The Book of Saladin Literary Elements

Medieval Story, Fictional Memoir, Historical Novel.

The setting of the book is Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus during twelfth century. It has been written in the context of crusades as a memoir of Saladin.

The narrator of the book is Saladin and the story has been narrated from his point of view. The author has given an account of Saladin's life in this fictional memoir.

Ironical, Solemn, Grave, Pensive,

The protagonist of the novel is Saladin, who was a Kurdish warrior and a liberator of Jerusalem. He has been demonstrated as a sultan of Syria and Egypt. The antagonists in the book are the crusaders who were ruling Jerusalem.

The major conflict in the book is between the Muslims and the crusaders. The Christians were reiterating that they would rule Jerusalem because of its affiliation with the Christ. In this regard, they were torturing Muslims and accusing them of being the enemies of God.

The climax in the story comes, when Saladin fights with the crusaders to get hold of Jerusalem and to save the Muslims from violence and humiliation.

The rule of a Kurd in Syria and Egypt foreshadows the political strife among the nations.

The understatement in the book is that the Muslims and the Jews were living together but the crusaders urged them to fight against each other. Another understatement is that the Christians were violating their religious values by persecuting the Muslims. The Muslims still need a leader like Saladin in order to get rid of their persecution and humiliation.

There are allusions to Palestinian problem, crusades, religious intolerance, Christ, Christianity, Judaism, Saladin's life, medieval history and conflicts in the middle east.

There are images of violence, murders, killing, bloodshed, leadership, effective strategies, crusades, death, political instability, medieval strife, Saladin's life and mass slaughter. The author has portrayed Saladin as a warrior, savior and a great leader.

The paradox in the story is that the crusaders were acting against their religious values. They were committing violence to get the holy lands by doing unholy acts. Another paradox in the story is that although the Muslims and Jews were living together in Jerusalem but it was not the right of Christians to claim the land just because Christ lived there. Jerusalem was the land of almost all the prophets of Israel, so their claim was baseless.

There is a parallelism between twelfth century stories, issues and the politics in middle east in the present times. The author has drawn a parallelism between Syria and Egypt in the middle ages and the Middle East of 20th century.

An example of metonymy is 'Saladin', who stands for all the effective leaders in the world who fights to save their community. An example of synecdoche is the conflict between Muslims and crusaders in the medieval era, which represents the Israel and Palestinian problem in the present times.

Religion, warfare, and Jerusalem have been personified in the book.