Master-Slave Realıtonshıp In Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Novel ‘Kızılcık Dalları’

The slavery, which was seen in many nations throughout the history of humanity, is a system in which the individuals, whose fundamental human rights and freedoms are seized, are reduced to an object position by entering into others service. In the slavery system that is contrary to human rights, an individual is forced to obtain his/her right to life by his/her labor and losses right to speak on his/her life. A master, taking a slave under his/her protection with the authority to rule and give orders, becomes the right-holder person over that slave. As the slavery system is a social structure that continued in the Ottoman Empire for centuries, it is one of the most subjected topics in novels. Considered one of the important writers of the Turkish novel of the Republican era in the history of literature, Reşat Nuri Güntekin does not neglect to reflect the social life with his observer identity while describing the physiological states of individuals in detail in his literary works based on narration. For this reason, he discusses the slavery system in his novel named ‘Kızılcık Dalları’ as a social problem. In that work, the master-slave relationship is discussed sophisticatedly with regard to social hierarchy. Being a slave-owning master is used as an element of vanity, but also turns into an indication of power. In ‘Kızılcık Dalları’, the conflict-based relationship between master and slave is used as the primary topic allowing to establish a dramatic action. In this respect, while Gülsüm, the main character of the novel, is the slave, Mrs. Nadide, the wife of Şekip Pasha, is the master. Therefore, Mrs. Nadide is the one dominating, governing and oppressing whereas Gülsüm is the one being dominated, governed and oppressed in the novel.