The Unemployed Main Character in the Fiction of Kunut Hamsun and Najeeb Mahfouz: A Comparative Study in the Light of Sustainable Development

Abstract

The Norwegian novelist Kunut Hamsun published his novel Hunger in 1921. The novel was translated into English by George Egerton. In this novel, Hamsun introduces the character of Andereas Tangen, a journalist who has a good life but starts to lose his living, and his essays begin to be refused. He becomes unemployed and suffers poverty, hunger, and homelessness for some time. By the end of the novel, he finds a job on a ship that is sailing from his town Christiania to fetch coal. During the 1930s the Egyptian novelist and short story writer Nageeb Mahfouz wrote his collection of short stories (Hams Eel- Gnoon) The Whisper of Madness. Among this collection, he published his short story (Al- Goo) The Hunger.  In this short story, the main character, Ibrahim Hanafy has been working in a factory until he cuts his arm in an accident and loses his job. He becomes unemployed and he, with his family, suffers hunger and many social and psychological difficulties. He hates his life, tries to commit suicide but is saved coincidently by the son of the factory's owner. The man promises Ibrahim to find him a job. This paper aims to show that the unemployed main character in Hamsun's and Mahfouz's works is unable either to love a partner or to have a friend and if he is married, he is unable to keep his marriage relation. Another aim of the paper is to shed light on the negative relations of the unemployed character on one side with his god and with the government of his country on the other side. The third aim of the paper is to emphasize that unemployment, in Hamsun's and Mahfouz's works, leads the once good character to try to commit suicide. Thus the paper comes into three parts: the first part deals with Tangen’s failure to have a love relation or enjoy a friendship. This part also tackles Hanafy’s disability to protect his love for his wife. The second part introduces Tangen’s criticism of his god and of the government in his country. In the third part, the paper discusses the once good characters, becoming unemployed, thinking of death as a solution, and may try to commit suicide. The paper depends on the theory of needs' priority and the method of social and psychological analysis in tackling its topic.