Here is an interview with her, and an overview of her work.
A video where she talks about her childhood in Lebanon:
 |
| Hanan al-Shaykh |
Another video of her reading her work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G32S-AJ-quY
Friday, November 5, 2010
Hanan al-Shaykh--House of Sand and Myrrh
Our newest author, Hanan al-Shaykh, was born in 1945 in Lebanon, a country that has seen much suffering and violence and disturbance because of its location in the mid-east. She moved to Egypt for college and later to London where she still lives and writes. This novel was banned in several middle-eastern countries because it gives voice to two Arab women, one Lebanese woman, and one from America.
Here is an interview with her, and an overview of her work.
A video where she talks about her childhood in Lebanon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddxVtrqfxjs
Another video of her reading her work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G32S-AJ-quY
Here is an interview with her, and an overview of her work.
A video where she talks about her childhood in Lebanon:
Another video of her reading her work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G32S-AJ-quY
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ReplyDeleteI really like this book. I like how different Suha and Tamra’s stories are. I was really surprised about Suha’s story. I wasn’t expecting her to have a lesbian relationship with Nur. I thought at most, they’d just gain a strong and lasting friendship. Like mentioned during class, I think Suha and Nur we’re drawn to each other because of lonliness, but I think to a point, Nur took advantage of Suha and her vulnerabilty.
There are also many examples of the restrictions women have, but what I found interesting was the restrictions they also had with the boxes they received when Suha worked at the department store. “In spite of my knowledge and my zeal for my work, I made mistakes and these mistakes led to Amer’s goods being censored by the port officials. They set fire to his crates to get rid of the pate de foie gras which I ordered without noticing that pork fat was listed among its ingredients; I ordered games without realizing that they contained playing cards, and bay leaves and dried radishes and rosemary not knowing that they’d arrived saying on their packets that they added a delicious aroma and flavour to beef and chicken and pork”(13).
I especially liked Tamr’s story because of her determination for a better life. She might have been a little much for my taste with fasting for three days. But I see her mind set.I liked that she wanted a life of her own instead of what’s expected of her.
I really enjoyed Tamr’s mother’s story. It did make me sad though that she was taken from her family and home to get married to a Sultan for only a month because she couldn’t get pregnant, than was married off to one of the Sultan’s friends!
I did notice a little story telling that al-Shaykh includes that she might have got from her mom? I think I remember during her book read she said she would write down stories her mom would tell. Maybe the story of The Little Fish might be an idea from her mom? The story of The Little Fish also sounds like Cinderella.
1 (I have to post in separate parts because it said I had too many characters)
ReplyDeleteSUHA
I immediately made a list of the women Suha mentions in the first few pages to see where these women are mentioned again and where they end up in the other three women's tales.
Suzanne, Maryam (Tamr's Neighbor), Umm Kairouz, Hind, Reem, Stephanie, Laila, Tahani, Amal, Shahnaz, Khulud, Raja, Dalal, Sabah
She mentions Suzanne 7 times out of the five lines of the paragraph. A foreshasowing of some sort although Suzanne is a very minute drama within Suha's story.
I find Suha's job at the department store odd. Who is the security guard? Why is she hiding in a box every time he comes around? Didn't she get hired on as an employee by a female friend? Very confusing--I think that scene could have used a few more details or my Western mind doesn't know the idiosyncrasies of being a woman in a job at a department store in an unnamed part of the middle east. It is obvious that she is not allowed outside the compund without being accompanied by a man. She says she is from Labanon and is an unhappy transplant following her husband because of his job. There are lots of hints to where the secret location is--I have written down as many hints as possible. I have my guesses and theories. How about you guys and gals??
During Suha's employment at the department store I started getting a feeling for her personality and persona. At one point she makes the comment, "He'd lost thousands:the boxes from the United States had been confiscated and destroyed; I asked excitedly if someone had smuggled whisky or obscene videos in them" (al-Shaykh). Here she asks excitedly about the immenent destruction of her boss's goods and then laugh about it later. Also she keeps ordering things that cannot be sold where she lives, half knowingly I think. She seems already to me to be a rather self absorbed individual with no real concept of anyone around her but herself. As I read on I feel that this is generally a good description of her, to me anyways.
I enjoyed the Sita scene very much. I like the doctor "aspect" and I believe she is important to this story althoguh she does not make a reappearance in Suha's life.
I am not surprised that Suha is not happy teaching at the institute as well. Although she is not as afraid being there I believe just seeing the women around her lving their lives the way they do is enough to make her feel even more imprisoned. She is reminded of the place which she hates to live in day after day by leaving the house and going to the Gulf Institute to teach.
She blames her husband so much for bringing her to this place although she seemed willing to go there since many of her friends and relatives left Lebanon because of the fighting there. She has a breakdown after she is accosted byt the man inthe village on her trek with Tamr. She feels weakened and says to herself, "I was aware only of my helplessness. I had nothing, not even my eyes to stare and marvel. What had happened, I realized very well now, had been for the benefit of Tamr and others like her, to shackle the women's freedom of movement so that it wouldn't seem as easy and relaxed as we'd made it appear when we'd set out on our excursion. I took my head in myhands again" (al-Shaykh). Suha lives her life as one big dramatic finale. I like Tamr in this scene because she is laughing when they get in the car and brushing it off as life in the desert, no harm no foul. She is naive enough to not know that Suha is having a complete mental breakdown next to her.
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ReplyDeleteWhen Nur enters her life I though to myself
that Suha is a self-centered egoist and Nur is just a mess, they make a good couple don't you think? Nur can be a mess and weep and fit and it shouldn't affect Suha who is too self absorbed. Perfect!
I think that Suha's dream, the night after her first sexual encounter with NUr, is fascinating. I think Shua is wondering what to do now. Suddenly she is thrust into this passionate and forbidden sex life that stirs allt hese old memories which she was trying as hard as can be to repress. I wasn't surprised her and Nur became lovers I was surprised that she had a possible threesome or sex with her friends boyfriend. That memory was shocking to me in a sense that I thought Suha was shocked by her current attraction and weakness. She was actually predisposition to it. She wanted someplace safe and warmt o go and she couldn't find in in the desert, at home, or within herself. She found it in Nur, but only until she was full of warth did she take advantage of it.
I noticed that al-Shaykh starts the novel with the view of the woman who dispises the desert and this way of life as did Gordimer when introducing Abdu (Ibrahim) to us in South Africa. Coming off of my high that Julie gave me for the desert and the simple way of life for the family and the women was a cold douse of water with Suha. It is redeemed for me with Tamr somewhat who clearly loves her land.
Does anyone know why there is so much gum chewing and why it is important enoguh to be be part of the scene over and over again? I would love to know.
Well. coming to the end of Suha's story I wonder why she doesn't just decide to leave earlier? I don't think she was in love with her husband enough to have suffered as greatly as she described. Why not on any previously depressed episode? Was it Nur and Suha's relationship coming to term? Or maybe the fact the she resorted to "that kind" of relationship for comfort that drove her out finally? What is the boiling point really?
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ReplyDeleteTAMR
Rashid:very strict brother figure (not her actual brother)
Batul:Rashid's wife with their five children
Aunt Nasab:loving and keeping an eye on Tamr and her mother
Muhammad:Tamr's son with Ibrahim
Ibrahim:Tamr's first husband that she was arranged to amrry at age 12
Taj al-Arus:Tamr's mother from Turkey and ex-wife of a sultan
Jauhar and Najeeya:Wives of the sultan and ex-sister wives of Taj al-Arus
The Sheikh:Tamr's second husband who has divorced her
I like Tamr. I love her rebelling all the time and find it very funny. She is a silly young girl. We watch her go from a naive girl to a smart business woman who owns her own salon. I know the chapter is entiled Tamr but I think it should be titled Taj al-Arus. The story of her mother is heart wrenching. I feel for the entire family. The saying what doesn't kill us makes us stronger is prevalent here but unfortunately I think the years of rejection and abuse have takent their toll on Taj's mind. It seems like she might be senial by the end of the chapter.
One of the first things that struck me about this story is the difference in opinion and feeling about the desert compared to what we (the readers) were getting from Suha's chapter. A similarity I noticed was the description of Tamr's fit and Nur's fit. Both women were described as banging on things and grabbing there headsand screaming. It is like something so sweet and beautiful like a flower suddenly bursts into flames. Interesting.
I was happy that Tamr got sassy with Suha about her dislike of the desert and her feeling of being trepped. Tamr made it very clear to her that she was not the one who was trapped, "You go to restaurants. ou've got a car. You go to the pool. 'Then looking about me', You've got a big house, air-conditioning even in the bathroom, a garden. No, you've nothing to complain about" (96 al-Shaykh). I love it! I laugh every time I read that scene again.
Maryam, or Mary, is introduced again although only slightly. She is Tamr's neighbor and ahe is the one who gets Tamr and her Aunt to London so her Aunt can get medical help.
Tamr's relationship with her son is vague and I think that is because she was just a child when she had him. I think when she gets the salon and she is older their relationship will be more important.
Her mother's story takes up the mojority of the chapter. I wonder if this is to give us insight into the culture 50 or 60 years ago? Maybe this is to show us why Tamr is the way she is? I am not sure but while I was reading that part of the book I really forgot that I was reading this book. I felt like I was in a different time and place. Did anyone else feel like that?
Did anyone else find the mother smacking the dress makers dummy until it fell over hysterical? Oh that made me giggle out loud!
I just want to say that I think it is disappointing that only myself and Andrea have posted their first post. We are suppose to be done with the first part of the book last week. We are suppose to be done with it all by tomorrow. I don't want to ruffle feathers; I am just disappointed because I have two other very demanding classes and I make time to post. It would be fun to be able to utilize these more and we can't if everyone posts at 12 am on the night before class. I look forward to talking about this book with everyone tomorrow. If you have the chance to listen to the entire 1.5 hours of al-Shaykh and Rushdie interview on you tube I suggest doing it. It was great and opened my eyes better to the author.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne
ReplyDeleteOh, Suzanne. I don't know if al-Shaykh could have fit anymore drama into this womens life. I was surprised when I found out that Suzanne was overweight and had 3 children.
Her relationship with her husband was apauling. Or maybe it was the treatment of Suzanne by her husband. He left her at the house of Ahmad, "I found myself naked in a garden surrounded by a high wall. I looked frantically around me for my clothes and when I found them in a heap near me I began to wonder about my husband...What had happened to me? Where was David?" (al-Shaykh 181). Deplorable. I wonderif it wasn't for David leaving her like that at the party if things would have been different for Suzanne. Did David turn her into the hussy of the desert? Or was it Maaz? Or was it the desert? I feel like there are so many questions to be asked about Suzanne and so much we could speculate and talk about.
Does anyone think she feels bad or guilty about Maaz having contracte syphilis, a death sentence--has anyone seen The Libertine, if not watch it! The baby even contracted it. That was truly heart breaking. I had a nice,calm and cariung image of Fatima in my head. I thought it was interesting that it was always about the yellow teeth and her hand over her mouth when she smiled. Why is it, when there is so much wealth, they did not get her teeth fixed or cleaned or something?
At the end of her chapter I think that all of Suzanne's cards have been played. She can no longer seduce her way into citazenship. She will have to go back to the place she hates nad is just an average overweight divorcee with a couple of kids. Ouch.
Nur
I have to say I was a bit surprised by Nurs story. It was not the part about her being a spoiled brat that surprised me, it was the love of her two husbands which she had. I think she really loved her first husband and that they were probably the best couple. It is too bad that he turned out to be gay. Nur did mention that she thought he liked both girls and boys, but from the sounds of his relationship with Waleed and his lack of enthusiam and erectile dystfunction with her (the most beautiful girl in the desert) he must be homosexual not bisexual. Just an observation. Saleh seemed like a great catch, but unfortunately Nur wanted what she had with Samer. Saleh and Samer were polar opposites. I actually thought her story was just ok. It didn't stand out to me the way Tamr or Suzanne's did. I did like the way that al-Shaykh explained away the lack of divorce from Saleh and the missing passport. Saleh didn't want a divorce because it would cause a scandal which he didn't need in his political career. She didn't want a divorce either. She says, "I didn't want a divorce until I found another husband, since I was still enjoying the big house, the servants, the money to spend, and my freedom, even though I was barred from the skies and bound to the expanse of the desert" (al-Shaykh 271).
I was appuled at how treated her child Ghada. Even as an infant and a fetus she was cruel. She smoked, wouldn't hold her, wanted an abortion, and really only enjoyed the after birth, "When I gave birth to my daughter, jewels were showered upon me, too bright to believe in and almost too unbearably beautiful to touch; and flowers the like of which, I was told, the desert had never seen before" (al-Shaykh 261).
Suha's Epilouge--She gets out of the desert just like she wanted to just after saying good-bye to the neighbor women she didn't wish to see ever again, and it showed.
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ReplyDeleteThis book introduces me to a new world. I am surprised about the lesbian relationship between Suha and Nur. I can relate Suha to Julie in The Pickup. They are both bored with their lives and confused about what they truly want. I like this part
“I was a little disconcerted: the feeling I’d started out with my sensitivity to the life going on around me was growing stronger, as was my awareness of the complete absence of women, at least from the world outside” (16)
I feel that she is lost in the environment, the society, the meaning of her life in the quote above.
I forgot that in the world where the women have to wear veil to cover their feminine body, there are still unsaid desire in them. Honestly, I have thought of liberating women in terms of education, rights, work place, politics, ect but the idea about lesbian in this world, I have never thought of. In the culture, women are not even allowed to drive car, therefore, the thought of fantasizing about the same sex partner is really rebellious I think. Plus, I can feel Suha’s confusion in her identity about sexuality, her confusion toward what she really wants, who she really needs and who she is.
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ReplyDeleteTamr’s world revolves her family including her aunt, her mother and relation in the family. As I said in class, she is a very determined woman in doing what she wants to achieve in life but the way she tries to get it is not very mature for me. However, at least she is entitled to her goal of getting education regardless the objection and restriction in family and society.
I’m a little bit confused with Suzanne’s boyfriends, I have a hard time keeping track on what she is doing. Anyway, there is a quote that I really like the way Shaykh described the emotional outburst:
“…I seized the opportunity and flung my arms round him, crying violently and pressing my breast against him with every convulsive sob; I hissed like a snake in his ear that I couldn’t live without him, why had he left me, and where had his love for me gone?” (165)
There is one part about her that I am unclear about why she was afraid of being destroyed
"Nobody would ever understand that I was scared of going back because the roar of the cities destroyed people and I was scared of being destroyed" (233)
Nur is an extremely spoiled material woman I have ever seen. She is unbelievably self absorbed and selfish, this is from the parents who brought her up left her living her life irresponsibly. As I read along, I can’t believe it, is this woman serious? Is she for real for saying such things or treating people unmindfully?
This novel shows a strong sense of women in Arab world fighting for freedom, a life that they could get things the way they want and how they want things to be. I don’t know if it’s from the novel or reality but no matter how hard women fight for something they want in life, no matter how strong we show we are, we are still very vulnerable and fragile. I think that’s the overlap of the four women in this novel.
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ReplyDeleteSuzanne
I was kind of put off by how Suzanne was....I don't know...desperate? Did anyone else think that? I think her lonliness got the best of her. Which - after reading the story - is understsandable. But I think she went a little overboard. Her story was definetly interesting.
Maaz was interesting. I felt like he was experimenting more with Suazanne her lifestyle and other cultures. Maybe a little like Julie in "The Pickup"?
I did feel that the desert changed Suzanne a little, a little less than it did for Julie in "The Pickup". But along the same lines.
And to answer Victoria's question, I don't think Suzanne felt bad for Maaz getting syphillis. I think she only felt surprised and maybe lukcy that she didn't contract it. ????
Nur
Hhhm.....I felt bad for her at first because of her first marriage. But she didn't seem to sad about the divorce.
I felt even sadder for her for the type of marriage she has with Saleah. But she knew how he was from the very beginning and still married him.
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ReplyDeleteSo in this book we see four very different woman being placed in a very restrictive cultural environment. It's interesting to see how each person's background and personality shapes their relationships with each other, their husbands and their location. I think the pressures of such a repressive society lead a lot of them to secret hedonistic endeavors that would not normally happen had they been more free.
In Suha's case, we see a woman who tries to figure out her identity after having been uprooted from her home country of Lebanon. As mentioned in discussion, she's confused, bored, and doesn't seem to know what she wants except to leave the country. I think this leads to her experimenting with a relationship with Nur.
With Tamr, perhaps the least materialistic and hedonistic woman of the stories, explores more of the familial relationships and the adversity a woman faces in getting an education and starting a business. I also found it interesting to see how casual divorce seemed as Tamr has already had two divorces before her story even begins. I would have thought divorce wouldn't even be an option in such a strict society.
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ReplyDeleteSo with Suzanne, we see an American loving the fact that as a foreigner you can have an almost celebrity status simply because you are the foreigner. She's courted by every man in the society, receiving extravagant forms of generosity by the local culture. Granted, any woman in her society would have been courted aggressively, but the fact that she's almost idolized by Maaz at points in their relationship signifies how her foreign status makes her especially attractive despite her unattractive physical features.
Her infatuation with gold was a little confusing to me. Was it just materialism? Or did it symbolize her need for a glamorous new life? Like others have mentioned, it seemed to me her story was more about a struggle to find a life that wasn't being an ordinary housewife. This was evident after her meeting with Barbara, the well traveled owner of a gallery that tells Suzanne amazing stories and shows jewelry from her travels. After which point she asks Suzanne what she's done and all she has is her brass tray. This sparks her insatiable desire to travel and acquire gold. She sees that moment with Barbara as "watching an isolated episode from a tv series" (191).
I think everyone's already described Nur pretty well. Spoiled. Selfish. Hedonistic. But really it was the societal structures that raised her that are more to blame for how she acts later. So I sort pitied her in a way because she's acting the only way she's supposed to act and ends up in the middle of a lot of drama and misery.
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ReplyDeleteNur and Suha’s relationship was pretty dysfunctional. How each of them handled the relationship speaks a lot to each of their characters. Nur cried, begged and pouted when Suha stopped coming by, while Suha made herself out to be above the relationship and walked away from it with her nose up. At first I went back and forth between thinking that Suha did really like Nur and that it just freaked her out that she liked a woman. To thinking that she didn’t like Nur at all and was just bored. I ended thinking the second one...
I thought it was interesting what Victoria said in class about women in prisons forming lesbian relationships then when released going back to men. I think this describes Nur and Suha’s relationship perfectly. Both feel imprisoned by their circumstances. This relationship provides each other with company and fulfils their sexual desires.
I’m curious to know Nur’s feelings on the relationship. Suha shuts Nur out as some sort of defense mechanism. She wants to prove to herself that she’s not interested in Nur. “It was as if it happened, but to somebody else and hadn’t left its mark on me” (75). She’s in denial! Suha’s made it out in her head that Nur manipulated her. She’s a stubborn girl. She has herself on some pedestal. She looks down on Nur but why? Because Nur is lonely? So is Suha…
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ReplyDeleteWe have talked about how different Suha is to Tamr, and I just want to share what similarity I have seen between these women. They are both ambitious and want do bigger things in life rather than just blending into the norm.
Suha tried to blend in, she tried hard, she moved from that compound to a house thinking that she will no longer feel time stagnating(11). " I began to amuse myself making curtains and cushions, hanging pictures, tidying cupboards. I borrowed books about garden and dug the garden and planted seeds, waiting form one day to the next for the green shoots to appear. I invited women to visit me, proud of my beautiful house, and offered them cake and tea in cups that matched the curtains. . . "(11). Yes -- "the things women love to do". Things that women love to do or thing that women can ONLY do? Suha want to use her university degree and work. On the other hand, Tamr, she aspired to get educated and start her own business, this is not the typical goal of a woman in this very restrictive cultural environment like Eugene described. But, Tamr was ambitious and she put the effort to not be part of the stereotypical women in this society.
Both Suha and Tamr, served as an example of strong women. As a woman, we tend to settle to what we think is 'enough' but settling should not be an option. We should always strive for better and bigger things and continue dreaming big because anything is possible.
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ReplyDeleteI'm confused about Suzanne, like Victoria said there are so many questions to asked about her. I had to go back and re-read her story again because there are just so many man in her life. She's want's to marry Maaz but then she's married and have kids. Maybe she's divorced with Jimmy's dad? I feel bad for her trying get a man love her -- to the point that she even pretended she's dead to get the man's reaction if she dies or going to Sita to get the love potion. It's depressing.. Like Eugene also said, Nur has been described well by everyone --- SELF-CENTERED.
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ReplyDeleteDuring class the quote
“There was a campaign being conducted in the press against the display of women’s underwear, and its leader was a girl in her twenties who had akready raised the subject of bracelets and other jewellery; according to her they were symbols of slavery reminiscent of the age of harems and slave boys and girls, and make-up and jewellery on a woman was a provocation to adultery and fornication even if it was made from behind veils and black drapes.” (54)
is interesting to me. The fact that it was a girl who called attention to the issue showed that this is the view of how some women in her society see make-up and jewellery, not that of a westerner. I had always thought that Arab women did not wear make-up and jewellery because they were not allowed to. Through my eyes, I assumed that the women were scared of the oppressive men because of what their husbands or fathers would do if they had decorated their bodies. I had never thought that it was the women’s choice to not wear make-up and jewellery; by refusing to wear make-up and jewellery, they are making a louder statement than by wearing make-up and jewellery. This example of western ignorance is shown through Suha’s relationship with Nur. As a westerner, I thought that Arab women were sexually free because of their conservative outfits and their reserved behavior towards outsiders. I has always assumed that Arab women did not have many freedoms and to some extent, they do not but I did not consider their physical desires because of their conservative attire and behavior. I would not have thought that Arab women would even speak to other men let alone have relationships with other women. After reading and discussing the first two parts of the novel, I have developed a better understanding of Arab women.
Post 1:
ReplyDeleteI need to get on top of blogging again. Anyway, here's extra long posts:
The quote that Tifanny is referring to actually reminds me of a common misunderstanding surrounding the veil. Often, the veil is seen as an instrument of patriarchy, as something that keeps women subjugated. As we see in Minaret, it isn’t just Westerners that make this mistake, but Arabs as well. In reality, some women choose to wear the veil in order to free themselves from the burden of having to live up to the exacting beauty standards that other cultures (especially Western ones) must face. I think the woman in this quote has this same motivation for wanting to ban jewelry and makeup.
As for the rest of the book, I was really struck by how similar each story was. Tamr’s stood out the most to me, since she was trying to do something outside the realm of what was normal for a woman, but all the rest of the women, even if they were reaching out for something, just never seemed to get very far. By the end of the novel, I was left with a feeling of restlessness because all I could see was their dissatisfaction. Now I’ll look at each of the women:
Suha:
I feel like Suha was just caught in a bad set of circumstances. Something tells me that if she’d been able to live in a place where she was comfortable and could utilize her full potential without worrying about the repercussions of it, we wouldn’t see such a negative portrait. When Suha and Tamr go to the market and the old man yells at Suha for being unveiled, this is how she reacts: “Anger welled up in me, starting in my heart and rushing up into my head. When I confronted the man blocking my path, and was unable to push the stick out of the way or budge an inch, I knew that I didn’t have control over my own life and was a prisoner of this stick and this group of people…. I was aware only of my helplessness” (Shaykh 29). What we glean from this quote is that Suha resents being here, doesn’t see herself as part of this community, and indeed sees herself as a “prisoner” and knows that its because of her gender. She can’t accept her status as a woman in this place. Her awareness of these circumstances is definitely what separates her from the other women and what ultimately keeps her from making connections with them. Right after Suha’s confrontation with the old man, she thinks, “Although I could hear Tamr’s voice raised in protest, I felt completely isolated and she seemed just like all the other black-shrouded women” (29). She can’t make any real friendships “Because [she] was turned in on [her]self to such an extent, she couldn’t establish a relationship with any of the women” (41). Without her freedom, Suha can’t help withdrawing into herself.
Tamr:
I enjoyed Tamr’s section the most. I admired the confidence she had. Unlike Suha, her awareness of the differences between norms for men and women don’t get in the way of her goals. When Tamr goes to get her divorce from the sheik, Suha asks if she feels anxiety and Tamr says, “Why should I?” (91) and laughs when Suha is bulled over by her lack of concern. Her confidence shows up again when she walks straight into the bank and forces the male clerks to abandon their custom of ignoring women in public: “Silence hung over the place, and when I approached an official sitting at a table he appeared tongue-tied and waved me over to another table. From there I was passed from one person to another, and I realized that by coming into a government building I had made another big mistake. But it wasn’t forbidden, and why should it be? The black cover was on my face, the black wrap around me decorously hiding my charms…. I returned to the first table. The dejection which had taken hold of me was transformed into a kind of daredevil courage” (105). Out of all the women, Tamr is the best at adapting her life to fulfill her needs in a way that holds meaning for her.
Suzanne:
ReplyDeleteI had the hardest time reading Suzanne. It reminded me of when I was learning about Borderline Personality Disorder in my abnormal psych class. She’s constantly changing how she sees Maaz: one minute she loves him, the next minute she hates him. She can’t make up her mind! I can’t remember who said it, but someone said that they both used each other to fulfill their desires for the exotic other. I agree with this completely. After Suzanne has been over to Maaz’s house a few times, she realized that “they saw [her] as an important guest from Nixon’s land, the land of the oven that cleaned itself without spilling any water” (177). It’s almost like Suzanne herself is a novelty item that confers prestige and class onto Maaz and Fatima by association. Another thing I thought was interesting was how, unlike Suha, Suzanne sees her lack of independence and agency as a luxury: “I was a woman living in luxury and I could ask the driver to go and fetch me as trivial a thing as a box of matches, and Ringo to wash even my hairbrush. Food stuffs were delivered, clothes from the dry cleaners, money from the bank…. I didn’t drive my son to school in the early morning or wait in the afternoon with the other mothers” (201). Perhaps because Suzanne can’t see these liberties for the cage it is, she doesn’t mind how it’s been rigidly structured. If she were to be able to see it, she take a road similar to Tamr’s (give up men) or Suha’s (go back home).
Nur:
I really have nothing I can say about Nur, other than that I’m surprised Suha wasn’t a bigger part of her story since she seemed so obsessed with her from the other perspective. I had a lot more sympathy for Saleh, strangely. Nur just didn’t want to grow up and take responsibility for anything, and I find that really frustrating.
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ReplyDeleteIn the second half of the novel, Suzanne is described as an American who finds a new life in the Middle East. Although Suzanne had a simple life in America where she was seen as a common woman, she yearned to be treated as a queen; she wanted to feel special.
When Suzanne traveled to the Middle East with David, she found a place where she was seen as a stunning female figure because of her skin color.
I was surprised by Suzanne’s desire to belong in a culture that most westerners have limited knowledge of. Although she came with her husband, Suzanne decided to leave her husband in order to become a part of an unfamiliar society that praised her rather than a familiar society that ignores her.
“I would have liked to reply to him, but I heard his breathing grow louder, and turned over to try and sleep myself. I concluded that I’d been protected all this time by his naïveté and ignorance, and wondered why I wasn’t annoyed by what he’d said, or hadn’t taken him more seriously. I vaguely tried to think what my reaction would be if David through about me in the same way, and automatically clenched my fist. But I looked at Maaz and smiled, captivated by his sincerity and spontaneity, which put me on a level with Marilyn Monroe. I felt safe at his side and vowed to myself that I would always sleep beside him like this, with his money, his gold watch and his possessions on the floor on the other side of him.” (211-212)
It is intriguing to see how people’s preferences are shaped by their culture. If David had been born in the Middle East, he may have a greater desire for Suzanne, the same desire that Maaz has; and if Maaz was born in America, he would act differently towards Suzanne. When Suzanne “concluded that I’d been protected all this time by his naïveté and ignorance” (211) Hanan al-Shaykh shows the fickleness that men have. Would Maaz continue to treat Suzanne the same way if he were to move and live in America? By using his naïveté and ignorance to her advantage, she is able to feel like a queen and to be treated like a queen.
I agree with Alyssa’s statement about how Suha was not a large part in Nur’s story. I was expecting Hanan al-Shaykh to write about Nur’s thoughts about the relationship but instead of only focusing on her relationship with Suha, she reveals the many other relationships that she has. I think the reason why Nur acts an immature manner is because she has lived in a privileged life for such a long time that she does not know how to grow up and act mature.
Posting 1
ReplyDeleteHanan Al-Shaykh has followed different style of writing, she allocated different section for each one of the protagonists. This first section is about the Suha and her experience to the desert. Suha is Lebanese woman who traveled to stay some country in Arabian Gulf. Because her husband works at the desert oil field, Suha remains local town nearby where her husband works.
Suha's never met these many restrictions when she were in her country, and she could not manage to have happy life in this over controlled environment, but instead she lost the flavor and the sensitivity of her life. "the feeling I'd started out with of losing my sensitivity to the life going on around me was growing stronger, as was my awareness of the complete absence of women, at least from the outside world" (Al-Shaykh 16). Suha is so distracted and she even lost her control over herself, and despite her being married she had affairs with Nur at her first time.
Posting 2/2
ReplyDeleteSuzanne is an American women living in the Arabian desert. She is portrayed as materialistic character that is eager for collecting wealth and jewelry. She also had a serial romantic relationship with different men. One thing that I could not understand from Suzanne is her unreasonable fear from cities, Urbanization and United States as whole. "Nobody would ever understand that I was scared of going back because the roar of the cities destroyed people and I was scared of being destroyed" (Al-Shaykh 233).
It seems to me that Suzanne is exactly opposite to Suha. Suha is dying to get back her freedom and she is ignoring the earnings that her husband gets from his work at desert. Suzanne on the contrary, she is ignoring the restrictions that take her freedom, and she rather focuses the wealth that she is collecting.
On the other hand Suzanne has similarities with Julie in the book The Pickup. Julie was getting away from the privileged life that she inherited, and she found herself in that small village in the desert. Same wise Suzanne hates the urban life the cities and living in the United States, and she instead chose to establish her kingdom in the desert.