It's NOT love

“He glanced at Zaynab. He found her examining his face with a look that seemed to say resentfully, ‘Why are you so inattentive? Why are you so glum? Doesn’t my presence cheer you up at all?’ Yasin felt her resentment in the fleeting moment their eyes met, but he did not respond to her sorrowful criticism. To the contrary, it annoyed and riled him. Yes, he disliked nothing so much as being forced to spend a whole evening with her, deprived of desire, pleasure, and the intoxication on which he relied to endure married life.
He began to look at her stealthily and wonder in amazement, ‘Isn’t she the same woman? . . . Isn’t she the one who captured my heart on our wedding night? . . . Isn’t she the one who drove me wild with passion for nights and weeks on end? . . . Why doesn’t she stir me at all? What has come over her? Why am I so restless, disgruntled, and bored, finding nothing in her beauty or culture to tempt me to postpone getting drunk?’” (378)
Naguib Mahfouz demonstrates the loss of love in a marriage in his novel, Palace Walk. Yasin and Zaynab’s relationship is clearly at a loss of love in this section of the novel. Yasin has become “bored” of his relationship and no longer looks at his wife for pleasure. But, why could this be? Could this be that Yasin has just grown tired of his wife? Could it be because he feels no connection to her? Could this be a result of an arranged marriage? Does this tend to happen in all arranged marriages? Are they an exception to the so called, “success” of arranged marriages?
Yasin and Zayanab’s marriage was a customary arranged marriage and, at first, Yasin was quite enthusiastic. But, as the novel progresses, we see that Yasin loses interest in his wife, Zayanab. On page 378, we see that he begins to question his feelings and why he no longer feels the same way for her that he once did. According to Dictionary.com, the word “lust” means, Intense or unrestrained sexual craving, an overwhelming desire or craving, a lust for power, or an intense eagerness or enthusiasm. This definition allows me to assume that the feelings that Yasin once had for his wife weren’t any sort of love feelings, but feelings of lust. The eagerness that Yasin had to marry and his raging hormones caused for him to marry someone who he wouldn’t be very happy with as time progressed. In Dee’s blog, “Yasin has gone crazy!” she explains the attitude that Yasin has towards women and how the Lust he has for them came to be.
In my research, I found that countries that practice arranged marriages have higher success rates than those countries that don’t. One thing that the author wrote was that the reason that most marriages that aren’t arranged fail is that the couple bases their decision to marry on the belief that love will conquer all and that everything will be okay just as long as they’re in love, but when push comes to shove, love isn’t everything and their marriage ends up failing (Seabastian). But, what about Yasin and Zaynab’s marriage? It was arranged and had nothing to do with love yet it is still coming apart. Could it be that Yasin just wants to be with more than one woman? Or, could it be that he wants love and not just lust? Yasin and Zaynab's marriage is an example of how arranged marriages aren’t always as successful as people make them seem. Sure, some learn how to deal with one another without being in love, but some don’t and what happens then? Is it okay for Zaynab to leave or should she stay in a marriage where she’s not happy simply because it’s the “right” thing to do in her society?

Bibliography
Dee. "Yasin has gone crazy!" 17 February 2010. diggingevendeeper.blogspot.com. 04 March 2010 .
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
Seabastian. "Arranged Marriages - Past and Present 78." February 2010. HubPages.com. 4 March 2010 .