The Theme of Revenge in Rawi Hage’s De Niro’s Game (2006)

This extended paper is provided to explore the theme of revenge in Rawi Hage’s De Niro’s Game (2006). The acts of avenge have been a significant theme in several literary works along with themes of love and death, from Greek tragedies to European literature with the works of Shakespeare, to world literature with such works of Dostoevsky. Those writers are ideologically and historically different. They have examined the same subject [revenge] with similar ‘passion, complexity and concern’. Even contemporary Arabic writers in Diaspora write such works that explore avenge. Rawi Hage, the Lebanese-Canadian writer, is amongst whose novels involve the theme of vengeance. The main concern of this paper is to find out how in such radical circumstances when power abused, where individuals and groups have been suffered from social injustice and unfairness of justice avenge becomes the only solution to take back justice and honor. Keywords— Rawi HageDe Niro’s Gamerevenge. Rawi Hage was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and lived through nine years of the Lebanese civil war during the 1970s and 1980s. He immigrated to Canada in 1992 where he now lives in. His first novel, De Niro's Game (2006), won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for the best English-language book published anywhere in the world in a given year, and has either won or been shortlisted for seven other major awards and prizes, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award. his works includes also his second novel Cockroach (2008) was the winner of the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction His third novel, Carnival(2012), told from the perspective of a taxi driver. His fourth novel, Beirut Hellfire Society (2018), was published in Canada in 2018 and other countries in 2019. His work has been translated into 30 languages. (Rawi Hage biography) De Niro's Game starts in war-torn Beirut and ends in Paris, a novel that dramatized a journey of Bassam, „a clever and nihilistic young man who becomes caught up in the violence of life in a city at war with itself‟. The novel is divided into three sections. The first two sections recount Bassam's life in Beirut and his attempts to make enough money through drug-dealing, theft, and armed robbery to escape Lebanon and get to Rome, a city that he portrays it “must be a good place to walk freely” (19). This novel depicts a vivid divided Beirut not only by the infamous „Green Line separating Christian East Beirut from Muslim West Beirut, but by militias, gangs, ethnic hostilities, and personal vendettas ‟. it tells the story of two young men Bassam whose nickname (Al Pacino) and his friend George (De Niro) are “beggars and thieves, horny Arabs with curly hair and open shirts and Marlboro packs rolled in our sleeves, dropouts, ruthless nihilists with guns, bad breath, and long American jeans” (13). Bassam and George both know that in their war-torn city there are only two ways to live a life beyond mere subsistence: leave or join the militia. Bassam tries to leave, and George joins the Christian militia of Abou-Nahra, a man “into Christianity, money, and power” (51). The third section tells the story of Bassam in Paris. He knows that George's father, Claude Mani, is dead, but that his wife Genevieve and daughter Rhea would like to find George. Bassam travels to Paris where Genevieve and Rhea give him a place to stay, hiding the fact that George is underground. He knows that George‟s father, who is Jewish, had been working for Mossad before his death and that George had begun working for them as well. However, Roland, a Mossad agent, has been monitoring George's family to find out what has happened to George, and he offers Bassam a Canadian visa in exchange for information. Bassam refused to become caught up again in a war he has gone to such lengths to escape, he destroys the visa and decides to go instead to Rome. There are many ways in which De Niro's Game can be read: as a novel of trauma, a„commentary on the Lebanese Civil War‟, „a nihilistic International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-5, Issue-1, Jan – Feb 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.51.9 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 48 manifesto‟, „a sophisticated exercise in style „and as a „refugee novel‟. In this extended paper, it is read as a revenge masterpiece that figures the story of Bassam who flees to Paris after taking his avenge. Thus the act of revenge plays a significant role in Rawi Hage‟s novels. Bassam risks his life and is forced to flee Lebanon because he takes revenge on Rambo. Additionally, in an interview that was appeared in the Washington Post 2017, Nigel Beale says that Hage called his novel "an uncompromising look at a place in the conflict, from the inside, presented truly, with artistic merit." Immediately upon saying this, he expresses concern that it smacks too much of hubris. "What I mean is that only the artists talk about this war. No monuments were raised to commemorate it, too contentious," he says. "There's no consensus between Christians and Muslims on what happened. No truth commission. No one mentions it. People wanted to forget." Specifically, the theme of revenge is not only a new concern of modern literature, it was the main theme since ancient times, in particular, the acts of avenge has been significant theme in several literary works along with themes of love and death, from Greek tragedies such those of Sophocles to European literature with the works of Shakespeare, mainly Hamlet, to world literature with such works of Dostoevsky. Those writers are ideologically and historically different. They have examined the same subject [revenge] with similar „passion, complexity and concern‟. Even contemporary Arabic writers in Diaspora write such works that explore avenge. Rawi Hage, the Lebanese-Canadian writer, is amongst whose novels involve the theme of vengeance. Particularly, his Cockroach (2008) highlights revenge clearly when cockroach took revenge on behalf of Shohreh, and De Niro‟s Game (2006) is the main concern in this paper to explore the theme of revenge in. Vengeance gives the writer a convincing mix of ingredients: vicious circumstances; moral issues for debate; a hazardous, passionate mix of disappointment and loss of agitated complaints. Accordingly, Hage's novels portray individuals "who have been marginalized and exiled both within and without the boundaries of their homeland. Their victimization and alienation are due to exile or war, as well as the castrating conditions of poverty, displacement, and social injustice. They become wandering prowlers, who aim through their actual and fictitious roaming[s] to exercise their sense of confinement in excluding and denigrating systems". (50) She deeply indulges that Hage's 'focus is on the individual search for justice (51). She adds: “his peripheralized characters challenge the forces that strip away their civil identities, refuse to be victimized, to capitulate or compromise their principles. They retain their voices and assert their individuality” (51). The title significantly depicts the fatal game that based on Robert De Niro's 1978 movie The Deer Hunter: a film which recounts the story of two best friends Michael Cimino‟s (played by Robert De Niro) who loses his best friend Nick (played by Christopher Walken) during a lethal Russian roulette game in the Vietnam War. The movie brings out a tale of friendship, violence, loss, love, and self-exploration. This is similar to the story of Bassam‟s loss of his best friend George playing this game. Bassam himself describes this violent game: If I possessed the baccarat kind of gun instead of an automatic, would I play with my fate? Would I leave myself only one bullet and roll the barrel, as so many young men had in Beirut during the war, after watching the movie The Deer Hunter? Many had died playing De Niro's game. (234–235) Interestingly, Bassam adopts the nickname Al Pacino and he was obsessed with the game [the Russian roulette] while George adopts the nickname, De Niro. However, the novel in a way or another seems like a Hollywood movie. Abdel Nasser wrote that "the alternative identity of De Niro, for the careless way he takes chances with his life. Russian roulette symbolizes war-decreed choices and resolutions: "We all agreed to participate. It was our choice, we each spun our gun barrels, and we each had four chances out of five. We all acted out of our convictions, and out of passion"(232-3). (51). The main factors that led to Bassam's avenge from his enemies or offenders because of his anger from the gangs, mafia and in particular the militia forces practices over feeble and poor people, because of his pain from persecution and discrimination that he experienced under the militia especially Rambo, so that he suffers humiliation. "Revenge is personal"... it "involves a particular emotional tone, pleasure at the suffering of another, while retribution either need involve no emotional tone or involves another one, namely pleasure at justice being done". (qt. in Ziebart 87). In his, The Virtues of Vengeance Peter French wrote: "the taking of revenge usually produces an emotional or psychological state in the avenger, a feeling of pleasure, a sense of accomplishment, a high". (qtd in Ziebart 108). These two quotes highlight the case of Bassam when he managed to take his avenge especially was accused as International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-5, Issue-1, Jan – Feb 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.51.9 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 49 a diamond thief by Abou-Nahra and tortured by a powerful militiaman named Rambo. Bassam devises a plan to take his revenge from militiamen, Majalis, in so doing he requests the aid of his friend Joseph Chaiben. He planned to do the last operation before his leaving Beirut. Bassam met Joseph; he bought a gun from him and told him that he "had an idea for the last hit to ge

De Niro's Game starts in war-torn Beirut and ends in Paris, a novel that dramatized a journey of Bassam, "a clever and nihilistic young man who becomes caught up in the violence of life in a city at war with itself". The novel is divided into three sections. The first two sections recount Bassam's life in Beirut and his attempts to make enough money through drug-dealing, theft, and armed robbery to escape Lebanon and get to Rome, a city that he portrays it "must be a good place to walk freely" (19). This novel depicts a vivid divided Beirut not only by the infamous "Green Line separating Christian East Beirut from Muslim West Beirut, but by militias, gangs, ethnic hostilities, and personal vendettas". it tells the story of two young men Bassam whose nickname (Al Pacino) and his friend George (De Niro) are "beggars and thieves, horny Arabs with curly hair and open shirts and Marlboro packs rolled in our sleeves, dropouts, ruthless nihilists with guns, bad breath, and long American jeans" (13). Bassam and George both know that in their war-torn city there are only two ways to live a life beyond mere subsistence: leave or join the militia. Bassam tries to leave, and George joins the Christian militia of Abou-Nahra, a man "into Christianity, money, and power" (51). The third section tells the story of Bassam in Paris. He knows that George's father, Claude Mani, is dead, but that his wife Genevieve and daughter Rhea would like to find George. Bassam travels to Paris where Genevieve and Rhea give him a place to stay, hiding the fact that George is underground. He knows that George"s father, who is Jewish, had been working for Mossad before his death and that George had begun working for them as well. However, Roland, a Mossad agent, has been monitoring George's family to find out what has happened to George, and he offers Bassam a Canadian visa in exchange for information. Bassam refused to become caught up again in a war he has gone to such lengths to escape, he destroys the visa and decides to go instead to Rome.
There are many ways in which De Niro's Game can be read: as a novel of trauma, a"commentary on the Lebanese Civil War", "a nihilistic manifesto", "a sophisticated exercise in style "and as a "refugee novel". In this extended paper, it is read as a revenge masterpiece that figures the story of Bassam who flees to Paris after taking his avenge. Thus the act of revenge plays a significant role in Rawi Hage"s novels. Bassam risks his life and is forced to flee Lebanon because he takes revenge on Rambo.
Additionally, in an interview that was appeared in the Washington Post 2017, Nigel Beale says that Hage called his novel "an uncompromising look at a place in the conflict, from the inside, presented truly, with artistic merit." Immediately upon saying this, he expresses concern that it smacks too much of hubris. "What I mean is that only the artists talk about this war. No monuments were raised to commemorate it, too contentious," he says. "There's no consensus between Christians and Muslims on what happened. No truth commission. No one mentions it. People wanted to forget." Specifically, the theme of revenge is not only a new concern of modern literature, it was the main theme since ancient times, in particular, the acts of avenge has been significant theme in several literary works along with themes of love and death, from Greek tragedies such those of Sophocles to European literature with the works of Shakespeare, mainly Hamlet, to world literature with such works of Dostoevsky. Those writers are ideologically and historically different. They have examined the same subject [revenge] with similar "passion, complexity and concern". Even contemporary Arabic writers in Diaspora write such works that explore avenge. Rawi Hage, the Lebanese-Canadian writer, is amongst whose novels involve the theme of vengeance. Particularly, his Cockroach (2008) highlights revenge clearly when cockroach took revenge on behalf of Shohreh, and De Niro"s Game (2006) is the main concern in this paper to explore the theme of revenge in.
Vengeance gives the writer a convincing mix of ingredients: vicious circumstances; moral issues for debate; a hazardous, passionate mix of disappointment and loss of agitated complaints. Accordingly, Hage's novels portray individuals "who have been marginalized and exiled both within and without the boundaries of their homeland. Their victimization and alienation are due to exile or war, as well as the castrating conditions of poverty, displacement, and social injustice. They become wandering prowlers, who aim through their actual and fictitious roaming[s] to exercise their sense of confinement in excluding and denigrating systems". (50) She deeply indulges that Hage's 'focus is on the individual search for justice (51). She adds: "his peripheralized characters challenge the forces that strip away their civil identities, refuse to be victimized, to capitulate or compromise their principles. They retain their voices and assert their individuality" (51).
The title significantly depicts the fatal game that based on Robert De Niro's 1978 movie The Deer Hunter: a film which recounts the story of two best friends Michael Cimino"s (played by Robert De Niro) who loses his best friend Nick (played by Christopher Walken) during a lethal Russian roulette game in the Vietnam War. The movie brings out a tale of friendship, violence, loss, love, and self-exploration. This is similar to the story of Bassam"s loss of his best friend George playing this game. However, the novel in a way or another seems like a Hollywood movie. Abdel Nasser wrote that "the alternative identity of De Niro, for the careless way he takes chances with his life. Russian roulette symbolizes war-decreed choices and resolutions: "We all agreed to participate. It was our choice, we each spun our gun barrels, and we each had four chances out of five. We all acted out of our convictions, and out of passion"(232-3). (51).
The main factors that led to Bassam's avenge from his enemies or offenders because of his anger from the gangs, mafia and in particular the militia forces practices over feeble and poor people, because of his pain from persecution and discrimination that he experienced under the militia especially Rambo, so that he suffers humiliation. "Revenge is personal"… it "involves a particular emotional tone, pleasure at the suffering of another, while retribution either need involve no emotional tone or involves another one, namely pleasure at justice being done". (qt. in Ziebart 87). In his, The Virtues of Vengeance Peter French wrote: "the taking of revenge usually produces an emotional or psychological state in the avenger, a feeling of pleasure, a sense of accomplishment, a high". (qtd in Ziebart 108). These two quotes highlight the case of Bassam when he managed to take his avenge especially was accused as

International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS)
Vol-5, Issue-1, Jan -Feb 2020  https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.51.9  ISSN: 2456- Moreover, Bassam"s killing Rambo was his last avenge before leaving Beirut. Before he gave a lesson to Nadjib and he accompanies. He described the way he catches them after they hit him harmfully: "Then I bounced back like a demon: I ran with the drive of a thousand vengeful gods, salivating sweet blood and poisonous promises like a mad hymen…" (99). Bassam hit the two giant men and took The little Najib to investigate who told him to do this. When Najib refused to talk, Bassam threat to kill him if he doesn"t, he started crying as he wet himself. However, Bassam told him to choose between his life by telling him who sent them or he will die. Najib resisted, however, Bassam said: " then to the rats!" (100-101). Najib felt fear and told him that De Niro sent them. Bassam punished Najib after this two times and the last one when he gets to the operation of robbing the casino.
Furthermore, Bassam became angry with his best friend, of his brother who stabbed to his back and took his lover: "I went back to the roof and thought of George. I had almost killed George, my childhood friend, my brother who stabbed me and kissed me and who kissed my lover long enough to leave me". (139) ; another scene is when Bassam warned the so-called Altahouna for his ill manners: "listen, I am just doing this as a favor… Respect is very important to me. I love respect, and I kill disrespect". (147) Bassam himself that he became a vengeful person: "soon I became vindictive".