A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Novel “Shohar-e Ahu Khanum.”

Critical discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary theory and method that deals with linguistic analysis at the three levels of description, interpretation, and explanation, and it is based on the fact that there is a two-way relationship between the structure and meaning of the text and the structures and actions. To find this connection, one should know the discourses of each text. This descriptive-analytical research has investigated the story of "Shohar-e Ahu Khanum" by Afghani with the critical discourse analysis method in order to know the text in its cultural and historical context and to determine the effectiveness and influence of the discourses of the text by showing social institutions and processes. The aim is to know how the linguistic functions of the text are related to the discourse actions and the cultural and ideological structures of the society and to answer “what discourses does this story contain?” By criticizing and analyzing the story, it was found that the burden and suspense of the story is on the shoulders of the romantic discourse that the three main characters (in other words a family) are involved with, but in the inner layers, the problems of the society, especially Women's issues are observable. Its discourse acts are in a discursive position and different, and sometimes conflicting voices can be heard from the text. The interdiscourse of the social actions of the story originates from a broad social process called modernity because the romantic relationships, the patriarchal voice and the hijab issue raised in the story are no longer fully included in the framework of the traditional discourse and are interacting. They are with modernity and revision in themselves.
Introduction
Although stories and story writing have a long history in Iran, writing a novel in a new way that encompasses all aspects of life is new. Afghani is one of the writers who has a style in Kermanshah school of story writing, and the novel "Shohar-e Ahu Khanum" is a realistic story that deals with the most important issues raised at the beginning of the last century and describes the way Iranians deal with modernity. The two main heroes of this story represent two groups of women who seek rights and who are separated from each other by the tendency of tradition and modernity, and Seyyed Miran is the male hero of this story who, in the struggle of love and lust, religion and affection, inside and out, melts both himself and Ahu. Homa is a sign of the modernist movement that tries to gain some of her personal and social rights, with the help of Seyyed Miran, in a society that is strongly patriarchal. Presence in society and type of work and clothing, forced movement towards a specific type of life, non-normative expression and vocabulary, debt and the disintegration of the family framework can be considered an inevitable manifestation of Homa's modernism. In contrast, the author's general understanding and response to how the traditional family structure is structured revolves around emotion, which is broken by modernity and incorrect modernism. In this work, Afghani shows the benefits and harms of modernity and modernity, with regard to the environment, and points out the necessity of facing the manifestations of modernity, industry and urban life and the speed of life. Since the novel represents an important part of the confrontation between tradition and modernity in the history of Iran and Kermanshah, this article attempts to use a descriptive-analytical method to determine the impact of society on the text of the novel The Deer Husband, to explore and analyze the discourses in it, and to determine their connection with historical developments.
Method
This essay uses a descriptive-analytical method to examine "Shohar-e Ahu khanum" based on Fairclough's critical discourse analysis perspective.
Conclusion
At the descriptive level, the empirical value of words, extreme phrasing, lexical relational value, euphemism, and expressive value of words are raised and examined. For example, the use of the word "weak" used in the story of the deer's husband by the male character of the story in addressing his wives has a clear empirical value in terms of meaning and also shows a definition of the relationship between two people. In this story, the phrase "to name someone" is consciously avoided and the phrase "to put a name on someone" is used instead. The use of the words martyrdom and death; love and lust is also seen to be intentional. Grammatically, determining action, active and passive; nominalization and initialization, passiveization, aspect of verbs, showing the formality or authority of the addressee or speaker have expressive and relational values. In fact, the formation and turn-taking of the conversation participants also carry a significant descriptive value.
In this text, Homa is often the active one and is in contrast to Ahu’s activeness. Seyyed Miran also changes from active to active in a decreasing process. In terms of aspect, the clarity of the sentence structure and the verbs’ reporting make the reader aware of the events without any ambiguity.
Among the dual contrasts in this text, we can mention tradition and modernity, the rights of women and men, religion and corruption, love and lust. The presence of local words from Kermanshah and references to the Kurdish dialect indicate informal language and writing, and since the novel’s audience is the majority of the population, this appears to be quite natural. Ahu’s polite use of language and Homa’s explicit criticism of Seyyed Miran demonstrate part of the text’s femininity. The dominance of known sentences over unknown ones indicates the realism of the text, and the important conceptual metaphors of this story are: A good and pious woman is the pillar of life and family; lust has no result other than destruction; part of social corruption is traced back to poverty; people and social institutions are the playthings of power. The setting of the story is Kermanshah, and environmental components and signs are included in the text. The two-way relationship between the text and social structures is an indirect relationship, and to find the type of relationship between the text and social structures, we must see what discursive space the text belongs to and in what context and context it was produced. (For example, does it have a patriarchal attitude in the transition from tradition to modernity?) The context of the situation determines the cultural and social contexts of the text. Intertextuality characterizes the connection of the text with written sources through abstraction, quotation, etc., and interindividuality demonstrates the continuity of the speaker and the audience or audiences. Subjects, content, and relationships are valued within the framework of the social system resulting from discourse.
Results
The successful novel "Shohar-e Ahu khanum" has been able to show the pitiful pain and suffering of women who, under the rule of the domineering discourse of power and religious patriarchy and misogyny, see their emotional, prestige and psychological capitals wasted by the lust and love of men. On the other hand, it has demonstrated the power of love in conquering people and has provided a precise description of the transition from tradition to modernity. It has not limited modernism and innovation to specific individuals and has shown its dominance over the family and society. By depicting the form of the family and society, the social obligations of modernity have invited thinkers and people to find the right solutions to overcome the weaknesses of each of the discourses of patriarchy, innovation, coercion and reluctance, etc. The discourses of the story are separation from traditional society and transition to modernity and are an attempt to eliminate inequality and injustice. The discovery of the veil has been presented as a demand for hegemony and power, and has spoken of romantic relationships and their beauty and ugliness. The representation of such issues by a literary work shows the capacity and function of literature to address human and social issues. From the perspective of social pathology, the novel The Deer's Husband, by welcoming the decline of patriarchy, condemns misogyny and oppression against mothers, and calls for the function of domination and power to be in line with this perspective.