Arab Cultural Club discusses "The Parrot"

Al-Shannasi is an Emirati writer and researcher with a doctorate in environmental microbiology. She has held leadership positions in the Ministry of Environment and Water, and is also a visual artist and photographer with several published works.

Speakers at the event included Dr Rasha Ghanem and Dr Lamia Shamat, in addition to the author herself. Dr Omar Abdul Aziz and a number of writers and intellectuals were also in attendance.

The novel story

 The novel tells the story of a large commercial corporation that suffered a period of stagnation and decline due to mismanagement. A new manager was appointed, determined to radically transform the corporation and set it on a path of development and innovation. He enlisted the help of a brilliant marketing and management consultant. As the corporation began its transformation, implementing a new administrative structure and laying off or transferring many employees, this young woman became the target of her colleagues' attacks. They blamed her for everything that befell them, describing her in the worst possible terms and searching for any mistake, however minor, to spread and exaggerate. Despite this, the corporation succeeded, developed, and became a market leader. Nevertheless, those employees remained hostile and continued their attempts to undermine the successful young woman. The new managers sided with them, and even the current manager joined their ranks, leaving her besieged from all sides. Ultimately, she was dismissed, and the corporation began its decline once again.

The novel explores many management concepts and all administrative aspects of organisations, from goals and strategies to organisational structure and even health and hygiene procedures.
 
The meaning
 
The evening began with a presentation by Dr Rasha Ghanem, who explained that the term "parroting" is used to describe a pattern of work behaviour or organisational culture based on repetition without understanding, also known as "blind bureaucracy." It refers to the repetition of ideas, slogans, or theories without awareness of their content or critical analysis of their aims. In the novel, it serves as a central symbol for condemning repetition, subservience, and social hypocrisy. It is a "psychological defense mechanism" against anxiety, fear, a lack of ability, and a loss of innovation.
 
Regarding narrative techniques, Dr Ghanem noted that the novel employs short sentences, reminiscent of cinematic shots, which gives it a rhythm that reflects the psychological anxiety experienced by the characters. She also mentioned the use of "repeated dialogue," the reduction of internal monologue, and the use of flashbacks and interweaving of time periods to serve the novel's central theme.
 
Dr Lamia Shamat, in her intervention, stated that "The Parrot" is a purely professional novel (set within the administrative environment of a commercial institution) and does not delve into the characters' social lives outside of work.

Author’s strength

 One of the author Mariam Al-Shannasi's strengths in this novel is her coining of the term "parroting" to denote a type of behavioural practice within the institution, where rumors, gossip, and slander against successful individuals flourish, leading to gangs formed against them to diminish their success and demoralise them. Regarding sentence structure, Shamat noted that the author employs long sentences, which suits the administrative themes she addresses and elaborates upon. Furthermore, the choice of names carries significant symbolic weight within the novel. Some names are beautiful, reflecting the positive role played by the characters, such as Nada, practically the only positive character in the novel. Other names mock her role, while some carry sinister connotations due to her wickedness.

The purpose

Al-Shannasi spoke about the purpose of writing this novel, saying that she wanted to show how creativity and innovation are eliminated in a stagnant environment, where an efficient employee, when he tries to accomplish and innovate, brings upon himself the enmity of the unsuccessful and incompetent employees, who begin to hint and criticize his person, abilities, and motives, and search for his mistakes and magnify them, and those accusations and claims are transferred from one person to another, so the circle of enmity and vilification against this employee grows and widens, and the problem is when those rumors reach the senior leadership in the institution and they adopt them, so that employee becomes completely besieged, just as (Nada) was besieged because of her success and the change of the manager of the commercial institution towards her.