The sisters

In the story the most interesting part for me was about the two sisters. The story talks about them and their lovers or so called suitors that they had for a time. It mentions that Martine's love interest didn't stay long because with seeing her more and more each day he began to feel more and more inadequate compared to the beauty of her and her younger sister. So he left from her sight and was never able to speak about her again to his comrades. Was he ashamed of the fact of his non-beauty that he had compared to the two sisters or was he ashamed that he of all people could not overcome this one obstacle and tell this lady that he so truly loved his feeling? I believe that it is a little bit of both; because as a chief he should be able to handle any and every situation but he let this one slip out of his hands because of his fear of her immense beauty and I believe that it was also the fact that he didn't think himself beautiful enough for her or to be seen with her. He mentions how he steadily looks across the table between Martine and her sister and kept feeling lower of himself every time that he came to visit the Dean. In the case of Philippa, Martine's younger sister, it is much different. The man who loved her came to visit as well and even called upon her father to ask him if he could give her some voice lessons. He was not afraid of being in adequate or less beautiful, but when he called upon her and they sang together he, out of passion, kissed her. She then after that told herr father to cease her lessons with him. Why did she stop the lessons? Was she afaid because she did not feel for the man like he felt for her? Was she scared of the kiss because it brought to her some emotions that she was trying to keepa secret from herself and he brought them to the surface? Had she never been kissed before and done like all girls do and automatically bail out of fear because they don't know what the next move will be?

She's being naive

In the last few sections of the play I didn’t find any humor in it what so ever. In fact these sections make me angry. I don’t understand how Shen Te can be so ignorant and blind even after she heard Yang Sun tell Mr. Shui Ta that he wasn’t really in it for the love, but for the money that she could give him for his pilot job in Peking. The conversation starts on page 55 when Yang Sun talks to Shui Ta to get him to pay up the rest of the money for him to go to Peking and become a pilot.

Shui Ta: Two people can’t travel for nothing.
Yang Sun (not giving Shui Ta a chance to answer): I’m leaving her behind. No millstone around my neck!
Shui Ta: Oh.
Yang Sun: Don’t look at me like that!
Shui Ta: How precisely is my cousin to live?
Yang Sun: Oh, you’ll think of something.
Shui Ta: A small request, Mr. Yang Sun. Leave the two hundred silver dollars here until you can show me two tickets for Peking.
Yang Sun: You learn to mind your own business, Mr. Shui Ta.
Shui Ta: I’m afraid Miss Shen Te may not wish to sell the shop when she discovers that…
Yang Sun: You don’t know women. She’ll want to. Even then.
Shui Ta (a slight outburst): She is a human being, sir! And not devoid of common sense!
Yang Sun: Shen Te is a woman: she is devoid of common sense. I only have to lay my hand on her shoulder, and church bells ring.
Shui Ta (with difficulty): Mr. Yang Sun!
Yang Sun: Mr. Shui Whatever-it-is!
Shui Ta: My cousin is devoted to you… because…
Yang Sun: Because I have my hands on her breast. Give me a cigar. (He takes one for himself, stuffs a few more in his pocket, then changes his mind and takes the whole box.) Tell her I’ll marry her, then bring me the three hundred. Or let her bring it. One or the other. (Exit.)

Yang Sun out right tells Mr. Shui Ta that Shen Te is dumb and that he is not really in love with her, but he is just going to use her to get what he wants. Shen Te hears all of these things and still decides to marry him. How can she be so naive when she already knows that the only reason Yang Sun is there is to get the three hundred from her and then he is going to take his mother with him to Peking. Not worrying about how Shen Te is to make a living after giving everything she has to him. She even goes all the way to actually getting ready to marry him.
How can she want to be with a man who has no love for her and not even look at the man who is willing to give up all he has for her and her good will, I guess a little bit of the irony here is that Shen Te has fallen in love with Yang Sun, Who doesn’t love her back, and Shu Fu has fallen in love with Shen Te and she doesn’t love him either. But yet in the end Shen Te is forced to choose Shu Fu in order to keep her business running and because he is the only one who offers her the money to pay for- anything she needs. Which leaves Yang Sun in the same predicament that he started of in, with no money to become a pilot and looking for a way to get the rest of his money, but not only that she thinks she is pregnant with Yang Sun's son. Which if she tells Shu Fu of this it will mess up her chances of getting the money and the help she most desperately needs to get back on her feet and to pay back everyone who she was in debt to.

Love or servitude

In classic books that have and a woman the story is always the same. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, and boy and girl get married and stay together forever because of their strong love. But this is not the case in Naguib Mahfouz’s book, Palace Walk. In this book there is no great romance between the man and the woman. What happens here is more like the boy finds girl, boy ask parents to have girl marriage, and boy goes out with friends while girl stays home and takes care of the house. This is clearly the opposite case of the usual romance novels. But what the couples have in this book is not love, but servitude.
Most relationships these days are based on the fact the woman and the man chose to be with one another because they love each other. These couples are the exception.
The first couple seen in this story is Amina and Ahmad. Amina is not allowed to leave the house at anytime of the day and if any man gazes upon her from the windows of the house this could lead to scolding from her husband. She is allowed to cook, clean, and take care of the children and her husband but nothing more. Ahmad, on the other hand, is allowed to go out and do his business then he can stay out with his friends drink and fornicating with strange women, but if he gets home and his “wife” Amina is not awake to clean him up when he gets there that is another step that could lead Amina to a grave punishment. “ … If only for the moment she was not his servant but also a partner in his life”. (pg 11) This is what Amina thinks every night when Ahmad comes home from his nightly outings with the boys. Ahmad comes home drunk and Amina pleasantly undresses him and washes his feet like a servant would. But the reason she likes these times at night is because these are the only times when Ahmad will talk to her and tell her things about the outside world. This is the first time talks to her like a person who is his equal instead of like a slave who he thinks is beneath him and should just do what he says. But when morning comes for the next day he treats her like trash yet again. From the quote above it seems as if Ahmad is not married because he has any love for Amina but for the fact that she can be a great life long servant for him. It seems like love doesn’t matter anymore, that it is not even taken into any consideration in these marriages.
Hear and obey … hear and obey” ( pg 198) This is what Amina keeps repeating to herself after Ahmad kicks her out of the house for being disobedient and going into town. She says it as if this is what Ahmad has instilled in her to constantly follow, kind of like how the army brainwashes its solider. In her mind she has done something wrong because she has upset Ahmad and the servant is always there to please and make sure that the master is taken care of. If this is called love it is not the love that is seen today. In relationships today both people are servants to one another in a sense it’s not just one does all the work and the other gets to sit back and enjoy the benefits of the other shard work.
The servitude is clearly seen and explained in Abigail’s blog. She writes, “Young Amina, having been raised in a culture where women have always been seen as inferior to men, has been serving her husband for a quarter of a century. She has taken good care of her household, her husband, her stepson, Yasin, and her children since the age of 14.” Abigail’s words show that there is not love in between the marriages here but only the fact of servitude. It shows that the women aren’t seen as the love of the man life, but that they are seen only as a servant, a tool that is to be used regularly but never treated any better than just a tool. In her blog she goes on to write, “Mahfouz, as Amina's memory of Mr. Amad's words, writes, "'I'm a man. I'm the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any criticism of my behavior. All I ask of you is to obey me. Don't force me to discipline you" (4). These words were the words that taught Amina to adapt to her new life.” The quote in this part of Abigail’s blog shows how Ahmad also sees his wife’s role. He doesn’t see her as a friend or a partner just some one who must obey him like a dog must obey their master. Aby also writes that Amina begins to learn how to love her new life. Well of course she does, she has no choice but to lover her new life. As a servant to her “master” she has to love what she does so that she will be able to do well so that Ahmad will not punish her.
In Rykeem’s blog on Woman worth he writes, “Growing up, I was always taught that women, like a diamond, are to be cherished and treated with respect. But when and where did that become the accepted view? As we see from observing the treatment of women in Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk, not to long ago, women where no more than objects, a mere possession of a gentlemen. A general characteristic of property or an object is the essence of being controlled or used for the benefit of someone else. The word “object” has an implication the entity, object, has no ability to choose, a right given to every human by God”. The words he writes are so true to the story. The women are treated just like objects, something that is to be had but not treated like she is a person. This is exactly what Ahmad thinks of Amina as a possession. She is to do what she is told and to serve him because she is his to have and control.

Work cited
Hackett, Rykeem D. "A Woman's Worth." Web log post. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. .

Cisneros, Abigail V. "What Not To Judge." Web log post. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. .

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. Toronto: First American Edition, 1991. Print.

The satire of love

On page 45 after Mr. Shu Fu hurts the man's hand he happens to gaze upon Miss. Shen Te as she passes by. He looks at her and then turns to his audience and says, “ It surprises me how beautiful Miss. Shen Te is looking today! I never gave her a passing thought before. But now I’ve been gazing upon her comely form for three minutes! I begin to suspect I am in love with her. She is overpoweringly attractive! Be off with you, rascal!” What I found funny was the fact that he has just met the women for the first time really and he already thinks that he is in love with her after 3 minutes. That kind of love is not even shown in the movies.
Right before Mr. Shu Fu is another interesting part. It starts at the bottom of page 44 and continues at the top of page 45. Here Shen Te is talking about her day and going into to town she says, “How wonderful to see Setzuan in the early morning!....Good morning, Wong, I’m quite lightheaded today. On my way over, I looked at myself in all the shop windows. I’d love to be beautiful”. This is not the first thing that we would suspect for a person to say when they say they looked in all the shop windows. You would think they would say they saw something that they wanted to buy or a cute pair or shoes something closer to that. Instead she says how she wishes that she was beautiful, and what’s even more interesting is that right after that Mr. Shu Fu says how Shen Te’s is so beautiful looking and that he has fallen in love with her in the first 3 minutes of seeing her.

Fahmy's struggle

On page 424 the first major paragraph shows the struggle that Fahmy is having with trying to listen to his father and doing what he wants. Does it feel like to you that Fahmy is struggling between trying to be that good kid that his father would want him to be and the person he wants to be? I feel like he is struggling but at the same time trying to rebel against his father and the person that his father wants to make him be. In the paragraph he talks about how he wants to protest against the British but the hardest part would be telling his father that he has become a protester. It seems that Fahmy also gets a thrill form being out there with the rest of the people. But i feel like he is doing what all teenagers do when their parents are to strict on him. I don't really feel like he is protesting because he is committed to the cause and because he really believes that that is what he is supposed to be doing, I think that he is more likely doing it because he knows that his father would disapprove of his actions and that he will be seen as a rebel in his fathers eyes. He is trying to break free of his fathers commands just like every child at some point in their life tries to do. And just like a child he also struggles with his rebellion because of his father. He may not agree with what his father does all the time, but he does respect him because of the fact that he is a dignified and well respected man out in the rest of the world. I'm still not sure on why Fahmy is so afraid of his fathers opinion and what he will say when he finds out that Fahmy is protesting. I think it still has to deal with the fact that children always want to rebel but they never want to fall to out of favor with their parents. They want to reach a certain limit where they make their point, but not go to far as to where their parents give up on them.

Confused...

On page 379 it talks about Yasin and him being mad at his wife. It says, " He felt almost regretful, not because he had suddenly discovered some dregs of affection for her in the corners of his heart, but because of his desire to treat her politely, perhaps out of respect for her father or fear of his". it sounds to me like Yasin is having mixed feelings about his wife, and now he needs to put the blame on something higher than his emotions. Do you think that deep down Yasin really loves and cares about his wife or does he just try to respect her now because of their parents? I feel like he is a little like his father when it comes to his wife. I feel like his father really loves Amina but he can't really express that love to her because then peoples image of him will be distorted. I feel like Yasin feels like he has to hold close to the same image as his father so he tries to trick himself into believing that the inly reason that he cares about her is because of her father and his. But don't get me wrong there is a part of him who is just like his father in that he does like to sleep around with other women and that he does look at other women as well. In the research I did on Muslim marriages it talk about how the marriage should be shown off and how the man is not supposed to sleep around with other women except his wife. It seems to me that Yasin and his father are kind of doing the exact opposite of what they should be, and the only reason that Yasin is doping it is because he has seen i=his father do it to Amina. So I don't really feel like he doesn't love his wife but i do feel like that he idolizes his father and aspires to be like him, and the one way that he can do that is by acting like he really doesn't love his wife but by caring for her because that's what he is supposed to do.

Work cited:
http://www.jannah.org/sisters/marr.html

Is he really different?

On page 259 in the book it talks about Fahmy and his desire to be with a girl named Maryam who is in his sister's wedding. The author explains to us his inner emotions and how he really wishes that he could be with Maryam, but he is supposedly not like his brother in the way that he sees and treats women. But here in this passage it kind of sounds to me that he is beginning to lust after something he can't have. Is he turning out to be like his brother a little in the way that he views women? On the previous page it shows how Fahmy sees her and that all his emotions are consumed with her and her presence and that he looks away at her because she is so beautiful. I t also talks about how he is in love with her smile and her whole being. I believe, by reading this, that Fahmy does have urges just like the ones that his older brother has, but he has a different way of expressing himself with them. Instead of trying to force himself on them he chooses to surpress his urge to be with them and he sees them as goddesses and something to be worshiped rather than lusted after. It talks about in the passage how he sees her but begins to laugh and talk to his friends even louder in order not to think about the emotion he was feeling for her down in his heart. It is like he is ashamed to let anyone know that he is lusting over her like it is a bad thing for him to think of women in that kind of way.

Serious

On page 127 a woman comes and talks to Amad about Famhy and how well and outstanding he has become. She says, "Fahmy, sir, is a fine young man. He has gained favor with you through his seriousness, success in school, and good manners, may God protect him from the evil eye. Perhaps he has entrusted his request to me hoping that his status with his father will be an argument on his behalf". (pg 127) The part that caught my eye the most in this passage is how she begins to describe Fahmy. Instead of saying something like he has an outstanding career path going, she tells him about his c and I wonder why the first thing to be mentioned is how serious Famhy has become? Why is it important at all that he has become serious? Since we have been going through the book I have come up with a great theory of my own. I believe that the reason everyone else mentions his seriousness is because they know that that is what his father praises the most in a young man, and that he feels if a man is not more serious as he gets older then he is not a man. Like the rest of the quote said by telling Amad that his son is more serious has earned him a hire standing with his father. Now instead of treating him like a child who knows nothing Famhy can now be seen as a man in front of his father. But it is wired because in our culture we like to see that a child has matured a great deal, but for them to be completely serious is not what our parents require that we become in order for us to gain a higher standing with them. When people talk about me they never mention how serious I am, they always praise that I am a talented athlete or that I have grown so much, but they have never just told my parents that her seriousness has increased. That's why it is shocking to me that the first thing this lady wants to say to Amad is that his son has more seriousness.

Palace Walk 1

On page 4 Amina is talking about the house and how she can hear spirits and everything going through the house cursing everything. She also talks about her husband, and how the only time she feels safe is when her husband is around. But she also talks about a time where she didn't feel safe even when her husband would come back from his nightly adventures. She talks about how she used to fear him and didn't understand any of the stuff that he did. " I'm a man. I'm the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any any criticism of my behavior. All I ask of you is to obey me. Don't force me to discipline you". (pg 4) I wonder why does her husband feel that it is okay to talk to his wife like that? Why does he feel the need to belittle her and make her look as if she is less than the dirt that is under his feet. The part that really got to me is how he says, " Don't force me to discipline you". That is something that a mother would say to her son. Not something that a husband says to his wife. It kind of reminds me of an abusive relationship that might be portrayed on television. Where the husband gets ready to hit his wife, but before he does it he will tell his wife don't make me do this, I don't want to do this but I have too, and sometimes they even say I have to hit you because I love you so much. Since I don't know that much about their culture I have to go on what I think. I think that the reason he finds it okay to talk to his wife like that is because they put the men on a throne, and make them feel like they are king. That everyone else is lower then them, especially their wives, and it is part of the woman's job to just listen to them and do whatever their husband's want them to do.