Societies in Persian literature

Societies in Persian literature

Narratological Analysis of Sejel Sefid Based on Seymour Chatman’s Theory

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Maral Rahimi 1
Sahar Faeghi 2
Akram Heratian 3
1 Graduate of Philosophy of Art, Department of Philosophy of Art, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2 Assistant Professor of Cultural Sociology, Department of Management, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
3 Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
10.30488/sipl.2026.566283.1140
Abstract
The identity crisis experienced by Afghan women in Iran as a result of otherization, displacement, and their suspension between the homeland and the host country has emerged as a significant theme in immigrant literature. This study examines this crisis in Sejel Sefid, a short story by Masoumeh Jafari included in her collection Why Not Make Darkness My God? Drawing on the postcolonial insights of Homi K. Bhabha, Bill Ashcroft, Robert J. C. Young, and Edward Said, as well as Seymour Chatman’s three-level narratological model (story, discourse, and ideology), the study analyzes the narrative dimensions of Sejel Sefid. The findings reveal that symbols such as the white certificate, the dark house, and the nameless document signify both an identity crisis and a desire to erase the past. Moreover, in their encounter with dominant and exclusionary discourses, the protagonists experience fragmented and suspended identities. The narrative voice, adopting a critical stance, challenges the dominant mechanisms of othering and exclusion. The findings further suggest that immigrant literature does not merely represent suffering; rather, it serves as a space for resistance, agency, and the reconstruction of immigrant women’s identities within liminal conditions
Keywords
Identity Afghan Women Immigrants Immigrant Literature Postcolonial Criticism Othering
Narratology Seymour Chatman
Subjects
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