Violence and War in Rawi Hage’s DeNiro’s Game and Cockroach

Abstract

Violence is a complex and broad concept and phenomenon that has been present throughout history. In fact, it is almost impossible to fully grasp the real reasons or motives behind acts of violence as they are varied. Violence has been quite influential in human evolution and existence; it is prevalent not only in real life but also in different narratives. The latter could be media, cinema, or literature, as they are efficient means that could represent a variety of topics, issues, and phenomena, and the topic of violence is no exception. In this regard, this paper attempts to scrutinize the various aspects of violence and crime driven by war in Rawi Hage’s two novels, DeNiro’s Game and Cockroach, focusing on physical violence that is legitimized by war and psychological violence that is a result of the former, providing a textual analysis that considers thematic and character analysis. The novel's context is the Lebanese society during the cruel Lebanese Civil War that left its people struggling for their lives even after the war stopped. This paper attempts to consider the brutality of violence during wartime and its consequences in the long run, which transcend the actual physical abuse and harm to the psychological one that causes trauma and mental disturbance. The latter have driven war-witnesses, the characters, to a totally endless circle of suffering and mental struggle on a daily basis.