Catherine

No sooner did the storm abate, no sooner did the rain stop, no sooner did the daylight establish itself in the place of darkness than the streets grew crowded with people. No sooner were Catherine and the poor gentleman seen, children hurried and dashed to them. Men and Women were passing and wondering and saying things about Catherine and The beggar but in passing as they had always done when they chance to witness a similar scene. For them, it is undoubtedly a comic scene instead of being a tragic one. It is a comic scene because as Man (and Woman as well) sows, so shall he or she reap. A comic scene generative of laughter for them because Catherine and the beggar are now moaning for the harvest they have reapt. May be they were caught committing one of the cardinal sins. So they died in the rain as a sort of punishment. Perhaps they were killed by the police and thrown away in the street for every one to see and learn the lesson. Or probably, why? It is very probable that they passed away because they had not tried at least to cover their shame and instead they were trumpeting it in the rain. So they died. It was always said that a man (and woman of course!) never goes around trumpeting his or her shame. But here can anything be made of the shame Catherine and the beggar had been moving through at night? God never forgive those who are trumpeting their shame. If only they tried a little bit to hide themselves so that people would not come across them and take them for the principal cause of the absence of happy days. If only they tried a little bit to call for help when they were about to die so that people would come to their rescue no matter what kind of shame or cardinal sin they had undergone or committed. People would not mind forgiving them for that provided that they do it in secret not in the street and what is more at night. But then, what makes a girl like Catherine go at night to meet a man like this beggar and then die in this manner in the street? Perhaps they were ashamed of their deed and consequently found nothing and no body to resort to in the middle of a storm so railing and embracing the night before. They should have waited for a better prospect of place and time.

Children, having approached the two lovers, became filled with fear and started to yell and shout and run here and there like people confronting the oppressing armed forces. It was only at that moment when pedestrians realized the critical situation and began to be aware of what a man and woman have made of themselves. More and more folks gathered around the victims and the noise started. No less than three ladies and one old man, when casting sight on Catherine and the beggar, found quickest access to and lapsed into unconsciousness. The wail of ambulance sirens was heard and the medical crew stepped down as soon as the ambulance stopped. They elbowed their ways with difficulty in the incredible crowd of people. The police alarms went off and every one recognized then what a man and woman have made of themselves. The scene, to the greatest disappointment of many a man and woman, did not prove to be comic. It did not even prove to be tragic. It was real and this is how it was.

Have we not reason to lament what Catherine and the poor young gentle man have made of themselves? We have and there is as a matter of fact more to Catherine and the poor young gentle man than what the pen has written or could still write. To lament the loss of something requires no more than awareness. To lament the loss of somebody requires no more than acting and make belief. Here, the case is awfully different. Here, to lament requires no less than madness. Madness of the type of King Lear’s. To lament, faced with this case, presents the human savagery in its most disgusting form. Nobody must be allowed to cry and display his or her weakness and misery. Catherine’s mother herself must not be permitted to shed tears over the loss of her daughter. She is more than welcome to watch over her self and go on waiting for her husband day and night. She is more than welcome to pray for her daughter and wonder where she wanted to go last night. As for her husband, the most open-minded and affluent merchant of the city, he needs to develop his ideas and sharpen his arguments about domesticity and harnesses further what he takes to be natural upbringing by means of communication. He is now in perfect position to illustrate his conduct and point out to the loss of his daughter as an outstanding example sustaining his theory of domesticity. A framework of reference is now made accessible by the way.

What does it mean to lament? Or to say it differently, what meaning does human lamentation offer? There is, in fact, far more and more to lamentation than the poor meaning it offers.
All any one can say is without sense when silence makes sense. These words are far from expressing what silence could express…

Schizophrenia is but one psychological aspect characterizing the one who laments over the loss of somebody or something… When the victims, the story intervenes, were carried to the central hospital of the city in almost no time, time was not important. There was no cause for anxiety and fear. The clinical circle coupled with voluntary medical doctors and assisted with surgeons were to bring Catherine and her beloved back into life. It was great! By all standards and accounts, it was great! The two lovers were brought back to life in order to face death more clearly than ever before.
God, the almighty, cure the patients, and the clinical circle takes the fee.

Chokri Omri