My Name is Red

After the murderer confesses, Enishte knows he is next. He is not surprised that the murderer killed Elegant, suggesting that the murderer “wanted to paint as you wished, without fear” (166). The murderer, though, knows that Enishte is trying to distract him and save himself. He explains that he is controlled by the Devil and that Enishte has made him a murderer. Enishte then asks the murderer to walk him through the killing. The murderer agrees but ends up discussing Elegant’s lack of style and mediocre artistic abilities instead. When the murderer asks about his own style, Enishte calls him the most talented of the miniaturists. The murderer accuses Enishte of lying.

Jealously, the murderer questions why Enishte is working with Black rather than him. Enishte explains that Black isn’t working as a miniaturist—and, he is not a murderer. Enishte looks forward to the completion of the book even though their work will never be fully appreciated or understood. Indeed, according to Enishte, Eastern methods of art will be forgotten, and their work will eventually vanish. Angered, the murderer finally strikes Enishte in the head several times with the inkpot.

Enishte describes his death, which he promises “is not the end” (173). Although he desires to continue living, after struggling with the murderer, Enishte finally closes his eyes, unable to continue looking at the killer covered in his blood. With his eyes shut, Enishte sees Azrael, the Angel of Death, and weeps as he realizes he is dying. Although he tries to wait for Shekure’s return, Enishte decides he is ready. In that final moment, Satan appears and tempts Enishte to renounce Muhammad. Enishte refuses to answer, and Azrael comes to his aid, helping him to open his mouth and release his soul into a calm new beginning.

Walking home in the snow from the house of the Hanged Jew, Shekure does not know what to do. She is disturbed by Black’s overwhelming desire for sex, but also believes he loves her. Shekure also thinks through her own feelings and realizes she feels protective of Black and views him as a child.

At home, Shekure searches for her sons and Hayriye, quickly realizing that they have not returned. She enters her father’s room, only to find his dead body. Shekure tears out her hair and begs Allah to return Enishte to her, even while realizing that he has been murdered and his room destroyed, Shekure moves her father’s body to another room to hide him from her children. Explaining that Enishte is ill, Shekure sends the boys to their bedroom, warning them not to leave it as one of the jinn is in their house.

Downstairs, Shekure tells Hayriye of Enishte’s murder and the enslaved woman shrieks and accidentally cuts her finger. As Hayriye insists on viewing the body, Shekure confesses that she was not home during the murder but meeting with Black in the house of the Hanged Jew. The women comfort each other, feed the boys dinner, and put them to bed. After Shevket and Orhan go to sleep, Hayriye and Shekure pray over Enishte and wash his body.

The color red lists all the books where it has appeared, noting that it has represented quivers, blood, and the folds of a quilt. Indeed, the color red exclaims “Verily and truly, I’ve been everywhere” (185). The color red addresses the question “What is it to be a color” by explaining how it is similar to senses like touch, sight, and hearing, but mystical because it can be experienced by a kind of synesthesia, or the perception of one sense through another: for example, “Color is the touch of the eye” (186).

the color red is associated with strength and fire. Its hue is developed when a master miniaturist crushes a beetle and boils the resulting red powder with soapwort and lotor. Once, two blind painters tried to explain the color red to someone born blind. They agreed that color is felt rather than seen and so discussed the power of red in terms of the senses. Finally, the blind miniaturists assessed the meaning of the color red, deciding that those who cannot see it can never truly learn its meaning.

Before her children wake, Shekure writes Black, asking him to meet her at the house of the Hanged Jew. She gives the letter to Hayriye and notices that the young woman no longer looks at her with fear. Later, she tells her sons that Enishte has gone on an errand.

In the garden of the house of the Hanged Jew, Shekure tells Black of her father’s murder and the destruction of their home. She asks Black for his protection and asks what he will do to ensure her and her sons’ safety. Legally, in the wake of Enishte’s death, Hasan and Shekure’s father-in-law are now her guardians. This is one reason why Shekure must hide her father’s death. Another reason to do so is that she was away from home during the murder, despite the prohibition on women leaving the house without a male escort. Shekure also she fears that Hayriye may harm her or reveal her secret meeting with Black.

Shekure then broaches the subject of marriage, making Black promise that he would not have sex with her until she is legally divorced, the murderer has been apprehended, and the Sultan’s secret manuscript is complete. Shekure advises Black to find a judge who will grant her a divorce and secure a preacher who will marry them that evening. Inwardly, Shekure finds her scheming and “insincere manner” (192) out of character, but she adopts this tone to persuade the childish Black to rise to the occasion. As they part, Black tells Shekure that she is beautiful. She, however, responds that it pleases her more to be praised for her intelligence as her father used to.

After Shekure leaves, Black finds an imam and pays him a large fee to ensure that Shekure’s widowhood is certified. The imam also agrees to furnish a witness to help prove the death of Shekure’s husband. While setting his wedding in motion, Black imagines his day as four separate illustrated scenes. In the first, Black travels with the preacher in a boat, constantly fearing to find a pirate ship rise from the darkness. In the second, Black bribes another official with Venetian coins. The third scene depicts a proxy judge who refuses to certify Shekure’s divorce without her legal guardian’s consent, despite the pleas of the emotional imam. Finally, in the last scene, the proxy records Shekure’s divorce after Black promises to marry the widow and care for her needs.

Black hurries back to Shekure’s house but is shocked when Shekure demands a bridal procession. Afraid of losing her, Black agrees. He returns on a white horse and watches as Shekure emerges dressed in a red wedding gown. Her neighbors gather, and musicians play a bridal melody. Black then understands that Shekure wants the procession to secure the approval of her community, but he fears that a crowd could endanger their wedding. During the marriage ceremony, the couple pretends that Enishte is alive to ensure acceptance of their wedding. After the wedding guests leave, Black leads Shekure to Enishte’s room; after kissing the corpse’s hands, the new couple embraces with passion.

With her guests gone, Shekure tells her sons to kiss the hand of their new father. Black explains to the boys that he married Shekure not just for her sake but also to be a father to them. Shekure warns the boys that they now must obey Black. Although Orhan hugs Black, Shevket avoids his embrace. Shekure makes certain the boys don’t see their grandfather’s corpse, using the idea of evil spirits to scare them into obedience.

Black and Shekure look over Enishte’s book illustrations. Shekure suggests that in the morning they tell everyone that Enishte died in the night. Suddenly the door to her father’s room opens and she enters the room and gazes at his corpse in fear. When she returns to Black, they kiss passionately, struggling with their mutual desire. Shekure, though, will not sleep in Black’s bed until he catches her father’s murderer; she goes to sleep with her children, but has difficulty sleeping.

Waking in terror when she hears a sound outside, Shekure goes to investigate and finds Black talking to Hasan. Claiming the marriage is illegitimate and that he’ll find witnesses to say his brother is still alive, Hasan threatens Black. Black responds that a judge has granted Shekure a divorce and Enishte supported their wedding. When Hasan accuses Black of poisoning Enishte, they hear Shevket scream. The boy runs outside and reports that Enishte has died. Shekure gets the children back to bed and comforts them. When she returns outside, Hasan accuses her of killing her father so she could marry Black. Hasan also begs Shekure to return to his home. Shekure refuses and Hasan threatens to go to a judge the next morning. Finally, Black tells Hasan that Enishte was murdered and threateningly adds that the new couple suspects Hasan.

The depiction of a horse narrates this chapter. The horse has been painted for centuries and can be seen in representations of battles, wedding celebrations, and travels. It is proud to have been painted often. Yet, the horse notes that while everyone sees a horse differently, there is “a commonality, a unity to the illustrations” (217). Frankish painters, the horse contends, can paint people and horses as unique individuals, as shown through the reaction of a stallion that became aroused when gazing at the picture of a specific mare. The horse drawing explains, though, that pictures of horses by Eastern artists are all illustrated the same way so that there is little variance between different horses.

The miniaturists draw horses from memory rather than by looking at individual horses. In this way, the artists are trying to represent the world as Allah sees it. In contrast, European painters are not trying to do the work of God; they are thus not blasphemous for trying to depict individual horses because they are drawing from their human perspective.

To illustrate this point, the horse tells the story of a prince who was imprisoned in a single room for 31 years. After his father died, the young man was finally let out of the room and wanted to see a horse as he had been looking at pictures of them in books his whole life. His servants brought the new ruler a horse, but as it was not as beautiful as the horses in his manuscripts, he ordered all the horses in his kingdom killed. In the end, the new king lost a war against his enemies because there were no horses to use in battle.

After Shekure returns to bed, Black stays awake examining Enishte’s pictures. He struggles, though, to write a story to accompany the images. Black hopes that Shekure will come to him and waits for her, but she never arrives. Instead, Black falls asleep.

In the morning, Shekure tells her children of Enishte’s death. She and Black cry loudly to alert neighbors to his death. With the children, Shekure and Black recite a passage from the Quran over Enishte’s body and cover it.

After gathering together Enishte’s illustrations, Black heads to the imam’s house and asks him to perform the proper death rites over Enishte. He then goes to the palace to inform the Head Treasurer of Enishte’s death. Black tells the sympathetic bureaucrat everything that’s happened to him in the last week, including his marriage to Shekure, Hasan’s threats, his need to complete the book, and the death of Enishte. He adds that the murderer of his uncle might be one of the followers of the Erzurum preacher and explains the secrecy of the book project. When the Head Treasurer notices that the final illustration is missing, Black tells him the murderer stole it.

The Head Treasurer is surprised to learn that Enishte was working on the book for an entire year and that the written text still doesn’t exist. Black defends the book and explains that Enishte suspected one of the master miniaturists had murdered Elegant. After the Head Treasurer tells Black that they must keep Enishte’s murder a secret and not alert the workshop, Black heads for home, leaving the illustrations with the Head Treasurer.