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1.INTRODUCTION

The story is considered as one of the most important and most effective literary types and the research on its structure and content is of great importance. Investigation and analysis of the story writing principles and techniques and quality of using the story’s constituent elements enables the readers understand the main reasons of their enjoyment of the text and figure out the implicit significations and the contents of the study and find out the shortcomings (Kalogeropoulos et al.: 2020; Laureano et al.: 2018, pp. 4-7). Characters are elements of the story that advance the various scenes by their actions and behaviors and pursue the story’s main subject in line with the writer’s intended themes and motifs through creating incidents and events on the grounds of time and space. In showing the importance of characterization in a story, it only suffices to say that the foundation of the famous and credible novels is laid on their appropriate characterization and that it is the characters that grant value and credibility to the novel. It is generally believed that the “literary masterpieces and the events logically come about by the oppositions between the dispositions and abilities in the story. Therefore, the primary goal of many of the stories is showcasing the natures and characteristics of the characters” (Mirsadeghi: 2013).

The story “fire without smoke” is one of the most important narrative fictions by Ebrahimi. It has been written in seven volumes under the following titles: Galan and Solmaz, the holy tree, the great unification, the bloody realities, starting again, I would never be calm and every ending has a beginning. Nader Ebrahimi has published the first three volumes of the fire without smoke before the victory of the Islamic Revolution and they have been more appreciably welcomed in contrast to the next four volumes. In this story, a special sort of realism accompanying the myths has been showcased. A part of the Turkmen rituals’ myths and nature of the desert have been narrated and described by the author in the story.

Based on this study, the readers are going to be made more acquainted with the characters and the constituent elements of the novel “the fire without smoke” and the grounds of the character-narration recognition in the story; the writer’s understanding of the social environment in his periphery would be perceived and comprehended. Moreover, a more exact recognition of the trend of Persian novel-writing, especially social novel, will be presented.

The investigation of the characters in terms of dynamicity and stasis, closeness and comprehensiveness, behavioral characteristics as well as several psychological topics in the fire without smoke are amongst the primary objectives of the current article.

2.MATERIAL AND METHODS

There are articles written with various subjects regarding the fire without smoke, including the quarterly journal of the spring of literature that gives criticism and analysis of the structure and elements of the story “fire without smoke” by Alavi Moqaddam and Pourshahram in 2011.

Nader Ebrahimi was born in 1936 in Tehran. After the childhood period and acquiring preliminary education and then diploma, he entered Law college. After two years of education and quitting it uncompleted, he continued education in English and graduated with a BA degree.

Similar to some of the other contemporary writers such as Mirsadeghi and Golshiri, Nader Ebrahimi created works criticizing the intellectuals in the 1950s. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, as well, no change is created in his beliefs and follows his former political ideology and engages in explicitly expressing his own perspective upon finding the political setting suitable (Ebrahimi: 2008).

About his writing style, Ebrahimi states that:

I do not see prose like a garment on the body of subject for the decoration by such a garment keepsthe body in strangeness and unfamiliarity. It is my weakness if the subject occasionally remains strange and inaccessible with content in my stories and the prose’s decoration should not be blamed. (Ebrahimi: 1992).

In the stories written for adults, Nader adopts a realistic method.

The majority of the stories’ protagonists are selected from amongst the society members. “Realist writer does not find it at all necessary to choose a certain and extraordinary person differing from the ordinary individuals as the protagonist of his story. He selects the hero of his story from amongst the people and from wherever the environment he prefers” (Seyyed Hosseini: 1961). It seems in the story of fire without smoke and as pointed out by Ebrahimi in the third volume of the novel that the protagonist (Alleny) of the story has a character like a writer and his wife (Farzaneh Mansouri) has been portrayed in the role of Maral.

3.RESULTS

This story deals with the discrepancies between YomutYomut and Goklan Tribes in Turkmen Sahara Region. It also explores the personal life incidents and political and patriotic fights by Alleny and his wife. In this story, Ebrahimi displays a special type of realism accompanied by myths that are parts of the ancient rituals of the Turkmen tribes and the nature of the desert narrated in the story in a poetical form by the author. In every corner of the story, the author uses eloquent words constructed and processed by him and influencing the conversation trends of the story.

The story begins with the adventures of a warrior and fighting youth called Galan who is the lord of theYomut warriors and a wild, imprudent and autonomous, stubborn and revengeful poet and a headstrong enemy of the Goklans. In one of the fights, he falls in love with a girl from their tribe named Solmaz and marries her.

Due to the hatred he has of the Goklans’ chieftain, Galan sets fire in a part of their harvests one night andthis causes a harsh war and the eventual killing of Galan at the side of the water well. Solmaz revenges his brother for the blood of her husband and gets killed by Gomishanis. In the second volume, Galan’s senior child marries to the daughter of his father’s cordial friend Boyanmish and becomes the father of three sons and a daughter.

During his chieftainship, the children become severely sick and die because of the disease. He dispatchesAlleny to the city to find a solution to this problem and become a doctor but the people from Incheboron, particularly the elders, and Yashuli Aydin who have had hatred for Ojas from childhood rise up in a fight against him. He leaves the clan of Ojas alone and rises against them. Amongst the events that happen to the family of Ojas is not taking part in the wedding ceremony of Palaz, son of Aq Oyler, with Ka’aba, setting fire on and injuring Palaz and Atmish, children of Aq Oyler. All of these events occur because of Yashuli Aydin’s hatred and this causes a gradual decrease in the power of Ojas.

In the third volume that begins under the name of the great unification, Alleny returns from Gonbad.

During this time, he has become completely knowledgeable in social and political matters and medicine. Yashuli asks many persons to kill him as soon as he returns but this is prevented from happening with the astuteness of Maral and cooperation of Atmish’s friends.

Alleny encounters the opposition and unkindness of the people in the onset of his medical work due totheir fearfulness of Yashuli and the holy tree to the extent that he decides to kill the enemy with its weapon. Thus, resorting to hypocrisy, he convinces the people to bring their patients to him, drives out Yashuli Aydin, and turns the place of the holy tree to a big garden.

Story Characters:

1.Galan Oja:

The senior child of Yazi Oja is the pivotal and main character in the volumes 1 and 2. Galan is a comprehensive and dynamic character. Besides being a cruel and blood-shedding and merciless warrior, he is also a poet. He exhibits a completely calm, cheering and good-humored personality when playing the sitar and composing poems. The paradox in his deeds makes his actions unpredictable within the framework of the story. Due to the same reason, he looks lively and happy in the course of the story. All of the important incidents of the story revolve around the actions of this character that plays a significant role in advancing the story events.

2.Solmaz Ochi:

One of the main characters of the story with an accentuated presence in the events and incidents thereof is Solmaz, daughter of Boyuk Ochi. She is a beloved that steals the heart of the lover and sets the ground for expressing of the romantic themes and, on the other hand, plays an effective role in corroboration of the story’s main conspiracy (revenge).

3.Boyan Mish:

Boyan Mish is one of the deuterogamists of the story and he is the same age as Galan; he has a small body and he is chivalrous, main friend of the protagonist and assistor and intimate of Galan Oja in the story. He has a dynamic and comprehensive personality in the story.

4.Yashuli Aydin:

He is one of the deuterogamists of the story appointed based on the desert’s traditions as Yashuli Inche Borun after the death of his father. He held the highest rank after chieftain amongst the people because he was a supporter of the holy tree and used to collect gold and silver coins and the other ablations and needs. Due to the existence of the holy tree and his support of it, the people highly respected him. Yashuli was one of the stubborn opponents of Ojas and found the future of the holy tree at risk with Alleny’s travel to the city. He was determined to diminish the Ojas' power in the desert and persuade the people to rise against them. The author exhibits an anti-religion and sanctimonious characteristic of the clergymen by exhibiting this character. Aydin exemplifies individuals in the society who misuse religious sanctities as a cover for their unethical actions and take advantage of the people's beliefs for filling their own pockets with money. If this group repeatedly speaks of ethics, it is because they want to keep the people busy with it while they are themselves engaged in hedonism and revelry (Mohammadi, & Yekta: 2018, pp. 1-7).

5.Aq Oyler:

One of the effective and pivotal characters in the story is Aq Oyler whose decisions instigate reactions in the other characters of the story. Aq Oyler is an extrovert, orator, smart and politician man but he became an introvert going into solitude upon sending Alleny to the city to be a physician to treat the sick children of Inche Borun. This character is more introduced indirectly in the conversations between the story characters. The most effective method of expressing the feelings of the story’s character is a conversation. It is via a conversation that the reader becomes familiar with the story’s individuals and recognizes the ethical aspects and the personality characteristics of them. Aq Oyler, as well, has a dispatching personality and dispatches Alleny to the city to be a doctor.

This character plays a more prominent role in the third volume of the story. He is the son of Galan and the father of Alleny and somehow links the two main characters of the story (Iraji: 2015).

6.Aqsham Glen:

Aqsham Glen was the younger son of Galan and brother of Aq Oyler. He has an introvert personality; he is kind and opposes war and blood-shedding in the desert. His thoughts are focused on the unification between the two tribes of Yomut and Goklan. He hates his father for the reason that he used to kill others without reason and unjustifiably. He deserted Inche Borun and went to his mother’s homeland because he did not look at it as his homeland. Peacefulness was amongst his most distinct attributes and his migration only had one reason, disordering the law of revenge and retaliation. “I go as a hostage to block their path of avenge and let them shed no blood for nothing on the earth” (Ebrahimi: 1992).

In describing the personality of Aqsham Glen, Ebrahimi has sought assistance from two methods: A)direct: “Aqsham was weirdly quiet and solitary. He used to put his head only on his brother’s lap. He was sad but he did not cry. He was kind but he hid it … He only showed his being an orphan” (Ebrahimi: 2008); B) indirect:

Aq Oyler was shouting at him. What kind of life is this? A person cannot live twice; one cannot taste life twice; one cannot have a selection chance twice; are you a human being or a leaf on a tree? Why don’t you talk? Why don’t you dart on your horse? Why don’t you throw an arrow? Why don’t you laugh? (Nooradi et al. 2017, pp. 71-75)

7.Palaz:

Palaz is one of the secondary characters in the story with introversion and non-participation in the political and social activities and tendency towards tranquility and avoidance of war and blood-shedding and satisfaction with the current status being some of his outstanding features. Inclination towards individual tranquility and being disinterested in taking risks are amongst the introvert persons’ characteristics.

8.Atmish:

The younger son of Aq Oyler and younger brother of Alleny was a mischievous, blood-shedding and mutinous and avenging but very brave person. He was extraordinarily courageous. All of these characteristics lost their color with the presence of an element of love and gave rise to the creation of an opposite and very calm personality. “He changed his way and returned to his father to tell him that he would never kill any person anymore; I swear to the God that I would never kill a person” (Ebrahimi: 1992).

Nader Ebrahimi uses a combined (direct and indirect) method to present the characteristics of Atmish: a)direct: “Atmish sat on the horseback; what a horse-riding; it seemed as if he is Galan Oja but a smaller example of him with eyes like pomegranate buds” (Ebrahimi: 1992); b) indirect: in addressing Acylan he orders forcefully that “I did not hear what you said. Acylan nodded his head in confirmation; Atmish shouted answer me with your mouth, not with your head. Yes, I heard you” (Irani: 2001).

9.Alleny:

Alleny is one of the pivotal and key characters in the story from its third volume to the end of the seventh volume. He is a character looking for the freedom of human beings for he is himself an open-minded man. Although he seems to have no religion, he is not seeking for any immorality and capriciousness and debauchery. Unification of the desert and awakening the people of ignorance and superstition are his most important goals for the desert dwellers that caused Alleny to step on the path of fighting tyranny and oppression by the governing system. His decisions on the critical moments make the reader unable in exactly predicting his reactions. Alleny is to be enumerated amongst the comprehensive and dynamic personalities of the story (Miri et al: 2018, pp. 147-171).

10.Yasha:

One of the dynamic and comprehensive deuterogamists of the story is Yasha who is cured by Alleny and becomes a follower and assistant of him from the very early childhood. He demandingly seeks for superiority over the others. According to Adler, seeking superiority is one of the emotions originating from an inferiority complex. Yashuli Aydin and his servants had imposed such an inferiority complex on him and his family. Thus, he decides to continue education and spends all his day and night hours studying. Yasha is a young person disappointed with religion because all his feelings of inferiority have been imposed onto him by the religious agents of the society. Therefore, he behaves with utmost cruelty and wildness against the society’s filthy individuals who have decorated appearance and tries destroying them. Yasha is an example of the society’s sympathetic and suffered individuals.

There is only one way for correcting the world and that is killing all of the corrupt persons. Wrongdoers should be killed by any means; individually or group-by-group; no matter how large they are in number and this has to be done with extreme stone-heartedness and brutally, crazily and incalculably. (Ebrahimi: 1992; Paydar: 2018)

11.Arpachi:

One of the static and secondary characters is Sachley’s spouse and Aq Oyler’s son-in-law. He is undoubtedly one of the most suffered characteristics of the story and an assistor of Alleny; he helped in smoothing the road for Alleny’s entry into Inche Borun. He is amongst the personalities sacrificing their lives for others and willing to tolerate any calamity but keeping their vow and promise. Arpachi had made a promise to Alleny to guard the white tent and let nobody enter it except Ojas and he even shot his father and allowed the stigma of patricide to be carved on his forehead but did not break his promise (Shariati: 2019).

12.Yamaq:

Yamaq is one of the forces assisting Alleny and he is an amicable friend of Atmish. He is a secondary and dynamic character. Unlike Alleny, he believed so much in religion and God. In the middle of the story, Yamaq changes his personality due to the bitter events that happen to him and the author offers persuasive proofs for this change. Yamaq feels deep attachment to four men in life: the first one is Atmish who was killed at the side of Chah Galan; the second is Ala who became a perpetually mourning man after the death of his wife; the third is Yasha who is very soon sentenced to execution for his engagement in the political fights and the fourth is Alleny for whom Yamaq feels deep attachment and concern; he expresses his inclination towards religion in the following words: “one of the reasons that has made me inclined towards religion is that I wanted to pray day and night to the God so as to keep Alleny safe and sound so that he might cure the people’s pains” (Ebrahimi: 1992; Pakdel, & Ashrafi: 2019; Creech, & Bhavnagri: 2002, pp. 219-224).

Amongst the most important and most distinct characteristics of Yamaq, his being a man of war can bepointed out. In assisting Alleny, Yamaq attends the battlefield and he is a very skillful marksman.

13.Maral:

The most outstanding woman in fire without smoke is Maral. Nader Ebrahimi introduces her as a realist person like the other female characters of the story. Her existence fully reflects an original Iranian Turkmen woman. Maral is a nerdy, simple, humble and noblewoman with low expectations. Presenting such a person as Maral in the story, Ebrahimi intends to give a more accentuated role of the women in the political and social arenas. Thus, Maral enters the arena of politics by Alleny’s encouragement, continues her schooling in midwifery, and becomes a physician. Maral is a multidimensional character. Thus, she exhibits various reactions on different occasions. She is very calm and reticent and she has a strange power in controlling her psychological and mental states. Maral is a dynamic, comprehensive and completely self-constructed character (Bozorgbigdeli, & Salehi: 2017, pp. 65-69).

4.CONCLUSIONS

The characterization method of the story is more in a combined form in such a way that the author has used direct and indirect descriptions wherever it is deemed expedient by the story’s setting. Ebrahimi seminally gives a direct description of the characters’ personalities and subsequently provides the characters with an opportunity to expose themselves to readers’ judgment and watch through their actions and reactions.

Thus, a large part of the characters’ personality aspects is introduced to the reader within the format of conversation. In the course of the story, the required proportion between the characters’ personalities and utterances is not seen in the beginning. In some of the cases, the illiterate characters articulate wise and well- calculated words going well beyond their understanding and perception and this is a weak point of the story in fire without smoke. Characters employed by Ebrahimi in the heart of his story are chivalrous, industrious, robust, stubborn, fanatic and patriotic and fostering great ideals in their minds. These ideals are also craved by the author and Ebrahimi expresses them through the words of the characters.

BIODATA

R NAMI SHARIF ABAD: Reyhaneh Nami Sharif Abad is a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) student at Persian Language and Literature faculty at Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Mashhad, Iran. Her research areas are Persian Language and Literature, sentence structure, figurative language, sentence arrangement, Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron and Hyperbole.

R ASHRAFZADEH: Reza Ashrafzadeh is a Professor at Persian Language and Literature faculty of Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Mashhad, Iran. Hols teacher at of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad. His research areas are Persian Language and Literature, sentence structure, figurative language, sentence arrangement, Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron and Hyperbole.

J MEHRBAN: Javad Mehrban is an Associate Professor at the Persian Language and Literature faculty of Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Mashhad, Iran. Hols teacher at of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad. His research areas are Persian Language and Literature, sentence structure, figurative language, sentence arrangement, Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron and Hyperbole.

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