Jamila
On the social level, Jamila describes the traditional Kyrgyz family in transition. It becomes apparent that in spite of the forced settlement of the Kyrgyz, and after the introduction of the ABC schools, family courts, and local reading rooms and libraries, life in the republic had changed very little. The Shari'a and the adat were enforced, especially the levirate according to which the brother of a deceased husband was obligated to marry his widow. In other words, bigamy was still being practiced (also cf., Bennigsen, 92). The aksakals3 were respected and traditional terms of address were adhered to. Sadyk, Jamila's husband, embodies the village tradition. In his letters to Jamila, the new bride's name appears as a footnote, following the names of all the aksakals, as well as everyone else older than Jamila. Furthermore, he treats Jamila not as a woman he loves, but a woman he owns, his property.
Sadyk mimics his father and the village folks in general. For instance, even though Seit's mother is in full control of their household, the village automatically gives all the credit for a well-run household to the incompetent Ustaka, Seit's father. Other jigits,4especially Osman, share Sadyk's well-articulated contempt for women. What makes of Osman a hypocrite as well as a chauvinist is that he tries to seduce Jamila when Sadyk is at the front. The symbolic breakup of the family after the departure of the youths, however, reveals more about Aitmatov's and others' hopes than about a real Soviet breakthrough into Kyrgyz traditional life.
At the level of ideology, Jamila is more complex. Here, Aitmatov uses the arts, especially music and painting, as media for the development of his belief that the Soviet culture is compatible with the tribal adat. And that the traditions of Central Asia, such as the music of the akin, can be employed in the promotion of the new Soviet lifestyle. He further intimates that love can serve as a catalyst to unite man, woman, and nature through the arts.
There is a possibility that Daniyar, the lonely orphan boy in Jamila, might be identifiable with an akin. In that case, rather than an itinerant worker as alleged, he would be a member of an organized group commissioned to undermine Central Asian society, using its own tradition and heritage. Since this story's fulcrum potentially rests on the akin tradition, it is appropriate to delve a little deeper into this tradition.
To begin with, Daniyar shares a number of characteristics with Togtogul Satilganov, the father of Kyrgyz folklore and akin.5 Both are singers who use their good voice to attract and delight audiences. Both migrate from place to place, influencing those that come into contact with them And both rise against the oppression of bais and advocate a common appreciation of the beauty, nature, and the freedom of the steppe.
Love, however, remains at the core of the story. It was through love that Jamila discovered something wonderful in Daniyar, something that had been her desire to find in a man but which Sadyk had failed to give her. In Daniyar, she found inner strength, compassion, and love. Unlike with Sadyk, from whom she only received a note of 'regards' at the end of his letters home, with Daniyar, she did not need reassurance. From his songs, his actions, and later his words, she knew that he loved her just as plainly as she loved him. He «called her every loving Kazakh and Kirghiz name,» but even when not in conversation, they communicated with the language of love, a language that did not require words.
The love that grew between Jamila and Daniyar and which eventually swept them away had a tremendous impact on the impressionable Seit. He realized that the couple were at one with the beauty of the land and with the freedom of the steppe. In fact, they epitomized the land and the steppe, the very essence of the songs of the akin. Their departure meant their flight to freedom to join other Soviets in a collective effort for a bright future. It further meant that beyond the village environs, they were privileged to contribute to the building of the new Soviet life and the new Soviet citizen; they could join their brethren in the trenches, in the factories, on the collective farms, and in the hospitals.
It is in this larger love that Seit sees his own role as a possible future akin. And it is for the achievement of those special akin colors that he seeks appropriate training at the academy. He feels compelled to contribute to this larger cause, because this cause is so different from what the village families, the aksakals, and the bais had planned for digits like him. This larger love, this melody that binds all, then is the essence of Jamila. It encompasses the traditions of Togtogul Satilganov as much as it creates and sustains Jamila, Daniyar, and Seit, the new akin.
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