THE TRAGEDY OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THE SPIRAL OF FEAR AND VIOLENCE IN YAŞAR KEMAL’S KIMSECIK NOVEL SERIES
Authors: Ulutaş Nurullah , Baykal Erdem 
Published: December 2024

Purpose: In this study, through the novel Kimsecik, our aim will be to make a social, historical and psychological analysis on fear and violence. Fundamentally, it is necessary to state that Yaşar Kemal’s novel reveals very different aspects of violence, such as war, the poverty and migration due to this poverty. It should also be noted that the content of the novel deals with a historical period. The content of the novel is the 15-year period from the Sarıkamış defeat in 1915 to the 1930s. So, we have the World War I, the foundation of the New Republic of Turkey after the Ottoman Empire and its early period. In this sense, basically, the article deals with the phenomenon of violence in relation to Turkey’s history. Through the eyes of a child, it also tries to reveal a feudal culture in which violence and fear are intertwined. There are also psychoanalytic references in the novel. The relationship between the character Salman and his father could be considered in this respect.

Method: The method adopted in the article is basically the analysis of the novel’s characters; their psychological, sociological and historical realities are considered. Especially, through a child, we could understand better the social and psychological aspects of fear, because, the child experiences the fears brought about by social problems. But also, making them more accessible and meaningful with imagination. The child not only reflects the fear but through his imagination makes it more and more understandable and interpretable. In summary, we became the witnesses of a child’s approach to the concepts of violence and fear and a widowed woman’s struggle to live in society and survive the oppression and harassment applied to her. Behind of all this, we can see the poor Anatolian people’s financial difficulties, struggle with epidemics, exploiting each other, their cunning, their respect and fear of state power.

Results and Conclusion: Despite the fear and violence, we see that hope and imagination are never lost. Despite the intensity of oppression and death, the characters’ struggle against it stands out.Yaşar Kemal’s novel, which is in the socialist realist line, also expresses the desire to be free from violence and fear, because these two work together and fear can make a person do anything. In a way, if fear is overcome, the cycle of violence and fear could be broken.

Implications of research: if we remember that the novel is also an autobiography, it will be possible to find the roots of the formation of Yaşar Kemal’s thought; an idea of resistance against fear and violence. Ultimately, it will be possible to see the political perspective at the root of Yaşar Kemal’s novel and the origin of his imagination.

Originality/value: The article also shows Yaşar Kemal’s world of thought. Violence and fear are in a way the main themes of all his novels. Moreover, especially Yaşar Kemal’s dream of a world without violence remains as a hope. This hope of the children in the novel continues in Yaşar Kemal himself.