Social Critique in al-‘Ālam al-Ḍayyīq by Najib Kailani: A Greimassian Structural Analysis and Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Approach

Abstract

This research is motivated by the strong social critique found in Najib al-Kailani’s short story al-‘Ālam aḍ-Ḍayyīq, which portrays the tension between the individual and the socio-political structures that confine him. The metaphor of the “narrow world” functions as a symbol of both psychological and structural entrapment experienced by the main character. This research aims to examine how social criticism is constructed through narrative structure and power discourse within the story. The method employed is qualitative research with a library-based approach, using the short story as the primary data source and literature on A.J. Greimas’s structuralism, Teun A. van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis, and studies on al-Kailani’s works as supporting data. The analysis was conducted descriptively and analytically. The findings show that the actantial schema of the story forms a conflict pattern between the protagonist as the Subject under pressure and the socio-political forces as structural Opponents, emphasizing the dominance of the opposition between the pursuit of dignity and the coercive pressures of power. Meanwhile, Van Dijk’s discourse analysis reveals that the metaphor of the “narrow world” is an ideological construction representing state repression, class injustice, and individual alienation within an unequal social structure.