37 pages • 1 hour read
The Blind Owl
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Symbols & Motifs
Mirrors, Reflections, and Shadows
Images that are reflected in altered forms in mirrors or as shadows are key symbols in The Blind Owl. The name of the novella itself is a reference to how the narrator sees his own shadow: “My shadow on the wall had become just like an owl” (74). The narrator’s self-obsession is further symbolized by his obsession with looking at his face in the mirror. He states in Part 1, “I am scared […] of looking at myself in the mirror, for everywhere I see the multiplied shadows of myself” (29, emphasis added). Oftentimes these reflections are distorted or altered, as when he describes his uncle/father as having an appearance similar to his own but reflected in an ayine-ye deq, a kind of cursed funhouse mirror. These multiplied reflections and shadow forms of the narrator reflect his isolation and increasingly fractured state of mind.
The symbolism of the mirrors, reflections, and shadows also signify the narrator’s feeling that all is an illusion apart from the ideal reality of death. Other people are essentially unreal to him: They are merely reflections in a mirror or shadows. He also sees himself blending into others, particularly into the figure of the old man. This is shown in the final scene when the narrator looks in the mirror one last time and sees he has turned into the old peddler, suggesting that he has lost a clear sense of his own identity.
Jackknife
The jackknife is a phallic symbol and emblematic of the narrator’s fraught sense of masculinity. The narrator struggles with feelings that he is being cuckolded by the other men who have sex with his wife while she continues to reject his advances. He does not even succeed in raping her. This leads to his feelings of humiliation and makes him feel like he is less of a man.
The jackknife first appears in the text when the narrator watches the butcher using one to butcher the sheep. He expresses envy of the butcher’s “intoxication and euphoria” (31) while performing this task. Later, he sees the old peddler selling a jackknife; the old peddler’s symbolic manhood is overt for everyone to see. He initially fantasizes about using the jackknife to butcher the old peddler, who is his sexual rival. Eventually, he gets his own jackknife, which has notably remained hidden—a sign of the narrator’s ambivalent feelings about his masculinity—and he resolves to kill his wife with it. However, he second-guesses this plan and tries to throw the knife away, only for Nane-joon to return it to him.
The ultimate expression of the jackknife as a phallic symbol comes at the end of the novella when, in the middle of sex with his wife, he inserts his knife into her. The knife as a phallic symbol is contrasted with his association of the young woman figure with the mandrake, a symbol of fertility.
Jug/Vase
The motif of the ancient jug and its use represents The Tensions Between Modernity and Tradition. In Part 1, when digging the young woman’s grave, the old man finds “a jug, a Ragheh flower vase, from the ancient city of Rey!” (20, emphasis added). This moment of discovery suggests the eruption of the past into the present, with its connection to “the ancient city of Rey” invoking Tehran’s pre-Islamic past. The narrator also describes the jug as “pressing on [his] chest like the corpse of the dead” (23), which once more speaks of something that should be buried suddenly having an active presence. When he arrives home, the narrator also sees that the painting he made of the woman’s face looks exactly like the face painted on the jug. This suggests that even when the narrator thinks he is doing something spontaneous and modern, it is still connected with ancient artistic forms.
In Part 2, the narrator buys a jug from a different form of the old man, the old peddler. It is described as the only jug the old peddler has left from his time as a potter. He sells the narrator the jug with the strange word of warning, “‘It’s not worth anything, may it bring you luck’” (65). The narrator is ashamed of his desire for the jug. In both Parts 1 and 2, the narrator buys the jug/vase with archaic, pre-Islamic Iranian currency. In these ways, the jug reinforces the sense that the narrator is perpetually caught between Iran’s past and present, unable to reconcile the two.
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