Nonspecific thoughts on Ka
Chapter 29 is the first and perhaps only instance where I felt sympathy for Ka. I think it can be attributed to the (seeming) love that Orhan, the narrator, shows for our listless protagonist; the way he cries repeatedly as he traces Ka's empty life in Frankfurt; the way he describes the squalor that Ka lives in and Ka's emotional and physical dependence on pornography. Even still, what is Orhan really after? He travels to Frankfurt to find Ka's notebook, which contains some kind of masterful collection of poetry. Does Orhan tell Ka's story out of love? Out of failure to find Ka's poems? Does he, like Fazil, secretly relish in his friend's death, because now Ka's story belongs to him? Friendship is a theme that I have not yet broached in my meanderings.
Ka is, I believe, quite an opportunist. His advice to Kadife is telling: " 'Life's not about principles, it's about happiness' " (p. 338). To her credit, she immediately detects this insincerity when she asks him how he can convince someone of something that he does not believe in. Ka serves his own interests and lacks the sense of community that belongs to religious groups. He simply wants to leave Kars in one piece, as he assures us over and again. But what is happiness without principles? How does one achieve it? The narrator describes fleeting moments of happiness, mainly after Ka writes a poem or after intercourse with Ipek. Aristotle would say: Is this pleasure or happiness?
Ultimately, I know happiness will--out of necessity--elude Ka. He does not want it. He suffers whenever he's on the cusp of real intimacy, the kind that happiness grows from. Happiness is literally a fantasy, a dreamscape, a hope imbedded in the future of returns. His whimsical, snow-like floating essence only entangles him more and more in the plots and political turmoil of Kars, unlike the narrator's predictions early on that Ka's apolitical, dervish-like demeanor keeps him innocent. Instead, by chapter 36, Ka is a mediator who looks to be trapped in some foulness. If I didn't know Ka is killed in Germany, I would think he'd be killed in Kars straightaway.
Ka is, I believe, quite an opportunist. His advice to Kadife is telling: " 'Life's not about principles, it's about happiness' " (p. 338). To her credit, she immediately detects this insincerity when she asks him how he can convince someone of something that he does not believe in. Ka serves his own interests and lacks the sense of community that belongs to religious groups. He simply wants to leave Kars in one piece, as he assures us over and again. But what is happiness without principles? How does one achieve it? The narrator describes fleeting moments of happiness, mainly after Ka writes a poem or after intercourse with Ipek. Aristotle would say: Is this pleasure or happiness?
Ultimately, I know happiness will--out of necessity--elude Ka. He does not want it. He suffers whenever he's on the cusp of real intimacy, the kind that happiness grows from. Happiness is literally a fantasy, a dreamscape, a hope imbedded in the future of returns. His whimsical, snow-like floating essence only entangles him more and more in the plots and political turmoil of Kars, unlike the narrator's predictions early on that Ka's apolitical, dervish-like demeanor keeps him innocent. Instead, by chapter 36, Ka is a mediator who looks to be trapped in some foulness. If I didn't know Ka is killed in Germany, I would think he'd be killed in Kars straightaway.
posted by AJV at 2:23 PM
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