Caine - José Saramago

Some comments on Caim

Miriam Ringel

Como tudo, as palavras têm os seus quês, os seus comos e os seus porquês. (Caim, 55)

 

     1.  I wonder how many people read Caim when alongside them are the Bible and the Internet and they search for the interpretations of what is written alongside the overt verses. I suppose few do this and therefore in my apprehension exists the possibility that people will construe the written things in this book in a distort way.

     2. Who is reading the book and is not familiar with the Bible will be captivated by the sentence that Caine said to God after he killed his brother Abel. "É simples, matei abel porque não podia matar-te a ti, pela intenção estás morto..." (Caim 38)

     In the Peshat (Peshat is one of four classical methods used by Jewish bible scholars to understand the Hebrew bible. Peshat literally means "simple", and describes the meaning of the text apparent at face values), this verse of Caine symbolizes the man who wish to kill God, to kill the Father (Freud), as such the whole journey in future times, and the description of the chosen episodes to be included in the text, are there in order to serve this wish.

     3. There were those who already said that Saramago reads the bible like fiction in which every word receives its verbal significance and not like a story that has infinite of interpretations that were given along the length hundreds of years. Moreover, from my point of view Saramago reads the bible in a certain naïve way, the one which characterizes the reader of a legendary story. But this reading is similar also to that of the child that disillusioned from the childish reading and is already asking: How could it be that people fly on a carpet? And as such he spoils to himself (and to us), the magic of the myth.

     Saramago wants to withdraw all of us, Jews, Christians and Moslems from the world of this "legend" in which one can find practical miracles and segments of moral alongside with practical atrocity. And he wants us to ask questions of deep significance such as how we apprehend ourselves on this earth? What kind of people we are converted into and why we did not learn anything from the very far history (That of the bible and the different mythologies) and the actual History created in front of us also in the 21^st century.

     4. In many interviews Saramago said that God is an invention of the human brain. If God is an invention, how is it that he is present in the book with fullness of his strength and influence? God is almost an "actual character" who assists, according to the reading of Saramago, mainly to the sinners.

     God created Adam and Eve and also created Caine and Abel. If he is guilty of Caine's deed, then he exists, he is to be found, he is there, and this is an internal contradiction that I find along this work of Saramago.

     This book is about the evil man that becomes a type of a "hero" who is a prophet that predicts the badness that will direct the human beings and this remains a bit incomprehensible to me. Why Caine is the one that strolls in the counties of the future and who will attend the events which establish a nation? And as mentioned, there is here a deliberate choice of events with a shade of massacre, death, exploitation and evilness done, according to Caine / Saramago in the "name of God".

     From this point it is inevitable to refer to the actual reality, and Saramago disperses actual comments in the text and apparently not only the sensitive intelligent reader will obtain and understand them.

     5. Saramago brings Caine to the city of the queen Lilith, who was an image relatively unimportant in the Sumerian and the Akkadian mythology and who had a significant role in the monotheistic cultures by representing the way to determine the boundaries of sexuality.

     Lilith of our story is married to a man by the name of Noah that actually is another name to the one to be mentioned later in the book – Noé - the biblical figure, and this idea is very interesting. Is it like his habit that Saramago wants to deceive again the reader?

     Lilith is the adulteress woman, absorbed by sexuality that chooses her lovers and command them to arrive to her palace, and Caine is a chosen lover.

     When Caine is asked what his name is, he says – Abel, and this is also a very interesting point in the story.  Does he fear from what his name and the signal on his forehead bring with it? Is it correct to say that there is here an unconsciously way of desire to request forgiveness for the sinful deed he executed? During the story Caine returns to his original name and in a certain stage also adopts the name of Noé.

     Caine's name comes from what Eve said: I bought a man (Rashi), the root of the word is to create, to design, to give a form, the meaning of the name of the first child of Adam is – creation.

     The change of the name does not make him another man and does not erase the deed that he did, and the signal on his forehead will serve along the length of generations as a connotation which signifies something bad, cruel, demon.

     6. The story about the relationship between Lilith and Caine is mentioned also in an esoteric book that serves inspiration to the writers of stories and it is very interesting that Saramago chose this version.

     The Book of Nod is a fictional book which describes the World of Darkness. It tells the creation myth of vampires, the story of the curse of Caine, his exile in the Land of Nod, and his words to his descendants, as well as prophecies covering the eventual fate of the vampire race. The Book of Nod was actually printed for use as a prop in the game and for inspiration for story-tellers. Its first section is: The Chronicle of Caine:  Outlining the events of Caine's exile, according to the punishment he received from god in the Bible. These events include the murder of Abel who is described as his best friend and his beloved brother, defiance of God's angels, encounters with Lilith, siring of other vampires and the founding of the first city.

     The first part of Caim which is a beautiful story ends when Caine left Lilith's palace and is wandering on earth. He starts to wander in different times or maybe in the two countries.

          Era como se existisse uma fronteira, um traço a separar dois países, Ou dois    
          tempos, disse caim sem consciência de havê-lo dito, o mesmo que se alguém o
          estivesse pensando em seu lugar. (Caim, 78)

     7. I shall not mention the stations in which Caine visits during the story as I do not want to spoil the reading for those that yet did not read the book. I would like to relate only to the last episode - the Noah's Ark - and the attendance of Caine in this appealing event.  As I already mentioned above, this time the name of Noah is changing into Noé.  It is a weird story of adultery of everyone with everyone, including the clue of what Ham did to his father Noé. Caine will kill all Noé's family one after the other and will remain alone with God – this will be his retaliation in God.  Caine is not a worthy partner to attach with God and so God will remain alone with no human company and the book will end with this sentence:

          A história acabou, não haverá nada mais que contar

And we will wait anxiously for the next book of the Nobel laureate.

Ringel Miriam, Viagem na Senda das Vozes, A Vida e a Obra de José Saramago, Jerusalém, Ed. Carmel, 2009. (em hebraico)