The Semiotics of Nouns in I turn Off the Lights based on the Theory of Pierce

The presented paper is an attempt to investigate Zoya Pirzad's novel I Turn Off the Lights using a descriptive-analytical method based on Pierce's epistemology and semiotic method on the title of the novel and the names of prominent characters. This novel is a collection of Armenian and Latin letters. In the meantime, turning off the lights in the title of the novel with three selected and key names is a paradox; One is named Arshalus, Clarice's mother, “meaning dawn”, and the other is Parvin that is the only active and popular woman in the story “meaning bright star”, and Clarice's name “meaning bright”. All three women are mothers and belong to three traditional, modern and intermediate social types, respectively. Furthermore, all the three given names have the meaning of enlightenment. Like all mothers, they keep the lights of their family life on by sacrificing themselves. In addition, the name Artush, meaning "immortal", symbolizes the immortality of the patriarchal tradition, and the name Garnik, meaning "lamb" for the kind man in the story, symbolizes the author's feminist thoughts. Therefore, most of Pirzad's selected letters are appropriate to the actions and behavior of the characters. Featured letters are often of the Pierce profile type.
Introduction:
Peirce is known as one of the theorists in the field of semiotics, who has presented a threefold model for signing and provided the fundamentals for criticism on the basis of the denotative structure of literary works. Therefore, in this research, the names and titles in the novel I turn off the lights by Zoya Pirzad, a contemporary writer of our country are to be examined based on the semiotic system of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), a philosopher and the American linguist. To achieve this goal, the novel I turn off the lights will be considered as a basis for this research. Precisely, by dealing with the meaning of the characters’ names, the title of the novel, and examining them from the point of view of semiotics, the rate of appropriateness between the names and their characterization will be achieved. What emerges from the nomenclature and semantics of the characters’ name is the author's special attention to the names and their alignment with the purpose and actions of the characters.
Methodology:
The current research implements the descriptive-analytical method, and the basics of Peirce's semiotics to examine the title of the novel I turn off the lights and the names mentioned in it. Furthermore, in order to discover the connection between the title and its names with hidden concepts and purposes, a small step can be taken in the field of semiotics. In addition to that, to pave the way for researchers who are interested in this topic, and on the other hand, this research is a unique one for this novel considering that no research has been done on the semiotics of the novel I turn off the lights. Based on the triple semiotics of the names and the title I turn off the lights, it will reveal new horizons in front of the audience. This analysis can lead the readers to know more about the content of the story and provides the basis for a deeper understanding of the text.
Results and Discussion:
This article tries to study Zoya Pirzad's novel I turn off the lights with a descriptive-analytical method based on Pierce's epistemology and relying on Pierce's semiotic method, the title of the novel and the names of prominent characters. This novel is a collection of Armenian and Latin letters. In the meantime, turning off the lights in the title of the novel with three selected and key names that form a paradox. One is named Arshalus, who is Clarice's mother, and carries the meaning of dawn. The other is Parvin, who is the only active and popular woman in the story, and means the bright star. The last character is Clarice's and her name means bright. All three women are mothers and belong to three traditional, modern, and intermediate social types, respectively. Furthermore, all three names have the meaning of enlightenment. Precisely, like all mothers, they keep the lights of their families’ life on by sacrificing themselves. Also, the name Artush, meaning "immortal", symbolizes the immortality of the patriarchal tradition, and the name Garnik, meaning "lamb" for the kind man in the story, symbolizes the author's feminist thoughts. Therefore, most of Pirzad's selected letters are appropriate to the actions and behavior of the characters. Featured letters are often of the Pierce profile type.
Conclusion:
Followed by the investigations over the semiotics of the characters in the novel I turn off the lights, the following results were obtained:
The title of the novel is closely related to its main character "Clarice". By selecting this name, Pirzad refers to the daily life and the duties of motherhood, wifehood, and housekeeping in Claris's life. This name is a metaphor for Clarice's silence and conscious silence in all situations that are ignored. The word "I" in the title shows the streaks of self-seeking and expressing my identity in Clarice. And finally, the most important point is that Clarisse overcomes her ambiguous feeling towards Emil, and this evokes extinguishing the sparks of her feelings, and finally, this title refers to the sacrifice of maternal desires, for the sake of clarity, staying is the light of family's wishes, and their desires. There is a paradox in the title of the novel (the blackout of the lamp) with its three characters who have the concept of light. More precisely, Archalos (mother of Claris) carries the meaning of dawn, Parvin Nurullahi which refers to one of the brightest stars in the sky, and Claris which means shining. These three names represent three classes of women. In other words, Archalos in the role of mother represents all traditional women in the society, Claris in the position of women who struggle between tradition and modernity, and Mrs. Parvin Nurullahi, who is active in women's rights and represents all the modern women in the society. The interesting point of this issue is that all three women with three different social types are mothers and all mothers keep the light of their family's life on by sacrificing their desires. And this mission has not changed with the change of social type. Pirzad's chosen names, as an Armenian writer, represents his language, ethnicity, and nationality. Most of his chosen names are related to Armenian culture. The accuracy in the names that the author has chosen for women indicates his consecration and special respect for them. Clarice, Elmira, Nina, Violet, Parvin, Archalos, etc. are all good names. Also, the choice of the name “Garnik” for the kind man of the novel and against the name of Artosh, as a representative of the patriarchal culture, shows his opposition to this culture and the influence of feminist ideas in him. Pirzad, in choosing the title "I turn off the lights" for the title of his book, like the naming of the characters in the novel, did not just choose a name, but the events of the story and the characters together. It has been stated that a special concept has been taken from these names which is completely appropriate to the atmosphere and process of the story. As a result, according to the previous material, the name for each of them is placed in a certain category of signs (iconic, indexical, and symbolic) and the classification of each of them along with the explanations given in the end of every analysis.