Season of Migration to the North: Motif Tracking – Hot & Cold

Summary of role:

The most basic interpretation is that the heat represents the South while the cold represents the North. These two motifs are used repeatedly to symbolize the internal struggles the two protagonists suffer from in maintaining balance and choosing of the two cultures they have been exposed to. It is constantly represented in physical terms of the icy North and the desert from the South. The use of such terms often emphasizes the difference in culture and its lasting impact on an individual.

Quotations & Analysis:

Page	Quotation	Analysis
1	“They rejoiced at having me back and made a great fuss, and it was not long before I felt as though a piece of ice were melting inside of me, as though I were some frozen substance on which the sun had shone — that life warmth of the tribe which I had lost for a time in a land "whose fishes die of the cold."	The narrator’s initial response to his return to Sudan was positive. From the quotation it is obvious that he embraces and welcomes the heat after being in the cold (the North) for so long. This response contrasts with the narrator’s later thoughts and positions on the South, showing his change in attitude. We can also see the tension between the north and south, when the narrator describes the south as a place where the fishes die of the cold, suggesting that the people and culture of the south clashes and is unable to co-exist with the north.
106	“Man’s mind is not kept in a refrigerator. It is this sun which is unbearable. It melts the brain. It paralyses thought.”	At this point the narrator has just found out about Hosna Bint Mahmoud’s death and we see a transition in his attitude towards the fusing of the two cultures. He now recognizes the south’s culture to be just like the sun, it is ‘unbearable’ and ‘paralyses thought.’
104	“I wandered off into the narrow winding lanes of the village, my face touched by the cold night breezes that blow in heavy with dew from the north,heavy too with the scent of acacia blossom and animal dung, the scent of earth, that has just been irrigated after the thirst of days, and the scent of half-ripe corn cobs and the aroma of lemon trees.” (pg 47)	From this quotation the relationship between the north and the cold is made clear. This is emphasized by the narrator descriptions of what the cold wind reminds him of, as these descriptions are obviously from the North.
36	“‘Yes. It was summer - they said that they had not known a summer like it for a thousand years.’”	In this quotation, we see Mustafa Sa’eed residing in the North. The fact that this is the hottest summer in the UK symbolizes the intrusion of the south (Mustafa Sa’eed) to the north. It could also be interpreted as an indication of reverse-colonization, where the South (post-independence), migrates or ‘invades’ the UK while impacting their culture.
106	“Ravish me, you African demon. Burn me in the fire of your temple, you black god. Let me twist and turn in your wild and impassioned rites.’ Right here is the source of the fire; here the temple.”	In the eyes of the British, the South is characterized by its heat and therefore fire becomes a motif for the South and its exoticism. Isabella Seymour here refers to Mustafa as all these motifs, demonstrating the strong biased/stereotypical ideas the North imposes on the South.
136	“First of all I shall see and hear, then I shall burn it down as though it had never been.”	Symbolizes the destruction of evidence of the North by the burning (overpowering) of the South.
111	“The sun is the enemy. Now it is exactly in the liver of the sky, as the Arabs say. What a fiery liver!”	At this point the narrator has given up on his hope to once more be a part of the Sudanese culture, as he sees the culture in a negative light.
160	“I was the invader who had come from the South, and this was the icy battlefield from which I would not make a safe return.”	In this quotation we see Mustafa bedding Jean Morris and how this relates to reverse-colonization. The icy battlefield represents the North and this idea of being an ‘invader’ emphasizes colonization. By saying, that he won’t make a safe return, Mustafa is implying that he won’t be the same man after he returns from the north, because the culture of the North, will forever be a part of him. It also relates back to the idea of infections and diseases; once you are contaminated by a culture, there is no shaking it off.
105	“There is no shelter from the sun which rises up into the sky with unhurried steps, its rays spilling out on the ground as though there existed an old blood feud between it and the people of the earth. There is no shelter apart from the hot shade inside the lorry - shade that is not really shade.”	The desert in the South is parallel to the icy battlefield of the North. The sun never stops shining here and there is never a real shade that could shelter one from it. It is a metaphor for how one cannot escape the impacts the harsh culture will bring onto them. Even the lorry, an item of modernization, does not change the “old blood feud”; historical impacts of the Sudanese culture from the North, what is done is done.
168	“Were we in winter or summer?”	Here we see the narrator swimming in the river and asking himself several questions. This quotation is a question that shows his internal struggle on whether he is a part of the North or South. He is questioning which culture he fits best.

Key Moment:

“I was the invader who had come from the South, and this was the icy battlefield from which I would not make a safe return.” In this quotation we see Mustafa bedding Jean Morris and how this relates to reverse-colonization. The icy battlefield represents the North and this idea of being an ‘invader’ emphasizes colonization. By saying, that he won’t make a safe return, Mustafa is implying that he won’t be the same man after he returns from the north, because the culture of the North, will forever be a part of him. It also relates back to the idea of infections and diseases; once you are contaminated by a culture, there is no shaking it off. This moment is key because it shows, the internal struggle and the lasting effect of the two cultures. It also emphasizes the idea of colonization in relation to the motif of hot and cold.