The communicative functions of the photograph in the novel "The Alienation of the Qafir" by Zahran Al Qasimi

The photograph occupies a prominent position for the modern human, so we see him trying to control it for certain goals. The image is one of the necessary means of expression in the process of human communication. The photograph was able to touch the feelings of the addressee through symbols within the visual language and address the subconscious mind.  From here, the relationship between her and the fictional art began by intrusion into the features of the literary text open to other arts. The integration of the written language in the visual language represented by the photograph in a unified formula requires us to stand on two semantic fields related to the visual and linguistic format. The photograph is the supporting tool for the narrative text, and quite the opposite, in that both reinforce the content of the other. This study focuses on the features of the visual image in Zahran Al Qasimi's novel "The Alienation of Al Qafer". In this novel, the novelist relied to enrich his literary text on the visual dimension of some Omani villages landscapes.This research aims to show the openness of Al-Qasimi's novel experience to the visual image as an expressive tool, according to the descriptive-analytical approach. One of the most important findings of this research is the explanation of psychological aspects in the narrative text, and the presentation of expressive signs to convey a certain point of view of the novel's characters. This study aims to monitor the elements of the photographic image in the novel, and focus on the functions of the visual image in the narrative text, such as the guiding function, the expressive function, the psychological function, and the aesthetic function.