Imagery in Hayy Ibn Yaqzan

    As I was reading Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, I saw numerous examples of imagery pop up, including descriptions of the sky, fire, and dirt/earth. The images that I am going to focus on are of anatomy, specifically the heart. In his journey to acquire knowledge, Hayy seeks to better understand the workings of the body. To accomplish this, he captures a doe and dissects it. The speaker describes, "Cutting into the heart, he saw the chamber filled with a steamy gas, like white mist. He poked in his finger-it was so hot it nearly burnt him" (117). In order to understand what Ibn Tufayl is doing through his descriptions, it's important to know the context that he is writing in. This was a time period where there was a lot of advancement in fields of philosophy, science, and mathematics. The book itself is an excellent representation of this, as it contains each of these elements. Given this, it is likely that advancements in anatomy and a comprehension of how the body works was among these new discoveries. Earlier in the book, the author provides a detailed description of how Hayy could have been created, providing a detailed anatomical description. One thing that Hayy seems particularly keen on learning is what provides life, describing this white, hot mist inside the heart that seems to sustain the doe. He also explores this idea that there is almost this "fire of life" that lives within the heart. Overall, the author seems to take a very philosophical approach to anatomy, seeking to understand what life is and how life happens, leading to Hayy's musing about a higher being.