37 pages • 1 hour read
Sadegh HedayatThe Blind Owl
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1936A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
How does The Blind Owl reference Zoroastrian and Hindu religious practices? How does the narrator’s view of these other religions compare and contrast with his views about Islam and the nature of religious belief more generally?
How does The Blind Owl reflect the politics and culture of Iran in the 1920s and 1930s?
How are women portrayed in The Blind Owl? Does the text critique traditional patriarchal views of women or perpetuate them?
Examine the role of the past in The Blind Owl. What forms does the past take? How does it compare to the narrator’s experience of the present, and how does it illuminate the novella’s conception of time?
Analyze the use of repetition of language in The Blind Owl. How do these repetitions serve to illuminate the text's key themes and ideas? What other literary techniques play significant roles in the novella?
The Blind Owl features an unreliable narrator. How does the use of an unreliable narrator affect the narrative structure and thematic exploration in the text?
The novella frequently explores the gaps between idealization and reality. How does the narrator wrestle with these two modes of seeing and experiencing the world? What role does each play in the text?
The narrator is fascinated by the body. How does he relate to his body and those of others? How does this relate to the theme of death as an ideal eternal state compared to materialism and sexuality?
How does the setting of the novella and its description contribute to the surrealist quality of The Blind Owl? How does the setting change or repeat throughout the narrative?
The Blind Owl is considered an important work of Iranian modernism. How does The Blind Owl reflect, or diverge from, wider trends in literary modernism common at the time?
