63
2.1. The Enchantment and Appropriation of Western Science and Technology
The result of the encounter between the East and the West is an attraction to Western science and technology, which lead to the adoption of those Western
innovations by Turkish. Being modern is always related to the use and the adoption of Western science and technology. Nowadays, Turkey’s adoption of
Western technology has led them to become one of countries that have the ability to create sophisticated defence system. Looking back to the 15
th
century, Mehmed II also had deep interest in Western tradition. Henri Stierlin mentions that
Mehmed always sought the latest developments in sciences and he also took an interest in artillery and he entrusted the production of his cannons to German
metalsmiths.
194
The enchantment of Western science and technology as well as Turkish deep interest and obsession with Western knowledge can be seen in the character
of Hoja in The White Castle, who is charmed by European science and technology. Hoja’s greatest desire is to learn the wisdom of the West.
195
He always dreams to live in the West.
I sensed he wanted this post for himself, wanted to escape from the idiots here and live among them. …He let slip only once or twice that he wanted
to establish relations with “their” men of science; …he wanted to correspond with men of science in Venice, Flanders, whatever faraway
land occurred to him at the moment. Who were the very best among them, where did they live, how could one correspond with them, could I learn
these things from the ambassadors? TWC, 121
194
Henri Stierlin, Turkey: from the Selçuks to the Ottomans, Köln: Taschen, 2002 100.
195
Paul Berman, “La Maison Du Silence”, The New Republic 9 September 1991: 36-39, 28 January 2014 http:www.orhanpamuk.netpopup.aspx?id=59lng=eng
64 From the very beginning, Hoja does not like the activities of the pashas, Sultan,
and Turkish society for they depend on the astrology and the illogical interpretation of the dreams and stars. He also dislikes them for they have little
interest in science and technology. Besides, he feels depressed because the children are scared when they see his science instruments.
When he returned in the evening he was depressed but not so much as to keep silent: “I thought the children would understand as the sultan did, but
I was wrong,” he said. They had only been frightened. When Hoja asked questions after his lecture, one of the children replied that Hell was on the
other side of the sky and began to cry. TWC, 42 From the quotation above, it can be seen that the rejection of Western technology
by the children, who represent the young Ottoman generation, shows the binary opposition of the Eastern backwardness and Western modernity, for Europe’s
superiority always presented by the using of sophisticated and modern technology. In addition, Hoja’s reaction towards the illogical-traditional activities
of the Turkish society has similarity in the Europeans’ criticism that “largely regarded the Ottomans as uncivilized and trammelled by a religion that was
inimical to progress”
196
.
2.1.1. The Enchantment of Western Science and Technology
Complexity in Hoja’s life and his frustration with the Sultan and his “traditionality”, “forced” him to adore the identity of his Venetian slave whose
life is more interesting in Italy where people do not depend on the prediction and interpretation of the dreams and stars. Hoja’s slave is a young Italian man who is
seized in a fleet from Venice to Naples and demanded by Hoja from the pasha as a
196
Boyar and Fleet, Ottoman History, 327.
65 present TWC, 31 to teach him “everything” his slave had learnt in Italy TWC,
32. The relationship between Hoja and his slave is also very unique. Hoja and his Italian slave have an incredible resemblance. As they sit down face to face, the
Italian slave even feels like look himself in a mirror. The resemblance between myself and the man who entered the room was
incredible It was me there…for that first instant this was what I thought. …As our eyes met, we greeted one another. But he did not seem surprised.
Then I decided he didn’t resemble me all that much, he had a beard; and I seemed to have forgotten what my own face looked like. As he sat down
facing me, I realized that it had been a year since I last looked in a mirror. TWC, 22
Even though having an incredible resemblance, Hoja and his look-alike slave are competing all the time. Pamuk explains that the relationship between Hoja and his
slave, who is his alter ego, is based on his relationship with his brother, Shevket, who is only eighteen months older than him. He adds that, impersonation is The
White Castle’s theme that is reflected in the fragility Turkey feels when coping with Western culture.
After writing The White Castle, I realized that this jealousy—the anxiety about being influenced by someone else—resembles Turkey’s position when it looks
west. You know, aspiring to become Westernized and then being accused of not being authentic enough. Trying to grab the spirit of Europe and then feeling
guilty about the imitative drive. The ups and downs of this mood are reminiscent of the relationship between competitive brothers.
197
The relationship between Hoja East and his Italian slave West, who have hyper similarity, is along with Said’s discourse on Orientalism that “the Orient is not
only adjacent to Europe but also Europe’s cultural contestant. In addition, the
197
Pamuk, Other Colours, 368.
66 Orient has helped to define Europe or the West as its contrasting image, idea,
personality, experience”.
198
Akalin 2007 argues that Said fails to recognise the element of power associated with the Ottoman Empire. This is especially seen when the Ottoman
Empire begins a modern history by making dramatic events such as the conquest of Constantinople now İstanbul in 1453, the first siege of Vienna in 1529, and
Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Besides, the presence of the Empire in the Mediterranean and the extension of Ottoman rule over large parts of south-eastern
Europe and North Africa deeply affected Westerners politically and culturally.
199
Ironically, Turkey still feels inferior and needs to be guided by the West. In The White Castle, as has been explained above, both Hoja and the
Venetian slave share an uncanny resemblance to each other
200
because Hoja is not only the Venetian’s master but also his pupil, for Hoja also asks his slave to teach
him everything his look-alike slave had learnt in his country. Later he said I would teach him everything; that’s why he’d asked the
pasha to give me to him, and only after I had done this would he make me a freedman. …“Everything” meant all that I’d learned in primary and
secondary school; …everything that was taught in my country. TWC, 32 Hoja really wants to learn what the Western thinks, the “others” who had taught
his Italian slave science. TWC, 54 Despite the fact that Hoja had learnt astronomy and science but he still needs the Italian slave to teach him everything
the slave had learnt, such as astronomy, medicine, and engineering. On the other
198
Said, Orientalism, 1-2.
199
Esin Akalin, “The Ottoman Phenomenon and Edward Said’s Monolithic Discourse on the Orient”, a journal compilation in the Challenging the Boundaries edited by Işil Baş and Donald C.
Freeman. New York: Rodopi, B.V., 2007 112-113.
200
Farred, “To Dig a Well”, 88.
67 side, the Italian slave the West also feels that it is his responsibility to guide and
teach Hoja the East. The slave also feels that apparently Hoja’s knowledge is no greater than his knowledge TWC, 23 and when he teaches Hoja, he feels like a
solicitous elder who agrees to review his previous lessons so as to help his lazy little brother to catch up. TWC, 33 It is caused by the stereotype that the Orient
is isolated from the mainstream of European progress in sciences.
201
The Italian slave also wants to imitate and be like Hoja. He too wants to say and do the thing Hoja says and does. The young slave envies Hoja because he
can take action when the slave cannot. He was right, I too wanted to say and do the things he said and did, I
envied him because he could take action when I could not, because he could play upon the fear in the plague and the mirror. TWC, 83
As it is explained by Said that “the Orient has helped to define the West as its contrasting image and idea”
202
, Hoja also has helped to define his Italian slave as superior and master in science and he as inferior for he asks his slave to teach him
everything he had learnt in his country TWC, 32 even though he also has knowledge on science.
2.1.2. The Adoption of Western Science and Technology
The enchantments of Western science and technology, Hoja’s obsession with Western knowledge, as well as his frustration with the Sultan and
“traditionality” around him have led to the appropriation of that innovation. However, in this part, the appropriation of the West is not limited to the adoption
of the sophisticated technology but also includes the imitation of both Eastern and
201
Said, Orientalism, 206.
202
Said, Orientalism, 1-2.
68 Western culture and tradition, both by Hoja and his look-alike young slave. Hoja’s
“grand plan” is the example of the adoption of Western sophisticated technology in The White Castle. Furthermore, the imitation of Eastern and Western culture
and tradition can be seen on the young Italian slave who learns his master’s trait, language, and mind, and vice versa.
As has been mentioned, the adoption of Western technology has existed since the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Mehmed II. His interest in Western
science and technology can be seen when he always wanted to know the latest update in the sciences and also invited many Western scholars, scientists, and
technicians. Additionally, he also entrusted the production of his cannons to German metalsmiths.
203
Turkey’s interest toward Western science and technology is presented by Orhan Pamuk in his first Ottoman novel, The White Castle, and
presented through Hoja and his young Italian slave as well as the child sultan. Sultan Ahmed I, the reigning monarch in The White Castle, is also enchanted by
Western science and technology. His interest grows after Hoja becomes the Head of the Imperial Astrologer and interprets his dreams every day. Furthermore, he
also asks Hoja to make the war machine that is believed can ruin the Ottoman’s enemy.
Hoja’s interest to Western science and technology is illustrated when he adopts his slave’s knowledge. Berman says that Hoja gorges himself with the
several branches of Western knowledge on science and engineering, on the information that might lead to military advantages for the Ottoman Empire, and
203
Stierlin, Turkey, 100.
69 even on the deeper psychology of the West.
204
When the plague strikes İstanbul, he implements Western knowledge on plague from his slave that is known from
“the scenes in Hippocrates, Thucydides, and Boccacio, to decrease the spread of the disease that is contagious” TWC, 72.
I explained how we could protect ourselves from death that we must not touch those who had caught the plague, that the corpses must be buried in
limed pits, that people must reduce their contact with one another as much as possible, and that Hoja must not go to that crowded school. TWC, 73
The Italian slave explanation above is the example of Western knowledge, which can be used to overcome the plague that is adopted from the Greek philosophers.
To stop the plague, Hoja need his slave’s knowledge so that he decides to take his slave who escapes from the plague to Heybeli Island. Hoja, then, tries to
implement that knowledge to reduce the spread of the disease, which strikes İstanbul.
205
However, science and rationality are hardly accepted by the society at that time. People do not worry and fear the plague even though many people have
dead of it because “disease is God’s will and if a man is fated to die he will die” TWC, 72. Besides, the act “to make war on the plague was to oppose God”
TWC, 92 for “the plague was God’s will and no one should interfere with it” TWC, 97. Hoja and his slave, then, create a tale to tell to the sovereign, which is
more acceptable by the sovereign and a crowd of fools around him.
204
Berman, “La Maison Du Silence”.
205
The outbreak mentioned in Pamuk’s The White Castle also truly happened in İstanbul in the early seventeenth century. In a city the size of İstanbul, where people were crowded together in
close proximity with little or no sanitation, plague was inevitably both frequent and severe. Many died in such outbreak and the death rate was high so that bodies were left unburied for there was
no one to dig the graves. Most shops were closed because people were called to bury the dead. Boyar and Fleet, Social History, 75.
70 Things had gone well. The story we invented had affected the sultan
deeply. His mind accepted the idea that the plague was like a devil trying to deceive him by taking on human form. …When Hoja was asked when
and how the plague would end, he…replied that the devil came to men in the form of a man and to animals in the form of a mouse. The sultan
ordered that five hundred cats be brought from a far away city untouched by plague, and that Hoja be given as many men as he wanted. TWC, 92
The story concocted by Hoja, finally, affects the sovereign deeply. “He decided not to allow strangers into the palace” TWC, 92 and also orders Hoja to be
responsible to handle this problem. However, Hoja and his slave’s effort to end the plague are seen as a way to resemble and to compete with God so that the
Ottomans oppose to it. The different way how the Ottomans—who choose to be idle—and the Westerners—who use their science and knowledge—faces and
stops the plague shows the binary opposition between the East and the West. The East traditional view outlines the efforts to end the plague as an act to compete
with God. On the contrary, the West has its advance knowledge and technology to stop the disease. Hoja’s action to prevent the plague by adopting Western science
shows that the East believes in Western “superiority” in science to stop the disease even though it is hardly accepted by the society.
However, the Ottoman societies who are not initially worried about the outbreak become frightened by Hoja’s story. The story causes social chaos
because the Sultan commands His people to limit their activities especially in the crowded market and Coffee houses. Moreover, the Ottomans also believe that the
Judgement Day has come. …if business stopped life also stopped, news of a plague wandering in the
form of a man would terrify those who heard it, they would believe the Day of Judgement has come and would grab the bit between their teeth; no
one wanted to be imprisoned in a neighbourhood where the plague devil
71 roamed, they would raise a rebellion. “And they are right,” said Hoja.
TWC, 93 Besides, the Sultan’s permit system has slowed the trade activity in the Grand
Bazaar. “Janissaries guarded the entrances to the market-place, the avenue, the boat landings” TWC, 94. This condition also raises the tension between the Aga
of the Janissaries and the small tradesmen who make a rebellion. This conflict, later, will lead to the revolt led by the Grand Vizier Koprulu.
As the second week came to end…a group among the despairing tradesmen had clashed with the janissaries guarding the roads and that
another group of janissaries discontented with the preventive measures had joined forces with a couple of idiot imams preaching in the mosques, some
vagrants eager for loot, and other idlers who said the plague was God’s will and no one should interfere with it. TWC, 97
This ragging conflict is between the janissaries
206
, who represent the sultan, and the small tradesmen as well as the preachers who oppose the eradication of the
plague using Western knowledge since it is the act to compete with God’s will. After Hoja is able to reduce the risk of the plague, “the former Imperial
Astrologer Sitki Efendi…was driven from the palace into exile” TWC, 99. Hoja, then, becomes the Imperial Astrologer and “took control of the government”
TWC, 104. He also tries to dupe the young Sultan into adopting Western science and making the war machine by presenting a book, which is written by the Italian
slave. We wanted the sultan to be interested in our science…and…we even
exploited his nightmares towards this end. …Hoja would explain that on the throne he would remain forever young, but only making weapons
206
Janissaries were major players in political upheaval, bringing down sultans, beheading grand veziers, and hanging officials of state. Janissary also has unruly behaviour. ...They are the elite
fighting force of the empire, the massed infantry that was the powerhouse of the mighty Ottoman military machine, which propelled it forward in a seemingly endless wave of conquest. Boyar and
Fleet, Social History, 90-100.
72 superior to those of our ever-vigilant enemies could be safe from their
treachery. TWC, 104 The result of Hoja’s stories and interpretation of the sovereign’s dream as well as
the book prepared by his slave is that the Sultan finally asks Hoja to make the “grand plan”. Hoja fills the book with the visions of defeat and failure that have
been dreamed up, all the wars that ending in defeat. “Only a month after Hoja had submitted this book, the Sultan ordered us to start work on the incredible
weapon…that will ruin our enemies”. TWC, 110-111 The young sultan commissions the war machine because he wants to
defeat the West before the West defeats them as well as to reach the glory of the Empire after all the wars that ending in defeat. It is Western technology, which is
believed by Sultan Ahmed to help him win the war and to cope with few military failures he had suffered. However, this project is an irony because the sultan tries
to conquer and emulate the West by imitating their science and modern technology on artillery that are brought and taught by the Italian slave.
The appropriation of the West is not limited to the adoption of the sophisticated technology but also includes the imitation of Western culture and
tradition. Hoja tries and learns to be the West by asking his Italian slave to sit opposite to him at a bare table and write down their stories and lives together
TWC, 62. It begins when Hoja asks a question: “Why am I what I am?” to his Italian slave. Hoja asks this question because he hears a voice in a strange tone,
which is singing in his ear, “I am what I am, I am what I am” TWC, 58 He, then, demands his slave to demonstrate his courage, which he lacks and write
down who he really is. TWC, 60
73 Hoja also learns Western culture and tradition by eating his food at a table
like an infidel instead of sitting down cross-legged. TWC, 77 However, it is not only Hoja who wants to learn the wisdom of the West but his Italian slave also
wants to learn, master, and imitate his trait, language, and mind. In the beginning of the story, the Italian slave tries to protect himself from the Turks who capture
him by claiming that he is a doctor. It is similar to Bhabha’s discourse on postcolonialism that the young Italian, the inferior, is not only idle because he also
has power to resist the domination of his captors. The captain…asked what my profession was. …I declared right away that
I had knowledge of astronomy and nocturnal navigation, but this made no impression. I then claimed I was a doctor. TWC, 15 Fortunately…I was
saved from the oar and even managed to salvage a few of my books. Then, I…quickly established relations with the Turks. After I’d treated a
few Turks…everyone believed I was a doctor. TWC, 16 Here, in Sadik Pasha’s prison, the Italian slave practices his new profession and
treats the guards as well as the other slaves. Moreover, by becoming a fake doctor, the Italian slave gets a privilege from the guards he cured.
Hundreds of captives rotted away inside the tiny, damp cells…and I actually cured some of them. I wrote prescriptions for guards with aching
backs and legs. So here, they treated me differently from the rest, and gave me a better cell that caught the sunlight. TWC, 17
Learning Turkish language and culture is the other strategy to survive and a kind of self-defence upon the domination of the Turks that is conducted by the
Italian slave. As an unordinary slave, he also gets a chance to look after the other people outside the prison and with the money he got, he can pay for Turkish
lesson.
74 I was not just looking after the slaves in the prison, but others as well. I
had to give a large part of the fees I earned for doctoring to the guards who smuggled me outside. With the money I was able to hide from them, I paid
for lessons in Turkish. My teacher was an elderly fellow who looked after the pasha’s petty affair. …I also gave him money to bring me food. TWC,
17 This is in line with with the concept of mimicry
207
, which is offered by Homi Bhabha that mimicry becomes one of the most effective strategies of resistance
and colonial power by imitating the oppressor’s language to remain under protection and also to clarify his own domination. In addition, the quotation above
is in line with Lacan’s theory that mimicry is like camouflage, which is a way to survive.
208
Learning Turkish is a camouflage for the Italian slave for it helps him to communicate with the pasha that later give him to Hoja.
This concept is also used to describe the processes of imitating and borrowing various cultural elements from the oppressor, too. The process of
mimicry takes place in the third space where the colonized becomes hybrid. However, this condition also creates ambivalence because it supports two
different cultures.
209
This condition is also experienced by Hoja and his slave who try to overcome it by writing a memoir together.
Thus in space of two months I learned more about his life than I’d been able to learn in eleven years. ...I encourage him, perhaps because I already
sensed then that I would later adopt his manner and his life-story as my own. There was something in his language and his turn of mind that I
loved and wanted to master. A person should love the life he has chosen enough to call it his own in the end; and I do. TWC, 63
By writing the “Why am I what I am?” story, both the Italian slave and Hoja become hybrid. More than being hybrid, they are “resembled one another” TWC,
207
Bhabha, Location of Culture, 85, 87.
208
Bhabha, Location of Culture, 90.
209
Bhabha, Location of Culture, 90.
75 82. The trace and the differences between Hoja and his slave are not clear now
for “I had seen someone I must be; and now I thought he too must be someone like me. The two of us were one person” TWC, 82
2.2. The Enchantment and Appropriation of the Italian Renaissance Painting