“At once he would get control of himself and press his lips together while stealing a glance at his wife. He would find her as usual, in front of him, with her eyes lowered. Reassured, he would return to his memories and his heart that cherished them as though from an unquenchable thirst for the pleasures of life.”
To me, this is when we see a lot of different sides to Ahmad. First, we see that the moments that he lets escape when he's drunk are moments that reveal that he could actually be a nice person. He shares intimate feelings with her, and things that make him happy. This, in turn, makes Amina happy because she just wants to feel like she's not a doormat that he comes home to, but his actual wife. And even though drinking is an abomination in their religion, she's kind of happy to get those memories of happy times shared with her husband. But, we then see that those moments released are just a time when he loses control of the situation, and order must be restored in the universe. He then shuts up completely and refuses to talk to her. He must feel like if he talks to her too much, and let her inside to get to know him a little more intimately, she won't fear and respect him. His entire life is based off the fact that the things she does for him are done out of her fear for him. Then he looks back up at her to make sure she has returned to her submissive state of mind, and he can relax assured that she will keep that level of fear for him.
Also from this passage, I can see that his main focus is on himself and having a good time. The things that he cherishes the most are those times when he's out partying and hanging out with his friends instead of being at home with his family. He says that those are the times that quench his thirst for pleasure and, to me, that's a problem. Why is it that he can't find the times that he's at home to be exceptionally great pleasing? In any culture, your family should be your pride and joy. Later into the paragraph it says, “...and the success and delight they occasioned, making him everyone's best friend” (10). Apparently, the joy he seeks from being “everyone's best friend” is more pleasing to him than the joy of his own family. This suggests something to me that he must have some type of problem with family in general, not just women. He's passed down those perverse beliefs about women to his son (81), but he has something else towards his family as a whole, especially to Kamal, whom he repeatedly calls a “son of a bitch” (20). In my opinion, Ahmad has messed up priorities when it comes to family, if he can't even assess the times he spends with them as more valuable than the time he spends with his colleagues getting drunk and partying.
Wow! You get a lot out of this passage. And so early in the book too.
ReplyDelete