The allegorical narrative and fantastic fiction which Cahit Zarifoğlu frequently uses in his children’s books are factors that make it easier for children to read books.

The allegorical narrative and fantastic fiction which Cahit Zarifoğlu frequently uses in his children’s books are factors that make it easier for children to read books. In particular, this allegorical narrative prevails in Serçekuş, Ağaçkakanlar, Katıraslan and Motorlu Kuş. Zarifoğlu uses these narrative techniques to turn the abstract into concrete to address children’s semantic world. Thereby, children are made aware of adults’ world which they will confront in the future by taking advantage of their imagination. Mustafa Ruhi Şirin indicates that the main reason for children to read these books is narrater’s vivid, fabulous narration manner “including both allegorical and fantastic fiction.” We can conclude that in Ağaçkakanlar, Katıraslan and Motorlu Kuş there is a specific manner which aims at helping children to understand adults’ world by benefiting from the opportunities of fantastic narrative style and imagination. In this regard, Şirin says that in regard to their styles it is possible to draw parallelism between the writer and C. Callodi, the writer of Pinocchio, and S. Behrengi(668).

As for Katıraslan, Serçekuş and Ağaçkakanlar, Zarifoğlu indicates that they represent an intelligent mind and the fantastic fiction in the books has a magic world and also he says that he gets inspired of “being writing for children at that moment” ( Konuşmalar 127). According to M.R.Şirin who says that “Zarifoğlu both explains and realizes himself in children’s books. He decided to make the confrontation between consciousness and unconsciousness, abstract and concrete in an allegorical narrative” (233) the writer got the opportunity of using imagination boundlessly by choosing the fantastic narrative. So, with his limitless world he got the chance of reaching to the points to which it is impossible to access with reality.

Thus, Şirin, who views that widening readers’ horizons by narrating what is impossible to narrate with absolute reality is a mind state which revives after modernity, and he prefers naming Zarifoglu’s children’s literature “modern art fairy tale” (a.y.). Şirin indicates that the writers of cinema, theatre, novel and modern tale prefer fantastic narrative because thanks to the possibilities it offers, children can face the realities easily and for this reason this method is used by writers (a.y.). In fact, while children enjoy the gripping adventures and stay in fiction level, adult readers understand the main idea better. According to Şirin, who states that the world in art fairy tale books such as Serçekuş Katıraslan, Motorlu Kuş, Ağaçkakanlar and Küçük Şehzade are not children’s world but adult’s world, and fantastic fiction and allegorical narrative awaken children’s interests as well as adults’ interests. This situation is an “indication of how much Zarifoglu’s value child imagination”(234).

Writer summarizes Serçekuş as “Serçekuş is about an adventure between a little, philosophical sparrow and a hunter” in Konuşmalar (74). The tale begins with a depiction of nature that lasts for pages and the protagonist sparrow witnesses every level of this depiction when he wakes up. After a long depiction of nature, the introduction is made by talking to reader and asking them questions: “Is he the hunter which is the one in the story of sparrow and the hunter? Maybe. But before deciding let’s have a look at the others (…) Furthermore we cannot know. We cannot know Allah the almighty introduces whom to whom, more openly, we cannot know what Allah the almighty makes us write” ( Zarifoğlu Çocuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk 32). With reference to this quotation it is possible to say many things about the technique and content of the book. We cannot decide on its type. It has some parts resembling both tale and fairy tale.

The protagonist which is fictionalized as fantastic character is a sparrow which can think of just like a human. The thought world of sparrow processes like a wise person who questions everything in the world.  The thought world of sparrow and general tone in the text are manifestations of a world of ideas believing in Allah the almighty, being aware of blessings, and being in contemplation and hallelujah for the creatures in the nature. As it is understood sparrow is not an ordinary bird but rather he is a fantastic bird which has deep thoughts on the nature, life and death. As always, while he flies over Kocabağ village to find food, he comes across hunters: “These are hunters. Are they frightening, no. they are not even huge, moustache of one of them flows sneaky. His sleepy, swelling eyes look over the surface of the lake unwillingly…” (a.y.)

In the following parts Kocabağ villagers’ daily life is narrated. The march of events begins to change in the meanwhile sparrow wakes up as always and has a fright: “sparrows know well when children hunt and so they don’t wander around children. Sparrow remembers seeing them either behind bushes or coming face to face shivering. It feels frightened.” (45) but then he forgets about this frightening idea and begins to contemplate about the sun, nevertheless he listens instincts for fear of being shot and tries hard to get out of hunters’ sights. After days one day he comes face to face with a hunter’s gun barrel. Then a series of thoughts lasting for pages about what is life and death begins, many ideas have been put across in a progress which could last only for a minute or seconds in the mind:

He thought that whatever is going to happen it may happen as soon as possible. He consented to being dead instead of living like that. Even if the hunter doesn’t find it worthy to touch with his heavy shoes and take into his bag. The sparrow pities itself. What an injustice. But when he thought about trees, leaves around which he has wandered for weeks freely, reeds and the lake which can be seen through the tree trunks and lights of the sun, the sense of living against all the odds has surpassed (69).

And then they start a conversation, little sparrow talks the hunter out of shooting it. At last, he manages escaping from the hunter’s grasp on condition that sparrow will save hunter’s life when he is in trouble. And one day just like what sparrow told him the hunter founders and just then the little sparrow happens to pass by and sees the hunter and saves his life.

This tale resembles fairy tale in many aspects. In terms of including miraculous incidents such as a little bird having such causal consciousness, the conversation between sparrow and hunter either by speaking or without speaking, a little sparrow saving a huge man by using a rope and the fabulous tone dominant in the tale, all of these resemble a fairy tale. Serçekuş has a fabulous tone but with its analyst narration it is close to novel type (Zarifoğlu Konuşmalar 237). On the other hand, it is a stubborn fact that the sparrow’s questioning of life and death is quite deep for a child’s mind. The writer, as for he is aware of these situations, states for Serçekuş that: It is “Both for children and adults” (74). Right after that he advises that adults read the books first and then they read them to children and evaluate the books together. Zarifoğlu has planned Serçekuş to think like a child but after  his turning into a character thinking like a fifty or sixty year old adult he thinks that the book is preferred by adult readers (237).

“Katıraslan has the upper body of a lion with the lower body of a hinny, in short it is an animal. An animal that has never been seen before.” (65). A fantastic animal. A fox and a lion set out on a journey. The fox takes many goods with him but the goods are suited for humans’ use and the fox loads them on donkey’s back. The lion takes less goods for himself. Then they begin their journey, the fox takes only canned foods to eat when they get hungry. The reason for this is to eat his fill like humans not like wild animals. On their way they get hungry, the lion tastes canned food and doesn’t eat much.  The fox engluts the canned food. Thereupon the lion makes the fox rustle a few rabbits for himself because he doesn’t intend to deprive himself and eat the canned food. So the lion through his physical strength dominate the fox and demand the fox to hunt for him. The fox, even if he doesn’t want, obeys him due to the fear of the lion. The journey turns into pain for the fox but he just cannot escape. People who realize stolen roasters, chickens, rabbits and milk chase the animals. When people come near with guns they cannot figure out the hinny sitting on top of the lion and they spread rumors of seeing a kind of “hinny lion”. This news causes a sensation around the world and people from all over the world rush into there to see the hinny lion.

People establish troops and hunting militaries to catch the animal. In time they establish a city and local experts fall short and they send for one thousand five hundred “experts from abroad”. This number increases day by day and reaches seven thousand one hundred fifty number of people. As a result of incorrect implementation of experts, the crowd gets lost in deserts of the country. “It is an animal which has been never seen till that day. For this reason it draws people’s attention and creates a stir.”(65). In some way by parodying the stir which has turned into madness Katıraslan shows us the situation that degrades people. The tale uncloaks people’s double-dealing, lying and sordidness in a satiric way and humiliate them. To understand what kind of an animal hinny lion is chief expert’s findings after crime scene investigation are quite ironic:

He starts with saying, Friends, unfortunately everything is true. A fox, a donkey and a hinny lion. After investigation, we have decided that: (In fact it was only him that has decided) This hinny lion has both hinny and lion feet. (…) But now if you were here, you would also realize that we catch a smell which we guess belongs to hinny lion. How can I say, it is a smell of okra with lamb. It is quite strange but a smell like the one in my late mother’s kitchen, ha ha ha… (Zarifoğlu Çocuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk 123-124)

The writer states that he brings some patterns into the forefront: “sensationalism…clinging to stupid things to make life worth living in helplessness…patterns of being native and foreign…overreliance on the foreigners and aftermath… the cost of not trusting our own people”(Zarifoğlu Konuşmalar 68) This allegorical and ironic tale seems like it has some messages which are too deep to be appropriate for children. When this situation is asked to the writer he answers:

Children read Katıraslan easily. There is a catchy tale in the book. They read the tale we have mentioned above with pleasure. If you ask one of them to narrate the book they summarize it. The advice given within the general atmosphere of the book is engraved in their subconscious steadying. In other words when they grow up, providing that they aren’t under any influence, they will not make wrong decisions on these topics. (a.y.)

It is true that children can understand the said advice more or less but still he is aware of the fact that children cannot comprehend the whole text or with all details.

According to Cemile Süreya who says that “The people chasing the hinny lion are kinds of people who cannot escape from the selfish system of capitalism and they try to pull people into this system” the reason behind why this tale doesn’t include a positive character is, because it is impossible to escape from this system (284). On the other hand, the main characters of the tale, the fox and the lion, are allegory of modern person’s psychology which is made up of cowardice, insecurity and dissatisfaction (a.y.). The lion by force of his selfish, self-interested and greedy nature eats his fellow traveler fox without any hesitation in the end. “The lion watches him for a while and then he turns a deaf ear to his inner voice and chases the fox” (Zarifoğlu Çocuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk 150). This work has a modern theme because it discusses capitalism and sensationalism and also  animals think and speak like humans in this respect it shows fable characteristics. As a result we can say that it is a modern fairy tale. However, this fairy tale which is read as an allegory of modern world’s dilemmas and which is difficult to read even for adult readers and even Zarifoğlu, as the writer of the tale, thought that children read the story with pleasure, as it tells about topics above children’s perception it exceeds the scope of “child literature”. Also the fact that lion eats his fellow traveler fox is something too pitiless, frightening and violent for children.

There are five fairy tales in Motorlu Kuş. First of them is a tale named Motorlu Kuş. Some sophisticate and complex subjects belonging to adults’ world like “exploitation” and “imperialism” are left to children’s reception in a fable atmosphere. The tale is about a little swallow who doesn’t listen to his mother’s warnings and goes to the place depicted like “It is understood that there is a strange place. Columns of dark smokes reaching up into sky through the mountains”. Little swallow gets to the place where “birds in an extraordinary body and colors” escape there and hum. And then we learn that they are “auto birds” rigged with motors. In some way they persuade little swallow and motorize him and teach him when he peck at the small power button it works and after that they let him go. When his mother sees him trapped like that she says: “Stupid, these are all fake. Don’t believe. We all experienced it when we were young. But none of us cared. Because it ends up badly: the motor is free but spare part is blood price” (Zarifoğlu Çacuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk 288) and she gets both angry and sad. For this statement Zarifoğlu says that: “Child may not understand this but adults can grasp that one of the biggest problems of less developed countries is treated in the fairy tale. They gain resistance in their subconscious on what does external credit, aid, grant and bilateral agreement mean.” (Zarifoğlu Konuşmalar 93)

Those strange birds change swallow’s name with “Swallowmotor”. His mother worries when she learns that they have changed his name and she explains that working with a motor does not suit their nature. But with his new name “Swallowmotor” is pleased with what happened to him and he doesn’t pay attention to his mother’s sayings. He presents the topic to council of birds and the council decides to watch Swallowmotor’s air show and approach with caution: “Swallowmotor’s motor is going to be braced and sealed. No one will be motorized… Haste makes waste” (Zarifoğlu Çocuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk 289) and they decide to review the decision after six months. The council gathers after six months and decides that Swallowmotor must be taken to hospital immediately because the motor has become impossible to be taken apart and his wings have become blind, and it is impossible for him to fly even if the motor is taken apart and his beak has become blunt. The decision is announced: “Call a lifeguard as soon as possible and announce this incident to all swallows. Warn them not to fall into foreigners’ traps.” (290) One can take lessons from this short tale such as not being deceived of foreigners, not demanding much more than one’s needs, austerity, accepting oneself as it is and listening mothers’ warnings. These messages are given in a simple language and narration which children can understand easily. And also because of the fact that it is a tale which has a strong dimension of imagination and fantasy like  motorizing a bird, the existence of bad, good, and foreign birds, founding a council of birds,  it has many characteristics which awaken children’s interest.

“Even though Motorlu Kuş seems like intended for children apparently, it is a problem-oriented fairy tale which can be read by adults.” (Aldı 273) But it is a fact that adult readers infer higher level of allegoric meanings from this fairy tale. We can say that just like Zarifoğlu’s other books his expectation from child reader’s perception world is high as for this book. In the other three short tales of the book “human specific problems such as injustice, laziness and parental contradiction are displayed through animals’ lives.” (Uçan 281). Zarifoğlu regards every adult as a child and this acceptance forms the main axis of his children’s literature writership. (Zarifoğlu Konuşmalar 235).

Zarifoğlu’s child literature is sensitive to social problems, and while he criticizes some parts of human life he also points out the importance of some other  parts and when he does all of these he never pushes aside literary aesthetics. At first it gives the impression of intended for children but in fact his works appeal to readers of all ages. So that children both develop their imagination and get warned against some realities about real life and they get informed thanks to literature.

Zarifoğlu’s child literature entertains children through literary narration rich in fabulous and fantastic elements and educates them at the same time. The writer says that: “All of my works have developed in the humor of I am telling you, my dear child, so that you, my dear adult, might take heed. You can see that there are many patterns like violence, exploitation, capitalism and Islam.” (92) and he also fictionalizes many dialogues which are out of children’s depth and in his fairy tales like Katıraslan and Serçekuş, he includes violence scenes which might frighten children. Even though children can get messages in their way, in the works intended for children it is not possible to approve of violence. Even if just a bit, it is possible that such scenes in fairy tales can cause fright in children’s minds. Apparently either Zarifoğlu didn’t think about such possibilities or he laid a burden on children expecting them to understand such situations are realities of life. Zarifoğlu’s books have been written for adults and after that they have been written for children. In other words, in accordance with Şirin’s description, these works address to “adulthood of children”, and confront them with the realities which they might come face to face in the future. Zarifoğlu laid burden on child reader for he writes with a lofty aim[i]. It looks like that he has absolute confidence in them.

 

Bibliography

Aldı, Mustafa. “Zarif Prens’in Sanat Masallarına Yolculuk”. Hece 126-127-128 (June-July-August 2007): 270-275.

Şirin, M. Ruhi. “Ergin Çocukların Yazarı: Cahit Zarifoğlu”. Türk Dili 756 (December 2014): 663-673.

Uçan, Hilmi. “Cahit Zarifoğlu’nun Masallarında Büyüklere Öğütler”. Hece 126-127-128 (June-July-August 2007):

276-278.

Zarifoğlu, Cahit. Çocuklarımızla Atlara Biniyorduk. İstanbul: Beyan Yayınları, 2014.

Zarifoglu, Cahit. Konuşmalar.İstanbul: Beyan Yayınları, 1987.