RECALCITRANT MATERIALITY An Analysis of Things’ Agency and Human Objectification in By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurna

Abstract

This essay analyzes the interactions between characters and objects in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel, By the Sea, through the theoretical frameworks of Bill Brown’s thing theory and Jane Bennett’s thing-power. The present study focuses on the distinction between “objects” and “things”, and the moments of disjunction between these states of being within the colonial and postcolonial contexts of the Indian Ocean. In this analysis, attention is paid to matter-energy formations of entities such as the maps and the ud-al-qamari in their different states. Specifically, the maps’ influence on the interconnected lives of Jaafar Musa and Saleh Omar is analyzed. Furthermore, through the lens of assemblage, the transformation of the ud-al-qamari from an aloe tree into a powerful actant is explored. This investigation is not limited to objects; drawing on Bennett’s framework of instrumentalism, the analysis illustrates how the characters like Rajab Shaaban and Saleh Omar lose their own vitality and agency, adopting a passive manner that reduces them to objects to be used by others. By analyzing these interactions in By the Sea, this research aims to trace the transition of materiality across the depiction of different states of being, demonstrating how “things” take over the characters’ lives and shape the novel’s tragic outcome.