Even though we are now more than halfway through the novel Palace Walk the way Ahmad views women doesn’t cease to amaze me. In this particular section what shows us how he feels about women is how he reacts when Yasin sleeps with his wife’s personal maid, Nur. When this occurs Ahmad is enraged but not at the fact that Yasin has slept with a woman that isn’t his wife; he’s enraged because of who that woman is. Also, he strongly critiques Zaynab’s reaction when she finds out that Yasin has cheated on her. He goes as far out as to say that the way Zaynab reacted was a greater mistake than that which Yasin committed by sleeping with her personal maid.
When Ahmad learns about the affair that Yasin had with Nur he is enraged but not because he has cheated on his wife, Zaynab. He is enraged because of who he cheated on her with. He explains why giving us examples of his own affairs
Just as he loved beauty in the abstract, he loved it in its glittering social framework. He liked to be noticed and to have a widespread reputation…. This social use of his love did not require him to sacrifice beauty, for in his circle beauty and reputation went hand in hand, like an object and its shadow. Beauty was most often the magic wand that opened the door to reputation and noteworthy status. He had been the lover of some of the most famous entertainers of his time. Not one of them had disappointed his yearning for beauty or his craving for loveliness. For these reasons he thought scornfully of Yasin’s conquests. He repeated disapprovingly, “Umm Hanafi! … Nur! … What a beast he is (391)!
With these statements Ahmad is basically saying that he disapproves of Yasin’s conquests because they weren’t beautiful, distinguished, or influential. Yasin had no criteria to choose his mistresses; when lust blinded him he would be content to lie with any woman. And this was exactly what enraged Ahmad; he didn’t like that his son was a savage willing to sleep with any woman regardless of what she looked like or who she was. He was not at all concerned with the fact that Yasin had just cheated on his wife.
Another notion that shows how low Ahmad thinks of women is how he disapproves of Zaynab’s reaction when she finds out that Yasin was cheating on her. He thinks, “It was not appropriate for a good wife to implicate her husband in a scandal as she had, no matter the circumstances. How she had wailed! How she had screamed! What would he have done if Amina had surprised him one day in a comparable situation? But what was she compared to Amina? …Yasin had made a mistake, but she had made an even greater one” (389). Here Ahmad makes it clear that he thinks Yasin was in his rights to sleep with Nur, and that Zaynab shouldn’t have complained at all. He compares Zaynab with his wife, Amina, who is very compliant with everything that Ahmad says and does. He believes that Amina is a good wife and all women should be like her. In Ahmad’s eyes, Zaynab made a greater mistake than her husband because she complained about his cheating on her.
Because of the way Ahmad views women I agree with Lauren's Blog when she says that it’s very difficult for Zaynab to adjust to living in her new home. Zaynab was raised in a household with more progressive views towards women so it’s difficult for her to adjust herself to the strict ways of Ahmad’s home. When she was younger she was allowed to go out and see the world with her father. Now she has to stay in the house all the time. This and the way Yasin’s affair with Nur was treated are examples of how Zaynab is being transformed into Ahmad’s image of a perfect wife.
Source Citation
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.
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