Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Name is Red, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling, Identity, and Perspective
Creation vs. Representation
Life, Death, and Consciousness
Virtue vs. Sin
Love, Desire, and Greed
Summary
Analysis
Shekure has a frightening dream about Enishte; she wakes up, leaves the boys in bed, and goes to Black’s room. She says Enishte told her in the dream that Black killed him and she questions Black suspiciously, even though they were together at the time of the murder. Shekure continues to anxiously discuss the possibility that their marriage was a mistake, while Black tries to reassure her. Shekure tells Black that he shouldn’t be cooperating with Enishte’s enemy, Master Osman, in order to find Enishte’s murderer. However, Black insists that Enishte cannot see them now. Shekure remains coy about her love for Black, but eventually they begin to kiss. However, she then pushes him away suddenly and shrieks that there is someone in the house.
Of all the characters in the novel, Shekure is most closely associated with dreams. She uses her dreams to inform her opinions and decisions even when they contradict her conscious mind; for example, she becomes suspicious of Black after a dream, even though she was with him at the time of Enishte’s murder. Shekure’s reliance on dreams may be because she is in touch with the unconscious side of reality, or perhaps because, as she admits, she has desires that she cannot express directly.
Themes
