Parody in A Donkey Among the Songs by Wajdi Al-Ahdal

Abstract

This study investigates parody in Wajdi Al-Ahdal’s novel A Donkey Among the Songs as a postmodern narrative strategy for critiquing structures of authority and exposing social contradictions. Rather than functioning as a source of entertainment alone, parody operates in the novel as a critical mechanism that dismantles political, military, tribal, religious, and patriarchal systems of power. Through ironic representation and satirical inversion, the narrative reveals the moral corruption and ideological inconsistencies underlying dominant institutions and social values. The research is organized into four analytical sections addressing parody in relation to patriarchal authority, military power, tribal authority allied with the ruling system, and religious authority. The analysis demonstrates that the novel employs parody to uncover forms of repression, violence, hypocrisy, and manipulation embedded within these structures. Particular attention is given to the portrayal of women’s suffering and marginalization under patriarchal social systems. The study concludes that parody in the novel serves as an effective postmodern technique for deconstructing dominant discourses and interrogating mechanisms of authority, while simultaneously offering a critical representation of Yemeni social and political realities through irony and narrative subversion.