Postcolonial reading of Sadegh Hedayat’s “Abe Zendegi”, and the active role of hybrid in unsettling the colonial imperialism

The ambivalent position of the colonized subject and his anti colonial discourse are metaphorically and allegorically alluded to in the symbolic story written by Sadegh Hedayat ,titled ‘’the water of life ‘’(Abe Zendegi );by drawing an abstract geography of the colonial world and its crucial need to justify its colonial exploration in the land of aborigines , who are underrepresented in the story ,the author puts more emphasis on the hidden colonial discourse of the missionaries whose major interest is making more profit from the explored lands. According to Homi Bhabha (post-colonial studies , key concepts 10) the key to break away from the chains of imperialism and its repressive ideologies is embedded in colonial discourse itself ; the abstract geography of the story accounts for the theoretical way , suggested by Homi Bhabha, that provides the colonized with the key to freedom which comes from the formation of hybrid identity( post colonial studies , key concepts 108) and comprador (post colonial studies 47) agency(Ahmadak and his two brothers are the character who represent the mentioned agency ) whose main focus is gaining profit .Ahmadak and his brothers undergone significant changes when they encounter with the native people of their colonized lands (the third space of enunciation ), according to Homi Bhabha ,and thus their attitude towards the colonial mission is altered in effect , when they are on their journey to the mysterious land of “the water of life “ whose water can heal the people’s ignorance and physical ailments. The “uneducated “aborigines of the savage west and the east are entrapped and exploited by the three. The ignorance of the people who are in need of the colonial education system is symbolically referred to as their deaf and dumb status. The allusive content of the story implies the presence of the missionary patrons who organize the colonial strategy that makes the colonized subject a mere imitator of the ideologies of the colonizer.