The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s Novel Cockroach

195 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas University of Zagreb / University of Split The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach Abstract In this paper the authors outline the images of violence that portray the city of Montreal as a ‘discomfort zone’ in Rawi Hage’s novel ‘ ”‘ƒ Š. Petra Sapun Kurtin and Gordan Matas argue that through the portrayal of the disintegrating concepts of immigrant displacement, discomfort and disillusionment with the use of violent distorted imagery of the urban surroundings, Rawi Hage depicts Canadian urban setting as the space of (contested) multiculturalism policy. Furthermore, the authors argue that the novel is not just an example of uncompromising immigrant prose that emerges as a result of a globalized world, but that within the transnational paradigm and in the context of postcolonial and postmodernist readings, it is also distinctly Canadian. Key words: multiculturalism, urban space, transnational literature, immigrant literature, Third Space, displacement Rawi Hage, staged his second novel ‘ ”‘ƒ Š within the context of a potentially failed multicultural space when it comes to the reality of urban life within immi‰”ƒ– ‘—‹–‹‡•‹‘–”‡ƒŽǤŠ‡‹–ϐ‹”•– ƒ‡‘—–‹ʹͲͲͺǡ–Š‡‘˜‡Ž™ƒ• •Š‘”–Ž‹•–‡†ˆ‘”•‡˜‡”ƒŽƒŒ‘”ƒƒ†‹ƒŽ‹–‡”ƒ”›ƒ™ƒ”†•ǡƒ†Ž‹‡Š‹•ϐ‹”•–‘˜‡Ž ‡‹”‘ǯ• ƒ‡ (which also won him the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), it did not win any of the national prizes, save for Quebec literary awards. The LebaneseCanadian writer depicted Montreal as a surreal scenery of violence and immigrant displacement through the eyes of a damaged Arab exile from an unnamed country and small-time thief living in Canada, who is struggling to survive as best he can within the available scope of possibilities. The urban Canadian space, which is also the primary space of Canada’s multiculturalism (since most immigrants and multiethnic communities arrive primarily to the cities), is depicted in ‘ ”‘ƒ Š as a setting of displacement and discomfort (both physical and psychological), as well as disillusionment concerning the perceived/presented utopian notions of Canada and the West in general, as a place of not only sanctuary, but better life and new possibilities. Instead, the narrator, as well as other 196 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas exiles around him, are trapped within the reality of restless immigrant communities, which includes the ‘suburbanization of the deprived’, and where the visible ‹‘”‹–‹‡•ǡ•’‡ ‹ϐ‹ ƒŽŽ› ‘ ‡–”ƒ–‹‰‘–Š‘•‡‘ˆ”ƒ„‘”‹‰‹™‹–Š‹–Š‡ ‘–‡š– of post-9/11 world become subversively “invisible” in terms of non-responded to by locals. Hage’s novel appears at an interesting point in time for Canadian literature, which is marked by continuous reinterpretation of a post-modern and post-colonial theory for the 21st century (also in the context of Canada’s Šƒ‰‹‰‡‡†ˆ‘”†‡ϐ‹‹–‹‘‘ˆƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹†‡–‹–›Ȍǡƒ†ƒ–ƒ–‹‡‘ˆ Šƒ‰‹‰˜‹‡™• on multiculturalism as a possible means of handling the continuous challenges brought on by globalization. Š‡”‡ƒ”‡˜‹•‹„Ž‡•Š‹ˆ–•‹–Š‡ƒƒ†‹ƒ‘ˆϐ‹ ‹ƒŽ —Ž–—”ƒŽ’‘Ž‹ ›ǡƒ•–Š‡›‡ƒ” 2012 marked the abolishment of the funding of its 40 years-long international Canadian studies program, including the international scholarship that enabled arrival of visiting scholars to do research on topics related to Canada. This is a particularly interesting change in the paradigm of the Canadian studies program ȋ–Š‡‘ˆϐ‹ ‹ƒŽ —Ž–—”ƒŽ’‘Ž‹ ›‹–”‘†— ‡†–‘Š‡Ž’†‡ϐ‹‡ƒ†‹•–‹ –Ž›ƒƒ†‹ƒƒ–‹‘al identity and its place within the global discourse), which coincided in part with the establishing of post-modernist and subsequently post-colonial discourse in the Western theoretical scholarship. Furthermore, the Canadian quest for a national identity and the attempt to create a “concept of Canadian universality” (Dobson xii) through “cultural nationalism” have been marked by the increasingly visible effects of globalization. The search for a national canon and great Canadian narratives coincided with the postmodernist abolition of grand narratives, which were viewed as results of “the supposedly universal culture and values in which it was based were found to be rooted in a particular place, time, class, and possibly, even sex.” (Hutcheon 188), as Canadian postmodern theorist Linda Hutcheon noted. All these circumstances allowed the Canadian scholars to ‹‡˜‹–ƒ„Ž›“—‡•–‹‘–Š‡‡ ‡••‹–›ˆ‘”ƒ‹†‡ƒ‘ˆƒ Ž‡ƒ”Ž›†‡ϐ‹‡†ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹†‡–‹–› (in volumes such as ”ƒ•Ǥ ƒǤŽ‹–Ǥǣ ‡•‹–—ƒ–‹‰ –Š‡ –—†› ‘ˆ ƒƒ†‹ƒ ‹–‡”ƒ–—”‡ from 2007 and ”ƒ•ƒ–‹‘ƒŽƒƒ†ƒ•ǣ‰Ž‘Ǧƒƒ†‹ƒ‹–‡”ƒ–—”‡ƒ† Ž‘„ƒŽ‹œƒtion from 2009), thus bringing about a transnational paradigm within the study of Canadian literature and thus Canadian identity in general, a view that mirrors and enhances the simultaneously occurring decline of different forms of Area Studies around the world. The transnational view is, promoted by a group of scholars including Smaro Kamboureli, Roy Miki and Kit Dobson, who initiated and synthetized the discourse surrounding what was termed ‘transnational Canadian literature’ that views Canadian literature as occupying a place “some™Š‡”‡„‡–™‡‡ƒ–‹‘ƒ†Ž‹–‡”ƒ”‹‡••dzȋƒ„‘—”‡Ž‹˜‹‹ȌǡDzϐ‹”Ž›‡–ƒ‰Ž‡†™‹–Š this national imaginary and capable of resisting it” (Kamboureli viii). The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 197 ‹ƒŽŽ›ǡ–Š‡‘ˆϐ‹ ‹ƒŽ’‘Ž‹ ›‘ˆ—Ž–‹ —Ž–—”ƒŽ‹•ƒ•ƒ’‡” ‡‹˜‡†ŠƒŽŽƒ”‘ˆƒƒdian identity and the attempt of its extrapolation to the reality of multi-ethnicity in Canadian urban space is facing new ground, and not just in Canada. At the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011, leaders of European Union’s most prominent member states Germany and France, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy famously proclaimed multiculturalism in Europe was a “failure”1, thus contributing another controversy to the decade-long debate on multiculturalism as a ’‘–‡–‹ƒŽƒ–‹†‘–‡–‘–Š‡ ŠƒŽŽ‡‰‡•‘ˆ‡˜‡”›†ƒ›Ž‹ˆ‡‹ƒ‰Ž‘„ƒŽ‹œ‡†™‘”Ž†Ǥ–ϐ‹”•– glance, such proclamations seem to be a result of the need for recapitulation of ideals and concepts in the European multicultural discourse, which appears to have a tradition of ‘blaming’ multiculturalism for a wide range of tensions within cities, from ghettoization, stereotyping and discrimination to political tensions, as Will Kymlicka noted in a report 2 commissioned by the Department of Citizen•Š‹’ƒ† ‹‰”ƒ–‹‘‘–Š‡ —””‡–•–ƒ–‡‘ˆ–Š‡‘ˆϐ‹ ‹ƒŽƒ–‹‘ƒŽ’‘Ž‹ ›‘ˆ—Ž–‹culturalism (2008-2010). Kymlicka warns that the Canadian experience should not be viewed “through the lense of the European backlash”: While immigrants are facing increasing barriers in using their human capital … Canada is not becoming a society that is polarized between a wealthy, educated white majority and impoverished, unskilled racialized minorities, as in France and the Netherlands. The declining economic performance of immigrants exists alongside much more positive trends regarding the social and political integra–‹‘‘ˆ‹‹‰”ƒ–•ǡ”‡ϐŽ‡ –‡†ˆ‘”‡šƒ’Ž‡‹‡†— ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‘—– ‘‡•ǡ‹–‡”ƒ””‹ƒ‰‡ rates, political participation rates and shared feelings of national pride. 3 Since its promulgation in 1972, Canadian multiculturalism policy has experienced its share of accounts on multicultural triumphs (eg. Michael Adams’ UnlikeŽ›–‘’‹ƒǣ–Š‡•—”’”‹•‹‰–”‹—’Š‘ˆƒƒ†‹ƒ’Ž—”ƒŽ‹• from 2007) and its discontents when it came to its application in everyday life (such as Neil Bissoondath’s ‡ŽŽ‹‰ ŽŽ—•‹‘•ǣŠ‡ —Ž–‘ˆ—Ž–‹ —Ž–—”ƒŽ‹•‹ƒƒ†ƒ from 1994). As Kymlicka noted: “The net result of these trends is neither the utopia celebrated by some 1 “Merkel says German multicultural society has failed”, News. 17 October 2010. ™™™Ǥ„„ Ǥ ‘Ǥ—Ȁ‡™•Ȁ ™‘”Ž†Ǧ‡—”‘’‡ǦͷͷͻͻͿͺͻͷaccessed on 19 February 2011. “Nicolas Sarkozy declares multiculturalism had failed”. Š‡‡Ž‡‰”ƒ’ŠǤ11 February 2011. www.telegraph. co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8317497/Nicolas-Sarkozy-declares-multiculturalism-hadfailed.html accessed on 23 February 2011. 2 Kymlicka, Will. “The current state of multiculturalism in Canada and research themes on Canadian multiculturalism 2008-2010” http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/multi-state/index.asp 3 Ibid. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/multi-state/section1.asp Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas 198 defenders … nor the ‘sleepwalking to segregation’ scenario predicted by critics. It is rather a complex bundle of factors…”4, one of which includes increased potential for biased stigmatization of some ethnic groups in the context of security paradigm brought on by the post-9/11 “war on terror”. This sense of challenging dichotomies is precisely what needs to be taken into consideration when approaching Rawi Hage’s novel, whose own success story as an immigrant to Canada is juxtaposed with a narrative contesting the triumphs of Canadian multiculturalism within its urban spaces through ironic depiction of violent imagery of Montreal, employed to signal the disintegrating concepts of such experience: discomfort, discomfort and disillusionment. These (post-) immigrant features of the novel within the context of Canadian urban space mirror the very position that is occupied not only by Trans.Can.Lit., ‘in-between’ nation and literature, with a need of transcending this binarism by challenging it, but also the position of Quebec as simultaneously a part of Canadian identity and self-standing construct, and more importantly, the position of the ‘Canadian mind’, as Arthur Kroker explains in ‡ Š‘Ž‘‰›ƒ†–Š‡ƒƒ†‹ƒ ‹†ǣ ‹•Ȁ —ŠƒȀ ”ƒ– (1984)5, a space that might play a crucial role as the place for exploration of the global contemporary experience. The story of Cock”‘ƒ Š‹•–‘Ž†–Š”‘—‰Š–Š‡ϐ‹”•–’‡”•‘ƒ””ƒ–‹˜‡‘ˆƒ›‘—‰‹‹‰”ƒ–Ž‹˜‹‰‘ welfare in Montreal, during a freezing cold winter. He is a loner, working deadend jobs as a busboy, seeking shelter, money, food and drugs from friends and lovers, hanging around the immigrant cafes which he despises, seducing numerous women with no real love in his life. The self-loathing thief breaks into other people’s houses and fantastically imagines that he is an insect, an indestructible cockroach who can squeeze in anywhere and whose domain is the underground of the city, which remains hidden from the sight of other citizens. The story begins as we learn that he had just attempted suicide on his pathetic existence and is obliged to attend sessions with his therapists, during which we gain insights into his past life in his unnamed hometown. He is burdened by the unresolved guilt for the death of his sister since he was unable to protect her from her violent husband. The novel possesses some typical trademarks of immigrant literature. First of all, it is a story about exile (the protagonist escapes the war from his unnamed country of origin, described only as somewhere where “everyone is used to gunshots“ (Hage 64)), that possesses some autobiographical features in partial 4 Ibid. 5 Kroker, Arthur. ‡ Š‘Ž‘‰›ƒ†–Š‡ƒƒ†‹ƒ‹†ǣ ‹•Ȁ —ŠƒȀ ”ƒ–. Montreal: New World Perspectives, 1984. The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 199 overlapping between the protagonist and the author himself, since they both grew up in a Middle-Eastern war torn country, and have migrated to Montreal. Furthermore, the story focuses on the social contexts in his country of origin that urged him to leave (the circumstances of the narrator’s childhood as well as prosecutions of other immigrants who experienced abuse, rape, imprisonment etc.), but also depicts mixed reception at the country of arrival: On one hand, the immigrants feel welcomed since they receive housing and welfare, on the other there is the everyday treatment of simple avoidance, followed by a sense of “desperation of the displaced, the stateless, the miserable and stranded in the corridors of bureaucracy” (Hage 13). Finally, there is a sense of rootlessness and the search of identity that explores the idea of self and the other resulting from displacement and cultural diversity within a new social context, since the exiles depicted in the novel are faced with the feelings of no longer belonging to their hostile environment back home (feeling “trapped in the cruel and insane world saturated with humans” (Hage 23)), nor do they feel at home in Canada, where even the different climate is perceived as threatening, even for those who try to make a new life for themselves, and not focus on meagre survival within the harsh conditions. Despite all these characteristics of his novel, Hage himself has attested in interviews, he does not wish to be characterized as an immigrant writer. —”–Š‡”‘”‡ǡŠ‡”‡Œ‡ –•ƒ›†‹”‡ –‹ϐŽ—‡ ‡‘ˆ ”ƒœƒϐƒǯ•‡–ƒ‘”’Š‘•‹• and Š‹• ‘ ”‘ƒ Šǡ™Š‹ Š•‡‡•–‘„‡‘‡‘ˆ–Š‡ϐ‹”•–ƒ••‘ ‹ƒ–‹‘•ˆ‘”ƒ›ȋ‡•–‡”Ȍ scholars, who are tempted to view it within the scope of post-colonial theory as a “rereading of ‘canonical’ texts in the light of post-colonial discursive practices” (Ashcroft 192)6, but this action in itself might be viewed as imperialistic and imposing of a Western grand narrative. On the other hand, a more likely source of ‹•’‹”ƒ–‹‘‘”‹ϐŽ—‡ ‡ ƒ„‡ˆ‘—†‹–Š‡”ƒ„‹ƒ–”ƒ†‹–‹‘‘ˆ•–‘”›–‡ŽŽ‹‰ȋ‡ Š‘—•ƒ†ƒ†‡‹‰Š–• comes to mind), especially in the treatment of serial confessions to the narrator’s therapist, who gets ‘hooked’ to a new story each session, as well as detailed hyperbolic impressionist descriptions of anything the narrator sets his mind to; e.g. When I dance… my head rises like that of an ancient ϐ‹‰Š–‡”Ǥ •Šƒ‡–Š‡‰”‘—†ƒ†–Š‡—†‡”‰”‘—†Ǥ –Š‡’”‡•‡ ‡‘ˆƒ•ƒ†ǡ•Ž‘™ •‘‰ „”‘‘†ƒ†Ž‡–›Ž‘‰‡›‡Žƒ•Š‡•”‡ƒ Š–‘–Š‡ϐŽ‘‘”dzȋ ƒ‰‡ͷͺȌǤ’‡”Šƒ’• more interesting post-colonial treatment would be to view this use of ‘arabesque’ description as a subversion hinting to the inadequacy of the adopted language to describe the internal experience of space and people. The protagonist also raises the ever occurring legitimate question of the post-colonial discourse on who can 6 Ashcroft, Bill. Š‡’‹”‡”‹–‡•ƒ ǣŠ‡‘”›ƒ†’”ƒ –‹ ‡‹’‘•–Ǧ ‘Ž‘‹ƒŽŽ‹–‡”ƒ–—”‡•. Routledge, 2002. 200 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas be regarded as an “authentic” subject, and in the context of Canadian post-colo‹ƒŽ–”‡ƒ–‡–ǡ‹–•‡‡•‘Ž›ϐ‹––‹‰–Šƒ––Š‡•—„Œ‡ –‹•‹Ǧ„‡–™‡‡ǡ‘–Š‡˜‡”‰‡• of society (or to echo the words of Stuart Hall, “the crucial concern of diasporic identity is not subjectivity but subject position” (Ashcroft 218)). He is unreliable and unstable, and continuously gives evidence of his behaviours not being as he has depicted them. For example, although he seems to have success with women, he is unaware of how his predatory behaviour towards women might be perceived from the outside, e.g. his friend warns him that his behaviour will not be tolerated at a restaurant where the customers mind “when a bum... is checking out their wives and daughters like that” (Hage 66). This inexplicable need to seduce women is treated through surreal imagery, as he himself experiences changing, when excited, (into a cockroach, his teeth become pointed, and antennas start growing on his head). The change to cockroach signals throughout the text the narrators self-destructive behaviour, e.g. when he tries to seduce his boss’s 16-year-old daughter but retreats with remorse at the last minute, when despite claiming to be in love with his lover Shohreh (or rather ‘decides’ to love her), continuously makes advances at other women, when he uses seduction to ‹ϐ‹Ž–”ƒ–‡‘–Š‡”’‡‘’Ž‡ǯ•Ž‹˜‡•ƒ†•ƒ–‹•ˆ›Š‹•‘™„ƒ•‹ ‡‡†•‘ˆƒ––ƒ‹‹‰ˆ‘‘† ƒ†•Š‡Ž–‡”Ǥ ‡ Žƒ‹•–‘„‡ —‹‰ƒ†ƒ„Ž‡–‘‹ϐ‹Ž–”ƒ–‡‘–Š‡”’‡‘’Ž‡ǯ•Ž‹˜‡•ǡ„—– ™‡ƒ”‡ ‘•–ƒ–Ž›”‡‹†‡†–Šƒ–‘–Š‡”••‡‡–Š”‘—‰ŠŠ‹Ȃƒˆ–‡”ƒ™Š‹Ž‡ǡ’‡‘’Ž‡ recognize him for what he is, a seducer and a ”petty thief with no talent”, who is constantly sabotaging himself, as his friend Reza notes: ”Once the door is closed, you’re never sure if the light inside has turned to darkness like your own dim soul” (Hage 26). The narrator is uncompromising in his depiction of his surroundings with the use of irony as a dominant “mode of representation”7, also typical of the postcolonial response. His irony and critique resist predictable binarism of the localsimmigrants dynamic, as it is directed towards almost everyone. He does not feel as if he belongs to either group, even though the world around him indirectly dictates that he should take a side. As a person showing signs of a personality disorder that includes kleptomania, sense of superiority towards his surroundings, impulse for manipulation and compulsive lying, the narrator continuously ϐ‹†•˜ƒ”‹‘—•™ƒ›•‘ˆ’Žƒ›‹‰–Š‡‰ƒ‡ƒ†„‡†‹‰‹–•”—Ž‡•™‹–Š‹–Š‡Ž‹‹–‡† scope that is afforded to him as a lower income immigrant of a distinctly Arab minority who has escaped his troubled past as an exile with no means for a new life, depending on welfare, and living in an apartment infested by cockroaches “that would outlive him on Doomsday” (Hage 19). 7 Ibid. p. 191 The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 201 In order to deal with his new life in Canada, the protagonist adapts to the •‘ ‹ƒŽ ‘˜‡–‹‘• ƒ† ‡š’‡ –ƒ–‹‘• Ȃ Š‡ ’Žƒ›• Š‹• ”‘Ž‡• ™‡ŽŽǣ Š‡ ‹• –Š‡ ‘„‡†‹ent busboy, a talkative patient in therapy, an exotic immigrant of menacing past, and a toy for the young Montreal bourgeois who tend to romanticize everything that is foreign. He remains completely aware of his role and of other’s behaviour, regardless of their ethnicity, as it does not matter whether they are Canadians or immigrants. His irony is directed towards various people he comes into everyday contact with, which he quickly assesses and labels into predictable groups worthy of contempt. As can be expected, he is ironic towards those Canadians who live secure lives, not aware of the underground beneath the city (the space he imagines to inhabit, both metaphorically and literally), who get excited at the exoticism of his violent stories from the past, situated in his war-torn hometown and traditionalist Arab society and family. One of those people is the narrator’s psychiatrist Genevieve, a Canadian whom he perceives as completely naïve and unaware of the real world and problems, “sheltered by glaciers and prairies, thick forests, oceans and dancing seals” (Hage 104). She cannot perceive his troubles, as she tends to ‘trivialize’ them, in his mind, by attributing them –‘Š‹•”‡Žƒ–‹‘•Š‹’–‘Š‹•‘–Š‡”Ȃƒ ‘•–”— ––ƒ‡ˆ”‘–Š‡‡•–‡”’‘’—Žƒ” —Ž–—”‡ǯ•’‘”–”ƒ›ƒŽ‘ˆ’•› Š‘Ž‘‰›„›‹†‡–‹ˆ›‹‰‹–™‹–Š‘˜‡”•‹’Ž‹ϐ‹‡†ƒ•’‡ –•‘ˆ Freudian psychoanalysis. Many of his expectations of the West are images taken from the most clichéd pop-cultural tropes, when he confesses that there is no big ‘— Š‹–Š‡–Š‡”ƒ’‹•–ǯ•‘ˆϐ‹ ‡Ǥ Another group that excites contempt with the narrator are the young Westerners that live in his building, his neighbour Mary the Buddhist and her friends, the “bleached Brahmins”, as the narrator calls them, he “despised how those palefaced vegans held their little spoons, humbling themselves. In the end they will get bigger spoons and dig up the earth for their father’s inheritances“(Hage 21). The narrator is cunning enough to register their expectations and to conform to their appeal for the foreign (in the true tradition of Guy Debord’s “society of spectacle”8) in order to scavenge on their food. He despised their seeming ‘openness’ towards the ‘otherness’ of the East, as they willingly accept someone who is exotic enough but “not too authentic, not too spicy or too smelly, just enough of it to remind others of a fantasy elsewhere” (Hage 20). The narrator mocks these “imposters” (Hage 22) notions of the exotic, which is connected to the Western mind construct of the Orient, as Edward Said, the inaugurator of post-colonial 8 Guy Debord, ‘ ‹‡–›‘ˆ–Š‡’‡ –ƒ Ž‡, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (New York: Zones Books, 1994). 202 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas theory, attested in his seminal work ”‹‡–ƒŽ‹•, “a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences.” (Said 1)9 The narrator also criticizes the government and its dubious laws on migration, under the pretences of multiculturalism whereas the personal realities of those ™‹–Š ‹‹‰”ƒ– „ƒ ‰”‘—† ”‡ƒ‹ —‹’‘”–ƒ– Ȃ †‹• ”‹‹ƒ–‹‘ǡ ‡ ‘‘‹  ‹‡“—‹–›Ǥ ‹•‹”‘›‹•–Š—•†‹”‡ –‡†–‘™ƒ”†–Š‡‹‰”ƒ–‹‘’‘Ž‹ ›‘ˆ—‡„‡ Ȃ–Š‡ ƒ””ƒ–‘” ‘ϐ‹‡• –Šƒ– —‡„‡  ‹• –”›‹‰ –‘ •–‹—Žƒ–‡ ‹ϐŽ—š ‘ˆ ‘”‡ †‡•‹”ƒ„Ž‡ ‡–Š‹  ‰”‘—’•ǡ •— Š ƒ• –Š‡ ”‡ Šǡ „—– ™Š‹ Š ™‹ŽŽ —Ž–‹ƒ–‡Ž› „ƒ ϐ‹”‡ǡ ƒ• Dz–Š‡ French, like the Quebecoise do not bear children”. He attests: The Quebecoise with their extremely low birth rate think that they can increase their own breed by attracting the Parisians or at least for a while balance the number of brownies and darkies coming from every old French colony, on the run from dictators and crumbling cities. But what is the use? The Frenchies come here, and like the Quebecois they do not give birth. (Hage 27-28) This description is soon followed by the ironic image of a dark-complexioned ™‘ƒ’ƒ••‹‰–Š‡•–”‡‡–™‹–ŠŠ‡”ϐ‹˜‡ Š‹Ž†”‡–‘Œ—š–ƒ’‘•‡‹–™‹–Š–Š‡›‘—‰ Parisians who come to Canada to work and don’t raise families, an indicator of “demographic worries (population decline in most Western countries mirrored by their near-logarithmic explosion elsewhere)” (Cazdyn, Szeman 226)10. *** The violent and surreal imagery accompanied by irony in the novel stem from the narrator’s attempt to ‘navigate’ Canadian urban landscape (both physical and social) in order to survive within the unforgiving conditions of the “cold world, in this city with its case of chronic snow” (Hage 17). The narrator justiϐ‹‡•Š‹•‡ƒ•‘ˆŽ‹ˆ‡ƒ•’—”‡•—”˜‹˜ƒŽ–‡ Š‹“—‡Ǥ ‹• ‘–‡’–‹•‹–‡”ƒŽ‹œ‡† also because he is the victim of society and its parasite all at once. He is trapped between the inability to blend in with the Quebecoise and their culture and the inability to adapt to the immigrant lives of quiet compliance of many who have settled for less (e.g. the professor who had an educated position in his country of origin, but now makes a living as a taxi driver in Montreal). He is aware of his position, perhaps occupying the same place as the one described by the Canadian 9 Said, Edward. ”‹‡–ƒŽ‹•ǤVintage Books, Toronto, 1978. 10 Cazdyn, Eric, and Imre Szeman. ˆ–‡” Ž‘„ƒŽ‹œƒ–‹‘. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 203 poet Dennis Lee in his poem ‹˜‹ŽŽ‡‰‹‡• (1972): “never at / home in native space and not yet / citizens of a human body of a kind. And it is Canada / that specialized in this deprivation”11. Homi Bhabha termed this sense of in-betweenness “Third Space” in his seminal work Š‡‘ ƒ–‹‘‘ˆ—Ž–—”‡(2004)12, which is challenging the sense of one’s identity. The narrator feels that he does not belong to either of the choices, and this frustration and paralysis breeds in him a sense of contempt for not only the people surrounding him, but also for the setting of the deceivingly multicultural Montreal, a city segmented through the process of segregation according to ethnic groups and class. The violence of the imagery functions as a subversion of the trope of the violent immigrants, since the narrator’s own violence emerges not only from the sense of otherness towards both the Quebecoise and other Arab immigrants, but also his own mental illness, either personality disorder or a schizophrenia, that cause hallucinations further induced by the use of drugs. The violence in description of his surroundings is fuelled by contempt arising from a sense of discomfort and displacement, both central idea of the immigrant experience explored in the novel. The displacement in ‘ ”‘ƒ Š‹•„‘–Š’Š›•‹ ƒŽƒ†‡‘–‹‘ƒŽȂ–Š‡ƒƒ†‹ƒ climate is not something he is used to, the landscape is unforgiving; e.g. the snow imagery offers less romance and becomes more a relentless obstacle. His descriptions of winter of the Montreal cold are not cliché depictions of Canada: Photos of Žƒ ƒ’ƒ‰‡”—•–‹“—‡ǡŽ‡—±„‡ du nord des ±”‹“—‡•, depicting cozy snowy winters and smoking chimneys... pasted on every travel agent’s door; big „ƒ„›Ǧ•‡ƒŽ‡›‡•„Ž‹ˆ”‘–Š‡™ƒŽŽ•‘ˆ‹‹‰”ƒ–‹‘‘ˆϐ‹ ‡•ǡ™ƒ‹–‹‰–‘„‡•ƒ˜‡†ǡ nursed and petted. (Hage 27) ‹•‡š’‡”‹‡ ‡‹•–Šƒ–‘ˆDzǥ„Ž‘™‹‰„”‡ƒ–Š‘–‘›ϐ‹‰‡”•Ž‹‡ƒ ‘Ž† ‘† ”‡ƒ–‹‰–Š‡™‘”Ž†ǡ•‹ˆϐ‹‰Ž‹‡ƒŒ—‹‡ǡ•Š‹˜‡”‹‰Ž‹‡ƒ‰Š‘•–ǤdzŠ‡‘Ž›‹’‘”tant thing is bare existence and staying alive. His physical detachment from such climate is also visible as he tries to “peel of the layers of jackets, scars and glows”, something that doesn’t belong to his body. This snow also symbolises a kind of cleanliness, the white sterility which he continuously tries to avoid. The sterility ‹•ƒŽ•‘’”‡•‡–‡†‹–Š‡Ž‹‰Š–ǡ™Š‹ Š‹””‹–ƒ–‡•Š‹„‡ ƒ—•‡Š‡ˆ‡‡Ž•‹•‹‰‹ϐ‹ ƒ–‹ its presence and observes how “oblivious it is towards his own existence”. 11 Lee, Dennis. ‹˜‹ŽŽ‡‰‹‡•ǣ†–Š‡”‘‡•. House of Anansi Press, 1994. 12 Bhabha, Homi K. Š‡‘ ƒ–‹‘‘ˆ—Ž–—”‡. Routledge, 2004. 204 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas ‡ϐ‹†• ‘•‘Žƒ–‹‘‹–Š‡ƒ‘›‹–›‘ˆ–Š‡—†‡”‰”‘—†•‡™‡”•›•–‡ǡ–Š‡ †”ƒ‹•ƒ†–Š‡†‹”–‘ˆŠ‹•ϐ‹Ž–Š›ƒ’ƒ”–‡–‹ˆ‡•–‡†™‹–Š ‘ ”‘ƒ Š‡•Ǣ™Š‡Š‡ worked as a dishwasher he would read people’s behaviour and stories into the •–ƒ–‡‘ˆ–Š‡†‹•Š‡•™Š‡–Š‡›Ž‡ˆ––Š‡Ȃ‹–™‘—Ž†Dz•ƒ††‡Š‹–‘†”‘™•‹‰Š•ƒ† sparkles with hoses, to bring back the shine and the glitter” (Hage 29). ˜‡™Š‡Š‡†‡ ‹†‡•–‘ ‘‹–•—‹ ‹†‡ǡ–‘Šƒ‰Š‹•‡Žˆ‹–Š‡’ƒ”ȂŠ‡‹• ‹”‘‹ Ȃ–Š‡ˆ”‘œ‡„”ƒ Š‡•™‘—Ž†‘–™‹–Š•–ƒ†Š‹•™‡‹‰Š–Ȃ‡˜‡‹–Š‡•‡Žƒ•– moments, the environment is hostile towards him so he can’t even kill himself in it, further subverting the seriousness of his desperate act with ironical depiction of trivialized Canadian trope, when he describes how he was saved ”by a jogger ‹•’ƒ†‡š™Š‘‘–‹ϐ‹‡†–Š‡’‘Ž‹ ‡ǡƒ†–Š‡–™‘‘ˆ–Š‘•‡‘—–‡†’‘Ž‹ ‡ ƒ‡ ‰ƒŽŽ‘’‹‰–‘–Š‡”‡• —‡‘–Š‡‹”ƒ‰‹ϐ‹ ‡–Š‘”•‡•dzȋ ƒ‰‡ͷȌǤ Psychological displacement is visible in the narrator’s treatment of the feeling that he does not belong to the bourgeois society, as he perceives it, even though he has no problem in taking advantage of cultural snobs for their money and food. His displacement is seen every step he takes during his walks intrigued by other people’s lives. As he walks the “dreaded suburbs, paved roads and lawns of dentists and computer programmers, sailboats covered in maple leaves he fears the bark of dogs who smelled his unwashed hands”. He remains in his solitary ƒ’ƒ”–‡–™Š‹ Š‹•Š‹•™Š‘Ž‡™‘”Ž†ǡŽ‡ƒ˜‹‰‘—–•‹†‡ƒ™‘”Ž†–Šƒ–Ž‘‘‡†DzϐŽƒ–ǡ square and one-dimesional” (Hage 94). For the narrator, this one-dimensional Montreal was supposed to be a refuge, a city of peace and new beginnings. But for him, there is no hope of a new beginning, there was just an escape from a shadowy past. His own story and reason for arrival was not an ambition to strive for, it was pure exile. A sense of doom and futility in general is present throughout the novel, even in the steam from a cup of coffee as it ”escaped the cup and danced ƒ‰ƒ‹•––Š‡„ƒ †”‘’‘ˆ–Š‡‰”‡›”‘ƒ†•ǡ–Š‡‰”‡›„—‹Ž†‹‰•ǡ–Š‡Ž‡ƒϐŽ‡••‰”‡›–”‡‡•ǡ –Š‡‰”‡›’‡‘’Ž‡ǡ–Š‡ ”‡›Š‘—†„—•‡•ƒ†–Š‡‹–Ž‘•–‡‡”‰›ƒ†–—”‡† ‘Ž†Ȃ the fate of everything around me” (Hage 116). Most of the imagery depicting discomfort are either violent or ominous, e.g. when the impoverished narrator does not have enough money to pay his bills, and his telephone line is being cut off, he ponders: “... do they send big guys in overalls down underground to locate it and slash it like an open wrist? Does it wiggle for a while like a lizard’s tail? But really, it doesn’t matter... In this city there is a public phone on every corner. In the cold they stand like vertical, transparent ‘ˆϐ‹•ˆ‘”’‡‘’Ž‡–‘”‡ ‹–‡–Š‡‹”Ž‹˜‡•‹ǤDzȋ ƒ‰‡͵ͷǦ͵͸ȌŠ‡™‹†‘™•‘ˆ•Š‘’•‹ Montreal streets feature “dresses suspended behind glass like condemned medieval witches“ (Hage 86), and when he sees some doctors leaving their clinic after The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 205 work, he imagines “the white ghosts of their aprons hung by the neck on the back ‘ˆ–Š‡‹”‘ˆϐ‹ ‡†‘‘”•ǤDz The discomfort depicted in the novel is not only that of the narrator, but of all the immigrants that pass through his life: “newcomers to this land dragging their frozen selves into the poor neighbourhood clinic, saying ahh with an accent, exposing the whites of their droopy malarial eyes, their running nose, wives, and imaginary chickens...“ (Hage 78), as well as the discomfort imposed on other people. He breaks into houses and goes beyond just stealing goods, stealing things of no monetary value to him or the person he is robbing. He sometimes steals a love letter or disrupts a pair of slippers to make sure his victim will know he was here. This act is a violation of other people’s private space and their personal shelter from the outside world, leaving no place intact and invulnerable. The people who are his target are all the people he perceives as living in denial and thus he criticizes them severely. This way he pertains the feeling and his theory that private space as such does not exist, that everyone can be attacked and marked, just as he was he in his early life and in his country, and in the microcosm of his family. Instead of punishing himself or reaching closure for the guilt he feels about the death of his sister, he punishes others, those who act better than the rest He violates the homes of his therapist, of a former journalist he calls the professor, who had high hopes for his stay in Canada but is forced to work as a taxi driver, indulging in his intellectual cravings only during his snobbish monologues at emigrant cafes. The professor earns the narrator’s contempt because he represents one coming from the former colonies and educated in the country of the empire, thinking that “his ˜‘ ƒ„—Žƒ‹”‡’ƒ”‹•‹‡would open every door for him” ȋ ƒ‰‡ͳʹ͵Ȍ‹‘–”‡ƒŽǡƒŽŽ‘™‹‰Š‹ƒŽ‹ˆ‡‘ˆƒŽƒ‹†„ƒ ‹–‡ŽŽ‡ –—ƒŽ‘ˆϐ‹ ‡Œ‘„Ǥ The narrator has no empathy for him, and treats with contempt the professor’s denial of the fact that he is like all the other “scum of the earth in this capitalist endeavour” (Hage 123) that has created egalitarianism. What he fails to see is the professor’s own awareness of his situation, as he no longer nurtures any illusions of ever working as a journalist again in his new immigrant situation: Dz‘ǡ †‘ǯ–„‘–Š‡”ƒ›‘”‡Ǥ‘™ ƒƒ–ƒš‹†”‹˜‡”Ǥdzȋ ƒ‰‡ͳͶ͸ȌǤ†ϐ‹ƒŽŽ›ǡ–Š‡ group that elicits the most contempt from the narrator, the well-off immigrants “still eager to re-enact those lost days of houses with pillars, servants and thick ‹‰ƒ”•Ǥ ‹Ž–ŠǨŠ‡›ƒ”‡–Š‡™‘”•–Ȃ–Š‡Š‹”†‘”Ž†‡Ž‹–‡ƒ”‡–Š‡ϐ‹Ž–Š‘ˆ–Š‡‡ƒ”–Š ... all they are is the residue of colonial power”, acting like aristocrats, yet are just “descendants of porters, colonial servants, gardeners, and sell-out soldiers of invading empires” (Hage 159), a residue and remnants of the colonial time. 206 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas *** ‘ ”‘ƒ Š depicts a story of an immigrant whose troubled and anonymous existence seems to make little sense in the trapped reality of restless immigrant communities and racist prejudice. The sanctuary of the promised utopian Canada and the multicultural haven of Montreal are disrupted by a sense of hopelessness. Through strong imagery describing the overall feeling of discomfort, both physical and mental, Rawi Hage’s portrait of the Montreal underworld from the perspective of a human vermin is a typical example of the unsentimental Canadian prose of the 21st century that shows another side of the immigrant experience and presents how the utopia of the Canadian urban setting as a symbol of well functioning cultural pluralism has become a hostile environment. The central metaphor, narrator’s elaborate fantasy of being a cockroach, is a coping device developed since childhood, a mental survival strategy in a hostile world by immersing himself underneath it, “to strip the world from everything ... and exist underneath it all, without objects, people, light or sound” (Hage 11), down the drains where everything comes together, and in a way offers liberation, a place where he can belong, not Montreal, not his homeland, but a “Third Place”. In the context of in-betweenness, Canada occupies an interesting space in the contemporary globalized world, and as Arthur Kroker observed, the Canadian mind might prove to be the place for understanding today’s world, from Marshall  —Šƒ™Š‡‹– ‘‡•–‘—†‡”•–ƒ†‹‰‡†‹ƒƒ†–Š‡‹”‹ϐŽ—‡ ‡‘•‘ ‹‡–ies and individuals, Linda Hutcheon and Northrop Frye and their endeavours in post-modern theory, Arnold Itwaru and Will Kymlicka when it comes to multicultural paradigm, Naomi Klein and her exploration of placing corporate globalization in context, Smaro Kamboureli, Kit Dobson and other scholars gathered to explore the introduction to a transnational theory, all the way to CanLit itself and its authors occupying a space somewhere in-between. The implication is that of the spaces of Canada, both physical and mental, and their distinct position of in-betweeness becoming a sort of laboratory for exploration of the phenomenon occurring in a globalized world. Rawi Hage’s novel is an example of a literary form that mirrors these idiosyncrasies of the Canadian context. As most Canadian stories, it is a story of survival13, or rather negotiation of one’s own survival within a space, both physical and of the mind. 13 Distinct characteristics of Canadian literature were postulated in Margaret Atwood’s Survival, and include among other things survival, victimization, and stories with animals, all tropes present also in ‘ ”‘ƒ Š. The Politics of Urban Space as a “Discomfort Zone”: Images of Violence in Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach 207 Works cited: Ashcroft, Bill. Š‡’‹”‡”‹–‡•ƒ ǣŠ‡‘”›ƒ†’”ƒ –‹ ‡‹’‘•–Ǧ ‘Ž‘‹ƒŽŽ‹–‡”ƒtures. Routledge, 2002. Atwood, Margaret. —”˜‹˜ƒŽǣ  –Š‡ƒ–‹  ‰—‹†‡ –‘ ƒƒ†‹ƒ Ž‹–‡”ƒ–—”‡. House of Anansi, 2004. Bhabha, Homi K. Š‡‘ ƒ–‹‘‘ˆ—Ž–—”‡. Routledge, 2004. Cazdyn, Eric, and Imre Szeman. ˆ–‡” Ž‘„ƒŽ‹œƒ–‹‘. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Debord, Guy. ‘ ‹‡–›‘ˆ–Š‡’‡ –ƒ Ž‡, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zones Books, 1994. Dobson, Kit. ”ƒ•ƒ–‹‘ƒŽƒƒ†ƒ•ǣ‰Ž‘Ǧƒƒ†‹ƒ‹–‡”ƒ–—”‡ƒ† Ž‘„ƒŽ‹œƒ–‹‘. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2009. Hage, Rawi. ‘ ”‘ƒ ŠǤHouse of Anansi Press Inc., Toronto, 2008. Hage, Rawi. ‡‹”‘ǯ• ƒ‡ǣ‘˜‡Ž. Harper Perennial, 2006. Hutcheon, Linda. Š‡ ƒƒ†‹ƒ ‘•–‘†‡”ǣ  –—†› ‘ˆ ‘–‡’‘”ƒ”› ‰Ž‹•ŠǦ Canadian Fiction. Oxford University Press, Don Mills, 1988. Kamboureli, Smaro, and Roy Miki. ”ƒ•Ǥ ƒǤŽ‹–ǣ‡•‹–—ƒ–‹‰–Š‡–—†›‘ˆƒƒ†‹ƒ Literature. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2007. Kroker, Arthur. ‡ Š‘Ž‘‰›ƒ†–Š‡ƒƒ†‹ƒ‹†ǣ ‹•Ȁ —ŠƒȀ ”ƒ–. Montreal: New World Perspectives, 1984. Kymlicka, Will. “The current state of multiculturalism in Canada and research themes on Canadian multiculturalism 2008-2010”. Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/ multi-state/index.asp accessed on 20 June 2012 Lee, Dennis. ‹˜‹ŽŽ‡‰‹‡•ǣ†–Š‡”‘‡•. House of Anansi Press, 1994. 208 Petra Sapun Kurtin / Gordan Matas “Merkel says German multicultural society has failed”, News. 17 October 2010. ™™™Ǥ„„ Ǥ ‘Ǥ—Ȁ‡™•Ȁ™‘”Ž†Ǧ‡—”‘’‡ǦͷͷͻͻͿͺͻͷaccessed on 19 February 2011. “Nicolas Sarkozy declares multiculturalism had failed”. Š‡‡Ž‡‰”ƒ’ŠǤ11 February 2011. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8317497/ Nicolas-Sarkozy-declares-multiculturalism-had-failed.html accessed on 23 February 2011. Said, Edward. ”‹‡–ƒŽ‹•ǤVintage Books, Toronto, 1978.