is not known. In this case, therefore, the writer of the novel succeeds in explaining the title of the book, ‘The Day-dreaming Boy’ where the behavior of Vahe sending letters to an unknown destination displays the behavior of being a daydreamer.
More so, it is fictional to think of a seven-year old boy being separated from his parents, and after a very long time; the boy starts to write letters to his mother not knowing where she is, or whether she is alive or not; clearly bringing the title of the novel more clearly in to focus. Generally, Marcom reprises and justifies her title for the novel when she brings such fictional events that Vahe, who is the main character, is engaging himself in.
At the ‘Bird’s Nest’ which was the orphanage in which Vahe was brought up at, what happens there also explains main idea of the novel in a way. The orphanage being referred to as the ‘bird’s nest’, one would expect total comfort for all the orphans in that orphanage but that is not what exactly happens. Further, the life in the orphanage was so terrible that Vahe could not stop thinking about it even after getting out of it and being married.
As the name ‘bird’s nest’ suggests, one would have expected the orphanage to be safe for all the orphans which turned out not to be the case. In this respect therefore, the author of the novel brings the boy to think of awkward things about the orphanage despite of its good name, indicating some kind of daydreaming in the boy.
In addition to the forced love by Vahe to the servant girl, Beatrice the author also brings the issue of ignorance from Vahe in which he displays a very high degree of ignorance to the reality. In fact, the author succeeds to best explain the idea of the novel, ‘the day dreaming boy’. In all the various instances that seem to unfold in the novel, the title is well represented in which Vahe who is the main character is seen to dominate all the scenes in which the ‘day dreaming’ is experienced.
Conclusion
“The day Dreaming Boy” by Micheline Aharonian Marcom is one of the most criticized novels in which most of the critics argue it is more of a fiction than a real story. As it is revealed in this short novel, the author has highly succeeded in bringing out the focus of the title in various scenarios and happenings through the boy Vahe who is the main character in the novel. Despite its criticism, the novel is still based on horrible historical events that are emphasized by persuasive experimental devices.
Works Cited
Marcom, Micheline Ahoranian. The Daydreaming Boy. US: Riverhead, 2004.