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.

Ahmad's Priorities

The passage I'm writing about is on page 10, and it's the first full paragraph. I want to focus on one sentence that states:

“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.