Woman (Animals)

In my previous blog, I talked about how Aisha and the rest of the family really feared Ahmad rather than loved him. When Ahmad is considering his daughter's, Aisha, marriage, he denies the request. This really hurts Aisha emotional, but still she looks past her emotions to forgive her father. Why? Following this the narrator refers to Aisha as a “ wild animal”, when talking about her feelings. He says, “They fell back impotently like a wild animal stopped by its trainer, whom it loves and fears” (160-161). This really stuck out to me, because even though women are abused and mistreated throughout the book it is the first time they are referred to as tamed animals. Meaning the men have gained complete control over the women through fear. Further along in the book, Yasin also refers to women as being a domestic animal.

What more does any woman want than a home of her own and sexual gratification? Nothing! Women are just another kind of domestic animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we're free to play with them. For me, being a husband who is faithful to his marriage would be death. (338)

When Yasin is talking about his marriage and how he perceives his wife and women in general, he says a woman doesn't want anything more than a home and sexual pleasure. Is this true? Do woman throughout the book just want pleasure and a place to stay, or is it just what he wants? To me, it is simply what Yasin wants and craves. We have seen his sexual desires when he examines woman in the store and when he tries to have sexual intercourse with the maid, in which he successfully rapes one of the maids further into the book. He also shows no desire to leave his father's house. Then again what more can we expect, he is fairly young and has strong sexual desires, but in many cases he has gone to far.
He also says, “Women are just another kind of domestic animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we're free to play with them” (338). Her refers to them as a domestic animal. Domestication is a process in which a animal is selected to be taken under the rule of a human. Yasin is saying that men in his culture have taken over woman and woman must obey an order from a man at any circumstance. Based on the Iran Chamber Society website, in the religion of Islam, the majority of people see woman as a creature for men and his service. We see this with Amina and the way she is submissive to Ahmad. Based on this novel, we can suggest that woman are there serve the man and to do house duties. The Iran Chamber Society also says that throughout history, women have been used by men as sexual objects. Yasin is a perfect example on how men see woman only as a sexual object. His father Ahmad, basically arranges his marriage because of his sexual urges. Woman also stay at home the majority of the time, waiting for the men of the house to return, so they can serve the men or as Yasin says “until we're free to play with them”(338).
This is the second time in the novel, women are referred to as animals, and from examples they almost relate to animals. Whenever the man says sit or to shut up, they do exactly what is being asked. Women throughout the novel have been manipulated. Men have developed a mind control over women ,and to the Islamic culture there is no wrong doing when men mistreat women because that is exactly how they were brought up. For example, according to the website of World Art Erotica, wife beating has happen so often that housewives see it as a part of marriage of life. The way men degrade women has become a part of their culture.

Unfair

It is a dull day at Ahmad’s house; Kamal is alone on the roof while his older brothers are in the study. What a long boring day with nothing of interest to do, and it’s all because of the English. Fahmy, Kamal, Al-Sayyid Ahmad, Zaynab, and Amina have enough patience to endure the entire day without committing insane actions, but not Yasin. He is not able to tolerate staying home without allowing his blinded lust to take over him and force him to commit adultery.

Towards the end of the day, every individual took over a space in the house, but Yasin. Instead of remaining by Zaynab, Yasin is forced, by his boredom and disappointment of having to spend his evening in his house and not the coffeeshop, to escape to the roof of the house. He asks himself, “Why am I so restless, disgruntled, and bored, finding nothing in her beauty [Zaynab] or culture to tempt me to postpone getting drunk?” (378). At this point Yasin feels betrayed by the mentality of marriage he used to posses; marriage is nothing like he had dreamed of. He is at the point where he is realizing that one wife cannot tranquilize his desire for sex. Once Yasin gets on top of the roof, he begins to daydream about the good life he used to have before getting married. Alcohol, women and sexual desire take over his mind. Unfortunately, Nur, Zaynab’s black maid, becomes his victim.

“Suddenly and unexpectedly, and inclination to assault her exploded within his breast like fireworks going off without any warning. This was a forceful, dominating lust. The whole point of his life seemed to be concentrated in it. It got control of him just as it had the night of Aisha’s wedding, when he had seen Umm Hanafi in the courtyard as he was reaching the threshold. His languid being was permeated by a bubbling new life. Restless desire spread through his veins, electrifying him. His ennui and boredom were replaced by an insane, raging, hot interest” (380).

Nur did not bother to scream and let other members of the house know what was going on like Umm Hanafi. “She did not attempt to free her hand, either because she was pleased or because she was obedient” (382). The real reason will remain a mystery because she decides to run away the day after she gets caught naked with Yasin in her room by Zaynab. News quickly reached Ahmad, who takes them as lack of respect for his house. Nur is a black maid in her forties; how could Yasin do this, and in the same house where his wife lives?
Yasin’s actions are not justified, but by his father. Ahmad knows that Yasin made a mistake by committing adultery in the same house where his wife lives, but he also understands that when lust overcomes you there’s no way to escape form it. Instead of blaming Yasin, Ahmad blames Zaynab. Without sympathy, Ahmad criticizes Zaynab’s reaction. According to him, “it was not appropriate for a good wife to implicate her husband in a scandal as she had, no matter what the circumstances… Yasin had made a mistake, but she had made an even greater one” (389). It was okay for Yasin to commit adultery and not okay for Zaynab to get mad about it.
Zaynab had started to be more submissive to her husband. She allowed him to leave the house every evening and come back home drunk, but she was not going to tolerate him cheating on her with a black maid in her forties. Even though she was pregnant and “looking forward to the proud status of motherhood” (386) Zaynab decides to leave the house. She is different from other women because she is able to set a limit on the things that can be tolerated. Ahmad can protest and complain about Zaynab, but I give her all of my respect. Not many women own the courage to leave their husband’s house without being kicked out. Zaynab can be compared to the author of the article My Four Husbands and I because both have the courage to go against the beliefs of the rest of the people. In the article, Nadine Bedair wrote about encouraging change in marriage. Here is the first paragraph she wrote:
"Allow me to choose four, five or even nine men, just as my wildest imagination shall choose. I’ll pick them with different shapes and sizes, one of them will be dark and the other will be blond. ... [T]hey will be chosen from different backgrounds, religions, races and nations” (1).
Both, Bedair and Zaynab have a great point that could lead to equal rights for both men and women.
Marriage is something that every young person desires. Even though every person has a different view of marriage, everybody dreams marriage to be perfect. In this case, Yasin kept dreaming about the perfect marriage, and when it arrived to his hands he wasn’t able to make good use of it. He cheated and ruined his marriage, yet he didn’t pay for the consequences at a full price. Zaynab, the innocent, was the one that was blamed by Ahmad with no real reason. She is accused and forced to be seen as the one doing things wrong.

Women revolution

Through out the novel Palace Walk the author Naguib Mahfouz we see how woman are badly treated. Even though women don't like the way that they are treated they still love their country and are willing to fight for the freedom of their country. Yasin notices that women are protesting against the British and that they are fighting for their freedom like the man are.

"Beautiful women marched in protest
I went to observe their rally.
I found them proudly
Brandishing the blackness of their garments
They looked like stars,
Gleaming in a pitch-black night.
They took to the streets;
Sa'd's home was their target"
-Hafiz Ibrahim (374).

This poem shows how it is that women all over the world have fought for the freedom that they feel that they deserve. Amina heard noises first and was afraid to check because she was afraid to wake Yasin. The true is that she was afraid of being punished. As soon as she heard that loud noise and saw what was really happening she shut the blinds and left. Yasin stayed there and was the one that noticed that even women were fighting agains the british. We have to remember that this book was written before Egypt received there independence from Britain. The women in the Egyptian culture are not allowed to go outside unless they are single. This time it was an exception for women. It must have been an exception because the men knew that they needed all the help that they could get. The men know that women love their country and therefore will allow them to fight for the women want and for what man will allow.

http://heritage-key.com/egypt/egypt-and-era-discovery

Influencing Zaynab

Throughout the book, we've been faced with women who are continually being oppressed by Ahmad and not allowing them to do simple things like go outside, talk back, or anything else that other women are allowed to do. Now that Yasin is married, his wife, Zaynab, is a new addition to the house. She wasn't raised like Khadijah and Aisha, who are accustomed to the ways of women in Ahmad's house. She was allowed to go out and see the world with her father, Muhammad Iffat. She didn't have to stay cooped up in a house all the time (314). So, it's without question that her moving into this new household is going to be a challenge.
On page 353, we see how Zaynab's character is being molded into that of an “Ahmad-ite” (I like to call the women in his house Ahmad-ites). Yasin was going on about the fact that activist Sa'd was being exiled to Malta and expressing his outrage for it. Zaynab felt like his feelings weren't necessarily backed up by his actions because he was still going to go out and drink that night. She felt if this situation was as serious as Yasin was trying to make it seem, then maybe he would spend a night with her instead of going out and getting drunk. Even though she felt like this, she didn't express her feelings to Yasin. Why couldn't she express this to her husband? Would that have been disrespectful for her to tell her husband to stay in tonight and not go out and drink? I agree that for her to say that in front of the entire family would have been embarrassing, but did she really have to suppress her true feelings? The next paragraph goes,
“She did not utter a word. She was too wise to cast her icy reflections into that fiery stream. Her mother-in-law resembled her in this. Her courage rapidly evaporated when confronted by anger, no matter how trivial. For that reason, she retreated into silence and kept her intense discomfort to herself as she apprehensively followed the raging, unruly conversation (354).”
We see here that Zaynab is becoming more and more like Amina everyday and I don't feel like that's a coincidence. They are all living in the same house and Ahamd's ego won't let a woman in his house even think that she might have a little control. Ahmad's the person who is controlling her and not Yasin, which, theoretically should be his job since he is her husband.
Why is Ahmad taking over so much? Does he not trust Yasin? We have reason to believe that. When Yasin and Zaynab decide to go to Kishkish Bey, Ahmad has a serious problem with it. We already know he wouldn't allow his wife and real daughters to even go out into the outside air, and he meant no less for his daughter-in-law. According to my research, many Muslim families believe in a strong extended family culture. They believe that the best help they can get with newcomers to the family are those in the family themselves. That is, why go outside of the home for help with your family when you can just ask those who are older for help. Professor Ismail Faruqi, author of this articlem writes, “...the nuclear family consisting only of husband, wife and children does not hae the resources, the human resources, the wisdom resources, the friendly resources that the extended family brings to the scene.” This part of their cultures is probably why Ahmad butts into the decision that Yasin and Zaynab make when they go to Kishkish Bey. He feels that it's his duty as father and leader of the home, he has to speak what he feels is necessary so that the women in his home live righteously. When Yasin and Zaynab return home, Ahmad tells her off and makes her feel bad for going out with her husband. He says, “...but there are matters that I cannot be silent about without committing what I consider an unforgivable crime. One of these is for a girl like you to stay out off her house until this hours of the night (313). While I see that this is the nicest we've probably seen Ahmad, I think that this exchange between them made it really hard for Zaynab to continue to be herself. He should have talked to Yasin and allowed him to deal with this situation in a way instead of stepping in and “chastising” her himself. He even says himself, “You're her husband and master. It's up to you to make her see things the way you want” (315). So he should allow him to deal with his wife in a way he sees fit.
But Ahmad's attempted refinery of Zaynab still fell short. When Zaynab found that Yasin had had an affair with a maid, she went crazy. She started yelling and screaming and intended for Ahmad to hear her so he would run to see what was the problem with her (385). It was Zaynab's first intention to not put up with a cheating husband but other people, like her own mother, had given her advice to put up with his affairs because he'd eventually grow out of it (387). But why should she have to wait for her husband to be faithful? He should want to do that because he loves her because she definitely loves him (386).
Basically, we haven't gotten a true sense of who Zaynab really is because she's continually being influenced into being a certain way instead acting on her true emotions. Even other women, like Aisha and Khadijah, are shown more deeply and complex in the book so we can see who they are and what they're like even though they were also always under the scrutiny of their father. Zaynab, on the other hand, is being pushed this and that way in order to become the “perfect” wife for Yasin.

Works Cited 
1.Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.
2.Role of the Family in the Spread of Islam. Jannah, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. .

Love, Lust, and Custom

Author Naguib Mahfouz introduces a new perspective in how we view love and lust in his novel, Palace Walk. What makes this particular vantage point of the dealings of lust and love so different from those we are accustomed to hearing about is that the customs of the characters’ culture hinder them at times; their customs influence their decisions when both lust and love present themselves. We see this occurrence become more pronounced in this section of the book (chapters 14 through 29) when almost all of the main characters in the novel are conflicted in their desires and their realities. True, love seems to be of a delicate subject for some whereas lust seems to come naturally to others, but no matter what it may be labeled, all of the characters are forced to take their cultural customs into consideration before any act on their desires.

When Ahmad goes to Madam Zubayda’s residence in hopes of an evening’s entertainment, he becomes conflicted when he begins flirting with her. When he is pursuing her in her home, she teasingly rejects his advances. In one instance, she claims that she must repeat her ritual ablutions. Ahmad, in return, discloses that he hopes they may pray together. In his head, however, is where conflict begins. “He privately asked God’s forgiveness as soon as he had made this joke. Although there were no limits to his impudence when he was intoxicated by his sense of humor, his heart was always troubled and uneasy until he secretly and sincerely asked God’s forgiveness for the humorous excesses of his tongue” (93). Although Ahmad demonstrates the lust that comes with being a sexual being in this scene, he does feel some remorse for abusing God in the process.

Fahmy has fallen for the neighbor girl, Maryam and wishes to ask for her engagement, but his father protests. His father does not understand why Fahmy would request this when he has not even seen her. When he asks Amina if Fahmy has laid eyes on Maryam, she replies, “Of coarse not sir. My son doesn’t lift his eyes to look at a neighbor girl or anyone else,” to which Ahmad returns by saying, “How can he want to get engaged to her if he hasn’t seen her? I didn’t know I had sons who were sneaking looks at the respectable women of our neighbors” (129). This is one of the factors that effects Ahmad’s decision in declining Fahmy’s request to marry Maryam. He is concerned that people will jump to the same conclusion as he did about his son viewing Mayam and that it would taint his family’s name. When Fahmy receives this news, he is upset that his father will not allow him to marry whom he wants whenever he sees fit, but as it is custom to obey the head of house, Fahmy complies.

Another character who has fallen victim to customs concerning the head of house that denies her love is Aisha. Everyday, an officer passes by her window and they look at one another and Aisha feels her heart fill with affection for this man. When her sister, Khadija, catches them glancing at one another she reprimands her sister. She says, “Nothing remains a secret forever, no matter how long it may be concealed. Imagine the situation for all of us if someone on the street or one of our neighbors noticed you. You know very well how people talk. Imagine what would happen if the news reached Daddy. God help us!” (141). Aisha decides to put the officer in the back of her mind as not to risk the family’s honor. When the young man requests her engagement, her father becomes furious and, like his son Fahmy, forbids it. Aisha is sure she loves the officer, but custom holds her from speaking her mind. “There was not a thing she could do about it. This was her father’s will and she could not criticize it. All she could do was submit and obey. In fact, she had to be happy and content. To be despondent would be an unforgivable offense. To protest would be a sin her conscience and sense of etiquette could not allow” (159).

Mahfouz is able to portray the thoughts and feeling of every character in a light that makes us feel like we are the ones who are conflicted. In this section of the novel, we are able to learn a lesson in Muslim culture and customs and we are able to see how these characters’ love and desires must be suppressed for the sake of the love and respect they feel for their own culture. During the talk of Aisha’s possible engagement, Yasin says. “Marriage is the fate of every living creature. Anyone not getting married today will marry tomorrow” (152). Love is something all of these characters aspire to feel, but they all understand that marriage is the custom of their culture, and submit regardless of their feelings.

Work Cited

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

Understanding Khadija

Since the beginning of the book, I’ve wondered and pondered about Khadija’s character in the book. She seemed to be one of the more peculiar characters in the sense that she was a very inexplicably angry and negative character. From the beginning her character struck me, reminding me of myself because of the anger that dwelled inside of her.

In this section, I began to explore her anger. There are times in the book where she admits her feelings of jealousy and hatred. Until this section in the book, I didn’t see the details of the things she hated so passionately. I see that she really does have issues that revolve around her insecurities about her nose, but I don’t feel this is the determining factor for her anger towards her sister and other siblings. I think it’s something deeper, but what that is, I haven’t figured out yet.

She could possibly be under the stress that her dad puts on her life. You can see that all of Ahmad’s children and his wife are afraid of him. Possibly this weight that is placed on her is due to having to constantly walk on her toes because she’s afraid of upsetting her father. She’s one of the most difficult people to understand because of her anger. In the situation where the children were deciding who should be the one to talk to their father to persuade him to bring his mother back to their homes. Khadija says, “I thought this was job more suitable for women” (214). This was her in efforts to evade the responsibility of being the one chosen to talk to her father because, later on, she confesses to being afraid ,of speaking to her father. She was even afraid to take on the responsibility of looking after Ahmad while the mother was healing.

Also, she is like the second mother in the house and bears some of the weight her mother does. She talks about how emotionally she was there for everyone and was like a mother for her family. I was thinking about how we put the emphasis on the parents role but I was thinking about what it’s like to be the oldest daughter in the family and what that job entails. I read a webpage that talked about the roles of different people in the family. The article talked about how people are responsible for there roles in the family and the children are to respect the mother and perform their duties (1). I thought this was interesting and kinda differed from the role that Khadija plays as sister and “second in command to her mother” (186). I think her role in the book is important but the way she feels about certain things still puzzles me now.

1. "What Does Islam Teach About the Family and the Roles of Men, Women and Children?"Sisters Area. Web. 01 Mar. 2010. .

Is Ahmad's religion guilty?

While reading Palace Walk, I noticed the extremely strict manner in which Ahmad treats Amina and his daughters. At first, I believed that all the men in the book didn’t allow their wives or daughters to go out into the street because of their religion or culture. As I kept reading the book, I realized that not all men kept the women enclosed in a house as if they were an object. For example, some of Ahamd’s friends and Amina’s father didn’t treat women this way. When Amina arrives to her mother’s house and tells her mother that Ahmad has kicked her out of her house, Amina’s mother says that it was dumb of him to kick her out just because she want out into the street. Her mother tells Amina, “Your father himself, who was a religious scholar and knew the book of God by heart, permitted me to go to neighbors’ homes and watch the procession of the pilgrims setting out for Mecca.”(202). Ahamd is just one of the many exceptions that makes every other Muslim look bad. Ahmad claims to be religious, but always does the contrary of what the Koran says. In an article I read called, The truth about Islam's view of women, I noticed that the Koran never encourages the beating of women or sleeping around with women. Although I do not agree with the way the arguments is carried out, I have to admit that some of the arguments are somewhat good. After reading the book and the article, I came to the conclusion that Ahamd is just an exception of the Islamic religion just the way Christians have exceptions too.



















Works Cited

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990

"The Truth about Islam's View of Women, Both In Itself and Compared to the Bible's View of Women" Feb. 27, 1020.