Cities of Salt: Analysis of Major Characters
"Cities of Salt" is a novel that explores the profound transformations experienced by a Bedouin community in the face of American oil exploration. The narrative centers around key characters, each representing different responses to the upheaval caused by foreign interests. Miteb al-Hathal, a passionate Bedouin tribesman, initially embodies hope but becomes a voice of warning against the impending disaster brought by the Americans. His eventual disappearance signifies the loss of traditional values and stability.
In contrast, Ibn Rashed embraces the changes, recruiting locals for American jobs, only to find his life unraveling under the weight of personal and societal consequences. The American oil workers are depicted as caricatures, showing superficial interest in local customs while enforcing their corporate agenda. Other notable characters include Emir Khaled al-Mishari, whose indecisiveness leads to a mental breakdown amid community unrest, and Fawaz, Miteb’s son, who ultimately takes a stand against the Americans.
The story also features a range of supporting characters, such as local bakers, truck drivers, and traditional healers, who collectively illustrate the resistance and adaptation within the community. Through these characters, the novel paints a vivid picture of cultural conflict, loss, and transformation as the Bedouins navigate the complexities introduced by modernity and foreign influence.
Cities of Salt: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Abdelrahman Munif
First published: 5 volumes collectively titled Mudun al-milh; volume 1, al-Tih, 1984 (Cities of Salt, 1987); volume 2, al-Ukhdud, 1985 (The Trench, 1991); volume 3, Taqasim al-layl wa-al-nahar, 1989 (Variations on Night and Day, 1993); volume 4, Al-Munbatt, 1989; volume 5, Badiyat al-zulumat
Genre: Novel
Locale: Saudi Arabia
Plot: Naturalism
Time: Between the two world wars
Miteb al-Hathal, a Bedouin tribesman with a special passion for the Wadi al-Uyoun desert oasis, where he and his family live. the appearance of Americans, who were invited by the Arabian government to explore and drill for oil, changes Miteb's previously stoic and optimistic attitude toward life. With characteristic boldness and candor, he warns people about impending disaster and even stands up to the regional emir, but no one heeds him. When the Americans level the orchards and gardens to force people to leave what will henceforth be an oil-drilling site, Miteb mounts his Omani camel and disappears for good. Reports of his visitations come from various parts of the region.
Ibn Rashed, a man from Wadi al-Uyoun who acquiesces to the American presence and decides to join the forces of change. He encourages the local population to relocate and becomes a personnel recruiter for the Americans, bringing Bedouins from all over to Harran with promises of good salaries and homes. the workers find only dehumanizing tents and later barracks. He loses his struggle against Dabbasi for local influence and power and comes to fear paranoically the specter of Miteb al-Hathal. He dies a broken man, an example of an Arab who has broken his ties and traditional fidelity to tribal values.
The Americans, oil workers at Wadi al-Uyoun and Harran, and at the pipeline camps in between. These one-dimensional characters, almost caricatures of American workers and managers abroad, seem superficially interested in local culture and customs but are quick to defend and implement company policy in the face of local traditions and concerns.
Bedouin workers at Harran, people lured by the promise of good wages, houses, and a future for their families. These people come from all over to work for the Americans. Hard workers and good Muslims, but unaware of the facts of life in the modern world beyond their personal experience, they seem simple and uncouth animals to the Americans and Westernized Arab company men.
Harrani townspeople, generous, uncomplicated people unaware of much that is transpiring in the modern world beyond their region. Some accede to Ibn Rashed's entreaties that they sell their land to the Americans; however, Dabbasi convinces some of them to hold onto their land at least, in the face of the foreign takeover of their community.
Naim Sh'eira, the Americans' Arab translator, who, like other Arab company men, learns American disdain for his fellow Arab Bedouins.
Emir Khaled al-Mishari, a middle-aged, heavyset, and dark-skinned man who replaces an earlier emir who had refused to stay in Harran once he saw changes and the Americans there. Ignorant, indecisive, timorous, and self-indulgent, Khaled is fascinated by a succession of such modern gadget gifts as a telescope, a radio, and a telephone. the climactic workers' strike and the community uprising lead to his mental breakdown. People see him yelling into his unconnected telephone in his car, speeding from Harran with his entourage.
Fawaz, Miteb al-Hathal's eldest son, somewhat responsible for the family after his father's disappearance. Feeling the youthful Bedouin urge to travel, however, he leaves home on a brief trip, during which he has a vision of Miteb in a storm. On a second trip, he accepts Ibn Rashed's offer of a job in Harran. At the novel's end, he leads a charge of striking workers and Harranis toward the American compound.
Dabbasi, a round-faced man with a small beard, in his mid-fifties. He comes to Harran and there wins the hearts of the emir and the populace. He marries a Harrani and marries his son Saleh to one as well. His own wedding party is the social event of the day. He eventually defeats Ibn Rashed in their competition for local power and influence.
Abdu Muhammad, Harran's first baker, who falls pathetically in love from a distance with one of the American women brought by boat to the Americans in Harran.
Hajem, a boy assigned with his elder brother, Mizban, to sea-rock cutting in the Harran port expansion project because they are the only Bedouin workers who can swim. After Mizban drowns by catching his foot on an underwater rock, Hajem becomes simple-minded and unable to communicate. the crowd at Mizban's funeral displays community desperation, sadness at their own plight, and their sense that the Americans are responsible for all untoward events. Terminated from his employment, Hajem is sent back inland by Ibn Rashed to his uncle, who later comes to Harran to demand justice and compensation. the uncle is astounded by the disrespectful and untraditional treatment he receives. Their detainment by the deputy emir upsets the workers, which leads ultimately to Ibn Rashed's downfall. the uncle takes his nephew back inland without fanfare and without compensation.
Akoub, a short, middle-aged Armenian truck driver from AleppowhodiesinhistruckinHarransometimeafternewer vehicles and more commercial operations have driven him out of business. All of Harran goes to Akoub's funeral, his death marking the end of an older and more personal way of transporting people and things.
Raji, Akoub's fellow truck driver, a tall, skinny, bald, contentious man, quick to anger but good-hearted. He and Akoub eventually become best friends. Akoub's death devastates him. At the novel's end, Raji carries the wounded in his old truck from Harran to Ujra.
Mufaddi al-Jeddan, a traditional practitioner of medicine, a dervish who treats people for free and seeks only such goods as sandals, other clothing, and food as he needs them.
Dr. Suhbi al-Mahmilji, a physician who has lived in Tripoli and Aleppo and has also served as a hajj pilgrimage physician before coming to Harran. Suhbi becomes a favorite of the emir, who chooses him to give the welcoming speech for Crown Prince Khazael, the sultan's deputy, on the occasion of the opening of the Wadi al-Uyoun-Harran pipeline.
Johar, one of the emir's bodyguards. Later, as the chief security officer for the emir, he establishes a paramilitary organization and terrorizes Bedouin workers and townspeople. He is assumed to have ordered or committed the murder of Mufaddi al-Jeddan.
Khazna al-Hassan, a Bedouin midwife and healer who treats women and children and thinks of Mufaddi al-Jeddan as her brother. She worries about him when he is arrested, cares for him after he is beaten, and is disconsolate at his death.