LIT13-R62

Juan Paulo M. Santos

October 17, 2014

“A One-Man Army: Sunay Zaim’s Vision for Kars in the Novel Snow” Commented [LG1]: The idea about sunay Zaim is good
but not convincgly supported by an explanation of details
from the texts

Do not assume that your reader knows what you mean,

The power of one man should never be underestimated for only one is needed for something big always try your best to explain a claim

to start. This certain something can also be powerful enough for one to think that it transcends everything C+

that he used to believe in for its immense influence in his life and how he thinks that it can also influence
the life of others. There is a certain man in the novel entitled, “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk, that is very
familiar to these two concepts for he, himself, has believed that these two ideas are real and evident in a
small town called Kars only to find out later in his death that he cannot do anything to change what Kars
really is. This certain man is known by the name, “Sunay Zaim”.

Sunay Zaim is known to be the leader of the coup d’état against the headscarf girls for the goal of
modernizing Kars. Sunay Zaim is an actor in his theatre and also an influential leader that managed to
combine these two notable characteristics of his into a seemingly perfect position for himself and that is
being the leader of a coup de theatre which also apparently, is a coup d’état. Sunay Zaim’s love for
modern arts can be easily seen through his actions in the novel and by the way he performed the said coup
d’état. But before the whole reason why Sunay Zaim held the coup is discussed, what matters more is
how it actually transpired or what made the coup possible.

It is said that everything started from somewhere and that what is huge and popular right now
were once tiny and unknown before. This idea can be seen in most, if not all, trends that we think are
prominent in our world right now but more on the topic, it’s clearly seen in the manner of how Sunay
Zaim made the coup possible. It was stated that Sunay Zaim was a forgotten theatre personality and that
pretty much tells that he is nothing more than a mere ant in the world’s point of view. This may be so, but
the vision of Sunay Zaim to turn Kars into a modernized society is a goal that many are willing to take
part in. That is why even though Sunay Zaim has no voice in his community, being a forgotten actor; he
still managed to stage a coup along with some military help. This just shows that one doesn’t have to be
popular to be able to change a particular problem in their community. It only requires one to have a solid
and upright goal to be able to turn something small like Sunay Zaim’s vision into something much bigger
which is the supposed to be Kars’ reality if Sunay’s mission were to succeed.

There is no harm in having a goal like Sunay’s modernizing of Kars. Unless, of course the goal
requires the loss of several lives which is exactly what Sunay brought up by killing the audience in his
theatre. To resort to the death of tens and maybe even hundreds of people just to fulfil is a goal is not
something ordinary for this means that the mind of the doer of the action is poisoned by the goal he set in
the first place. Not only this but the poisoning of the mind resulted into the goal’s transcendence of
everything what the doer before firmly believes in. This is the second idea that Sunay Zaim is very guilty
of having. Sunay Zaim’s passion for his art to become a reality and for the coup for the modernization of
Kars to succeed is so immense that he was willing to do anything for these goals of his to be a success. It
even transcended religion for we can see that in the latter part of the story that he told Kadife, who is a
firm believer of her faith, to remove her headscarf which is pretty much the most significant part of an
Islamic woman. This simply shows that in order for Sunay’s goal to modernize Kars to succeed, the
removal of the thought for religion is required. Not only that, but we can also see that in Sunay’s coup
that it also transcends history as we know it for murdering hundreds of people for the sake of one
objective will surely damage the name of Sunay Zaim and also his theatre both of which were once
untainted. Commented [LG2]: ????

Overall, Sunay’s goal was a righteous goal done in an inhumane manner. By this, we can say that
the saying that the end does not justify the means is very much relatable to Sunay’s life for we can see
that the goal of Sunay that is modernizing Kars is for the main reason of making Kars a better place for
him and all the people that live in it. The only fault he has done is that he killed hundreds of people in
order to make his voice known throughout Kars.