Al-Ansari’s Bassma and Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden: The Journey from Reality to Fantasy (Published)
This study aims at drawing a distinction between the world of fantasy and reality in Al-Ansari’s novel Bassma and Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden. It investigates how the protagonists in both novels travel from the world of reality which is full of hopelessness, despair, and loss to the world of fantasy full of hope, happiness, and maturity. In other words, the study explores how the world of reality makes both protagonists create an imaginary or mythical world to compensate for what they lost in the world of reality and to entertain the freedom of childhood period. The study methodology is based on the comparative close reading analysis, in which some quotes are selected from both novels to illustrate the protagonists’ journey from reality to fantasy. The study concludes that in the children and young adult literature, most protagonists travel from the world of reality to fantasy in order to become self-actualized, mature, experienced, and to restore the joyful moments of childhood
Keywords: Loneliness, Loss, Reality, childhood, fantasy, garden, past memories, self-actualized
Relationships Redefined: An Analysis of Anita Brookner’s The Bay of Angels (Published)
The contemporary novelist, Anita Brookner’s novels bring to light how the feminine self is also a patchwork of social injunctions as well as images inscribed in the literary canon. Her novels fictionalize the self in the process of rethinking and seeking its worth through a more meaningful identity than just the self-denying or sexually desirable conceptions of womanhood, reflected through cultural representations. Brookner’s novel, The Bay of Angels (2001) is an exploration of self-restraint, dignity and obligation within a tale of love and loneliness. Being orphaned and dejected by her flirtatious lover, Adam, she hopes to have a lifelong commitment characterized by certainty. Finally, Zoë happily accepts the present arrangement and considers her relationship with Dr. Balbi a precious one as it has involved no change of character, no effort to meet each other’s requirements. Zoë’s idea of love shows her broad vision as she does not want the man she loves for herself alone but is generous enough to let him share his affections with his helpless sister. This attitude of not wanting to be loved for oneself alone, in the broader sense, serves as the foundation for a healthy and harmonious society.
Keywords: Contemporary, Feminine sensibility, Harmony, Loneliness, Love, womanhood