Mahfouz exemplifies to his audience the way Amina feels towards her men in the family. The very structure of the way he states "This moment was one of the happiest of the mothers days", it shows that she has a good soul and that just to see her men walk out proud into the streets gives her the utmost joy. excellent example of ethos as well.

"This moment was one of the happiest of the mother's day. All the same, her anxiety that her men might be harmed by the evil eye knew no limits. She continued reciting reciting the Qur'anic verse " And from the mischief of the envious person in his envy" (113:5) until they were out of sight."

This passage to me is a perfect example of ethos. The way that Amina prays for her men as they leave the house shows how she is established, showing her caring, nurturing, and loving ways.

Reunited and It Feels So Good?

She lowered her eyes to hide her overwhelming joy. She could not conceal the emotions rocking her soul. Her face seemed an extremely accurate mirror, registering everything that was inside her, no matter how small. She wanted so much to receive the happy news with a composure befitting her maternal role, but she was transported by joy. The features of her face laughingly expressed her childish delight. At the same time she felt ashamed, although she did not know why. She remained motionless for so long that Kamal's patience was exhausted. He pulled her by the hand, putting his entire weight into it until she yielded and rose. She stood for a little while in a strange confusion. Before she realized what she was doing the turned and asked, "Should I go, Mother?" p. 232

This passage is the climax to Amina's exile and it is affective because of the rhetoric stance the author takes: pathos. The passage effectively portrays both the excitement she got from a reunion with her beloved children and the shame she feels for herself. With descriptive word choice and illustrative detail the author is able to effectively lure the reader into the book as though the reader was actually Amina.

Through descriptive word choice, the reader is able to empathize with Amina because there has been a moment where we felt so happy that our inner child came out. Amina is decribed as being so happy that she couldn't conceal her inner child while trying to "receive the happy news with a composure befitting her maternal role." (232) Words such as "childish delight", "overwhelming joy", and laughingly protray the excitement she received from the news her children brought. After she is overjoyed from that moment of pardoning she quickly is blanketed with feelings of embarrassment and shamefulness. These feelings were so powerful that she "remained motionless" to the point where Kamal began to get impatient. Words such as "strange confusion", and ashamed illustrate how ashamed she was for being exiled. She then questions herself of being worthy to be by Ahmad's side by questioning her mother if she should go back.

Amina's inner child and shamefulness is described effectively with descriptive sentences. After reading the descriptive first half of the paragraph, the reader is able to imagine the feeling Amina was overcome by. The reader is able to picture Amina trying to hide a smile that occupies most of her face but then gives in to her inner child by jumping up and down. Then, suddenly this picture is flipped inside out with a feeling of shame by the illustrative second half of the paragraph. The reader then imagines Amina wide-eyed and stiff after realizing the shame she brought on herself for being exiled.

Childhood...

Why is Kamal so different from all the men in this society? Does the fact that he is ten years old make a difference. Kamal is looking for attention constantly from his brothers, especially his mother. He is the only one who seems to have a deeper respect for women. Women in this society are either used as maids such as in the case of Amina and her husband Amad or as sexual objects from which men gain pleasure. If they are house wifes as Amina,  they can't leave the house for any reason unless accompanied by their husbands, they learn about the outside world only from what by mouth of their husband, and are basically ignorant of everything except for the teachings of the Koran and what they need at home. Kamal seems to be very different from all his male brothers, he enjoys the company of his mother and two older sisters. Mahfouz describes Kamal's reason for wanting to teach his mother about what he learned at school, " The truth was that he loved the women's company with all his heart and did not want to be separated from them even when working. Seeing them gave him a pleasure nothing else could equal. He loved his mother more than anything in the world (Mahfouz 65)." Kamal spent his time trying to teach his mother  many things he found interesting and in doing that I feel that he is being inclusive with his mother. Kamal seems to think that maybe his mother shouldn't be any different from him or even men. Men are the one's who get educated in this society and Kamal makes a difference. I attribute this difference to his age and experience because he can't have so much respect and admiration for a man like his father who treats him as if he doesn't deserve respect. Mahfouz placed this paragraph to show us probably how men in this society grow out of their admiration and respect for women. Is Kamal going to change later in the story? 

P. 65, top paragraph 

Love and Marriage

Naguib Mahfouz is able to give the reader a taste of the fear that Amina feels in chapter twenty-nine of Palace Walk, after the accident (her being hit by a car) has taken place. Since the novel is written in third person, we are given a description of the fear that everyone in the house feels when the question of how they will confront Ahmad is brought about. To her surprise, however, Ahmad did not resort to anger, as predicted. Instead he told her to “‘Stay in bed till God heals you’” (184). When he leaves the room, Mahfouz describes Aisha’s reaction. “Her pale face blushed when she remembered the affection he had showered on her when she had been expecting nothing but his overwhelming anger that would blow her and her future away. Yes, she felt both pride and embarrassment when she started to talk about their father’s sympathy for her in her time of need and how he had forgotten his anger because of the affection and pity that had seized hold of him” (185). “Pride” and “embarrassment” are words that do not go hand in hand. Amina seems to be lying to herself about Ahmad’s affection for her. It is as if she wishes that it were really affection that Ahmad felt instead of an obligation to their marriage.

As I have mentioned in my previous response “Love, Lust, and Custom,” in Islamic culture, marriage is something that everyone must do. Love does not necessarily play a role in every marriage. With Amina and Ahmad's marriage, as Westerners, we find ourselves scrutinizing their marriage and declaring that there is no love involved. Perhaps this is true; maybe Amina is attempting to find love in the littlest things. As human beings, we strive for love, especially women. But who are we to judge or define love? In Islamic culture, I have noticed that marriage is love. We believe that love comes before marriage, and sometimes this holds true for Islamic culture as well, but usually marriage comes first in Islamic culture and the two newlyweds must learn to love one another because divorce is frowned down upon.

In the case of Amina and Ahmad, Amina feels that Ahmad must feel some kind of affection toward her since he did not get angry at her venture outside. But there is also a feeling lingering in her private thoughts that this may not be enough. “Privately she might have wished he would complete his kind treatment of her by renouncing his night out, as was appropriate for a husband whose wife had suffered what she had. Since she knew his temperament well, though, she fabricated an excuse for him ... She would justify his departure with the excuse she had already invented...” (188). It is clear that Amina wishes for Ahmad to be more caring about her fragile situation, but in the end she gives in and accepts that she will receive no more affection from him.

In the article,“Marriage in Islam,” there is a section that discusses love and how it is viewed in Islamic culture. Love is something that does not last, it is a feeling that can end; whereas marriage is a commitment that is necessary in Islamic society. “Love blinds people to potential problems in the relationship. Arranged marriages on the other hand, are based not on physical attraction or romantic notions but rather on critical evaluation of the compatibility of the couple. This is why they often prove successful.” This article makes a valid point: successful marriages are successful only if those married are compatible. Love waivers, but if two people meet each others needs, then there would be no reason for them to part. It is somewhat of a convenience factor. So although Amina desires to be loved, this is not necessarily the case in her marriage. When Ahmad summons her to return home after dismissing her, it is not he who comes to get her from her mother's house, but her sons. The reason for summoning her must have had to do with the fact that he needs her in his life, not for love, but to carry out her duties as his wife; he needs her for the convenience.


Works Cited

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

2."Marriage in Islam." Jannah.Org :: Islam the Eternal Path to Peace. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

Importance of women

In the novel Palace Walk written by Naguib Mahfouz we are presented to an Egyptian family who practices Islam. This novel is narrated in the 1920’s meaning that Egypt was still partially in control by Great Britain. I say partially because there were signs of a revolution starting against the British. Women in Islam are to obey their husbands and always stay home unless told differently by man. Throughout the novel we see that women are also respected, loved, and appreciated. Women are willing to fight for everything that they want and that they love.
“Then, the children arrived, one after the other. In their early days in the world, though, they were tender sprouts unable to dispel her fears or reassure her. On the contrary, her fears were multiplied by her troubled soul’s concern for them and her anxiety that they might be harmed. She would hold them tight, lavish affection on them, and surround them, weather awake or asleep, with a protective shield of Qu’rans suras, amulets, charms, and incantations. True pace of mind she would not achieve until her husband returned from his evening’s entertainment” (3).
We see how at the beginning of the novel the author Naguib Mahfouz gives us all of this information in the first couple of pages. This really caught my eye because it shows that no matter how young the woman are in the Egyptian society they still have to have children at a very early age. As Javier said in his blog
“This passage really impacted me because its found on the third page of this novel. The author was able to include a lot of things in these few sentences that are fundamental to the whole understanding of the Egyptian culture and this book. Mahfouz, makes it seem as if women are married young and find themselves serving no purpose until their children are born. He makes me feel that their only purpose in the Egyptian culture is to be a care giver and provide comfort to the family” (Women).
Women have to become mothers at a young age in Egypt and they are not look down at. Man actually like the fact that they can have children because that to them is an assurance that there name will live on forever. To women in Egypt it seems natural to have kids at a young age because of the way that they quickly get that natural instinct of a mother. They learn how to take care of their children and they are also scared for their children. Many woman seem to become by natural habit a caring a loving person to the husband that they have. Even though they really don’t get to know the man that they are marrying sometimes they don’t even know how they look until they get to the marriage ceremony.
Women also take care of themselves and others. The best thing that they do is that no matter how badly they seem to be treated they still fight for their government and for the freedom of their country. Britain controlled Egypt for most of the 1920’s until finally Egypt decided to fight for their independence from Britain. This meant that Egypt was going to need everyone that was willing to fight for that country to do it. This was so important for everyone that even women were allowed to go and fight for what they believed was right.

"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. In the end of the novel Fahmy dies and that in a way softens Ahmad. We see that Ahmad doesn’t know how to break it down to Amina or Kamal and when he walks in the house he hears Kamal singing “Visit me once a year/ For it’s wrong to abandon people forever” (498). This made me think about how is it that at such a moment something like that just happens by coincidence. Ahmad was entering his house with the intentions of telling Amina and Kamal that Fahmy had just died and then he hears those words. Those lyrics at that time were probably the last thing that Ahmad was expecting to hear. We realize at the end of the novel how much Ahmad really loved Fahmy because never in the novel did I read about Ahmad crying until he found out that Fahmy had died. Ahmad is a strict father but the true is that he just cares so much about his children that he’ll do anything to just protect them. Ahmad also cares about his children being able to live a life the way that Islam says life should be live.
As we can see women play a very important role in the Egyptian life. That’s why they are cared for more when they are younger then man are. They are also protected because no father wants to let there daughter be seen outside of their house. The reason is that whoever wants to marry their daughter is doing it because they want to be related to him and only him. Without women the world would be different and not a good different. Therefore women are the most important people living on this earth.

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1965. Print.
http://heritage-key.com/egypt/egypt-and-era-discovery

The Prices for Freedom

Is freedom really free when there’s a high cost to pay for it? In Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk the characters have to pay with their reputation, their family, or their lives for freedom. Mahfouz tries to answer the question are these prices for freedom greater than the things you give up when suppressed. Taking freedoms means not accepting submission and being rebellious. One can rebel against their parents, culture, government or religion; whatever sets the rules and limits. Mahfouz wants his readers to realize the consequences to rebellious behavior because in Islamic countries there is a contradiction in their ideology and actual practices. There seems to be a struggle between the traditional Islamic beliefs and modern ideologies. Almost all the members of the family had gone against Islamic rules and culture to steel even a small bit of freedom their religion doesn’t allow.
The different views of the intimacy music creates in the book reflects the debate of the acceptance of music in Islam. Some Muslim scholars believe music should be banned because of its association with sensuality, dancing and drinking (Kutty). Music overall is a very controversial and heavily debated topic by Muslim scholars for many years. In general Islam does not either absolutely accepts music or remains indifferent (Sabir). Here’s an example of an argument against Music in Islam: “In modern schools and universities, we observe independence, free expression and secular thinking being encouraged. This idea of freedom…is a predominant, underlying theme of today`s music. It is being used as a means for drilling those modern ideologies that are totally contrary to Islamic Shariah and values, into the minds of Muslims” (Music and Islam). This opinion is interesting in the way it connects music with freedom. It suggests that freedom especially in relation to secularism and modernism is something bad. Musicians have a lot more freedom and play than any other character in the book. Musicians like Jalila take social and sexual freedoms which cost her the traditional life of a husband securing her. Jalila, for example, as a musician has sexual and social freedom but at what cost? She avoids her arranged marriage and lives a risky life; however, she has the freedom to chose her lover and she is free to walk over to the men’s side in the wedding. Music has modern and traditional views because of the kind of intimacy it creates. Traditionalist wants to protect Islamic people from its association with sin like fornication and adultery. Modernist wants the freedom to indulge in not only the sinful intimacy but the intimacy of communication and connection when it's intangible. An example of this kind of intimacy is when “Jalila united the two of them [Fahmy and Maryam] in a single experience of listening and possibly feeling. She had created an occasion for their spirits to meet” (261). This intimacy is a spiritual intangible connection. Then there’s the intimacy between family members shown through how Yasin feels music connects the family. He thinks to himself, “Everyone sings. It’s a family with deep roots in music” (251). Since music knows know limits and touches the core of people’s emotions, there’s no consequences or prices to pay to feel the connections it creates. Since people do not have to give up anything to feel, they are free to experience music with no cost.
The struggle for traditionalism and modernism also appears in marriages. Married women gives up the most freedom for the security of a husband.. As a woman Amina is forced to adapt to husband wills and submit to his rule. In Havi’s blog Women’s Role he compares the treatment of woman to the treatment of animals when he examines how Amina is not even allowed to sit next to her husband but on the floor because she feels she is not worthy. She has the least freedom of anyone in the novel however it is impossible to believe that she would never exercise her free will. An online article from Time magazine states
Among the gravest oppressors of Muslim women today are Family Laws, the legal frameworks governing marriage and divorce, inheritance, and custody. The laws are the front-line in the war between traditionalists and modernizers. Laws about women remain in the grip of medieval legal reasoning about the family. They vary by nation, but their message is consistent: the husband is the provider, and the wife submissive (Power, Lumpar)

Traditionalist need these rules and regulations to keep away and control modernism. Modernism allows more freedom but not without a price. The movement toward modernism is a movement toward freedom from the traditional limitations. Ahmad, who sets the most traditional rules for his family tries to control this freedom movement but he cannot control the movement of modernism from entering his house. Amina exercised her free will regardless of the rules he sets. She pays the price when she gets hit by the car because she gave up the security of her home and husband offers however she gains an experience of her lifetime. Mahfouz describes, “There was no way to quench her thirst. Visiting the shrine had so stirred up her yearnings that they gushed forth from their springs, flowed out, and her yearning that they gushed forth from their springs, flowed out, and burst over their banks. She would never stop wanting more of this intimacy and delight” (170). Usually Amina is able suppress her wants and desires and adapt but she finally owns a desire she could never rid of. Is it worth it? She’ll most likely never see the place again. She’s also separated from her family for going against Ahmad’s strict rules. She risk never seeing her family again for that small bit of freedom to visit her beloved al-Husayn. Was never experiencing better than only being able to experience it just once? She considers this for herself when she is invited back to her home. Amina “…stood for a little while in a strange confusion. Before she realized what she was doing she turned and asked, ‘Should I go’” (232). She wonders for a second if she should return home to her husband. It’s like she’s asking herself is her submissive life worth all the sacrifices. It’s amazing that she even wonders this because she never before thought she had the choice. When she exercised her free will she realizes giving up her freedom is a choice not a obligation. However she decides her family is worth more than her selfish desire for freedom.
In the Islamic culture, education is a freedom because and one gains the power of knowledge and must give up ignorance. The power of knowledge makes people less likely to submit which is why many woman are forbidden from education. Ignorance of the world keeps them at home. Fahmy takes the most of this freedom and his education about what is going on within his country gets him deeply involved in it. With the power of knowing he clearly sees his enemy and his reason for fighting. He fights for freedom of his country which to him is worth his life. Fahmy tells his mother “A people ruled by foreigners has no life” (347). Fahmy feels like the fight for freedom is worth his life because he feels like the foreigners that rule his country already has his life. He is fighting to win it back. He literally lives the contradiction in political views before and after the movement for independence when he goes home and then goes to school. At home he feels The moment his mind had returned to this stifling atmosphere of lassitude, ignorance, and indifference, he felt a blazing fire of distress and pain that desired release from confinement…. At that moment he wished…he could be surrounded once more by a group of his fellow students. Then he would be able to quench his thirst for enthusiasm and freedom…” (326).
The home represents traditional values in the way the home limits and suffocates him. “ Life strengthen this hope with exertion, and death strengthened it with sacrifice” (357). His life is lost and his country is still not free. Ahmad tells his friend, “Fahmy learned how the boy had been lost and might just have never existed…the poor lad perished, but Sa’d didn’t return and the English didn’t leave” (466). Is all this death necessary for freedom? Is Fahmy’s death for his country really pointless? In the long run the demonstrations and rebellion are necessary. If the country continues to be submissive and servile to the English then nothing will ever change.
Yasin and Ahmad takes sexual freedoms going against their religion. Islam does not allow fornication or adultery and yet this does not stop them. As Lauren writes in her blog “They consider themselves to be devout, faithful muslims, yet from most of the men in the book, we see them living lives that are contrary to what they should be doing as well-practicing muslims.” Only when Ahmad’s life is threatened does he think about quitting his night life. They give up the chance to fall in love and truly love a woman for these sexual freedoms. Yasin looses his family because he can not control his lust and takes too much sexual freedom. “…Love for him was nothing but blind desire. It was the most elevated form of love he knew” (72) pg 81 Yasin’s view of woman “ It was for the sake of this lust alone that he had married the first time and then the second. Over the course of time, his conjugal love was affected by calm new elements of familiarity, but in essence it continues to be based on bodily desire” (99). Fahmy who does not take these sexual freedoms is able to fall in love even though he’s not allowed to marry his love because he took the freedom to look at her and she took the freedom to show herself when it was forbidden.
With such huge prices to pay for freedom, the reader must conclude that freedom is not really free. There is such a huge struggle between modernism and traditionalism but both come with a cost. It is up to the individual to chose and measure the consequences and no one no matter how hard they try can take that from a person.

Work Cited
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor books, 1990.
Power, Carla, and Kuala Lumpar. "Muslim Women Demand an End to Oppressive Family Laws - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Time, 17 Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. .
[Weblog] Clemons, Lauren, “Leading a Double Life.” Digging Even Deeper . 3/24/2010. 4/5/2010 (http://diggingevendeeper.blogspot.com/2010/03/leading-double-life.html).
[Weblog] Macias, Javier, “Woman‘s Role” Digging Even Deeper . 2/11/2010. 4/5/2010 (http://diggingevendeeper.blogspot.com/2010/02/womens-role.html).
Sabri, Mustafa. "A Topic of Dispute in Islam: Music." Wake Up! 1995. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .
"Music and Islam." Inter-Islam: Relaying the same message brought by the Prophets, Prophets Adam - Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be Upon Them All). 1998. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .
Kutty, Sheikh A. "What Does Islam Say on Music?" Islam Awareness Homepage. Aug. 2002. Web. 2010. .

Successful Marriage

In Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk, marriage is a topic that is hard to understand, but is all the more intriguing because of it. It's been difficult for the most part, figuring out what makes a successful marriage. Why is it that Amina and Ahmad have been married for 25 years, when Ahmad has proven to not be a husband that many women crave? Ahmad sneaks out on his wife all the time with various women like Zubayda and his next-door neighbor Bahija Ridwan, yet Amina stays right there through it all. In this book, marriage is such a complex part of life that research was necessary to understand what muslims believe to be important in a marriage. According to the Qur'an, Muslims are to believe that “...among [Allah's] signs is this that He created for you spouses of your own kind, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy for one another...” (Qur'an 30:21). As devout Muslims, which is what they characters of the book (especially Ahmad) are, they should base all of their marriages off of this because this is their law for living a truly Muslim lifestyle. This is the basis of their faith and what they should believe as Muslims. Although there are other marriages in the book that are unsuccessful, Ahmad learns that what's important to keep a marriage alive is this verse in the Qur'an. During his first marriage to Haniya, Yasin's mother, he didn't practice that mercy that is mentioned in the Qur'an but he learns to use it during his marriage to Amina, which turns out to be the most successful marriage in Palace Walk.
The short-lived marriage of Yasin and Zaynab is very similar to the ones between Ahmad and Haniya, Yasin's mother. When Ahmad was married to Haniya he admitted to actually enjoying living with her, which is the only true emotion for women Ahmad is rumored to have outside of lust (106). Like Marixa said in her blog, Ahmad and Women, in the book, we haven't really seen much emotion out of Ahmad for women besides lust. Haniya seems to have been the only woman who brought a little of that out of him, that is until he met Amina. But the “love” is short-lived when Haniya shows that she's a woman who won't take just anything from her husband. Ahmad began to beat her when she would leave the house or do anything that he didn't want her to do. Instead of loving her and treating her like a human being instead of a dog that you train, their marriage ends up failing. This marriage, like many other marriages in the book including Ahmad's current marriage to Amina, could be or could've been a lot better if the husband would put his wife first instead of him trying to seem like a masculine guy who can control his wife. It also could've been successful if Ahmad had learned to practice the mercy that the Qur'an speaks on. Had Ahmad shown mercy to his wife and put her needs before his own needs to be fulfilled as a “man”, many things in his life would have been different. Yasin wouldn't have a strained relationship with his own mother, and probably wouldn't have the outlook on women that he has now.
After his marriage to Haniya, Ahmad goes on to marry Amina. Amina is a totally different wife to Ahmad than Haniya is and she proves to be more along the lines of a wife that he wants. She's quiet, meek, obedient, and most importantly, fearful of him. She's scared to do anything that Ahmad might not approve of, and when she does, her worst fear comes true. When she leaves the house and goes outside to visit al-Husayn, Ahmad finds out and kicks her out. Right then, it seems that Ahmad has gone back to the old ways that got him in trouble with his first marriage. He seems to solve his problems with women by putting them out. But, he knew that just putting her out his house would cease to function. Even though it took him until the end of the book to truly realize, he's not all powerful. Like Daniela said in her blog, He's Human After All, he at some point began to realize that he needs help with things and he can't do everything on your own. When he takes her back, he practices what the Qur'an says is important in a successful marriage, and that's mercy. The act of mercy includes showing compassion to someone and forgiving them for something they've done. When Ahmad finally learns the importance of mercy and showing it in his marriage, he admits to not being perfect and needing help in their home.
At first, Ahmad doesn't seem to be capable of loving anyone besides himself. Once he learned to show love to someone besides himself, he begins to have a successful marriage. That love, like the Qur'an stated, is necessary to have a successful marriage but not just in the book but in real life. In Ahmad's first marriage to Haniya, he doesn't truly love her and doesn't practice mercy on her. Love and mercy should go hand in hand with one another. If you truly love someone, then you show them mercy because you can look past the bad things they've done and forgive them. But, if you want to leave them just because they did something you don't agree with, then that's not love. That's why it's obvious that Ahmad loves Amina. He gets angry with her, he cheats on her and sometimes treats her badly, and I'm not saying that all those things are acceptable for a husband to do to his wife. But, at the end of the day, he always thinks of his wife. When he's taken away by the British soldiers, his mind goes to his family, and it's not just the kids but her as well. Even though Ahmad is still a selfish man, he learns to make room for someone else in his life, and apparently Amina was good enough to fit the bill of that person.




Works Cited
1.The Holy Quran. Maulana Muhammad Ali, 2002. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. .

2.Barajas, Daniela. "He's Human After All." Web log post. He's Human After All. 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. .

3.Rodriguez, Marixa. "Ahmad and Women." Web Log post. Digging Even Deeper: Ahmad and Women. 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

4.Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

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. .

All Daughters are Made Equal

On page 236-237, we become aware of Aisha's chance to get married. This comes as a surprise because earlier in the book, we read that their family wanted Khadijah to become married before Aisha does. Aisha's excited to finally be moving on but Khadijah isn't really excited to see her little sister, to whom she shows a bit of resentment, get married before she does. Mahfouz writes, "Khadijah did not enjoy affectionate words of comfort when defeated. She received Aisha's statement with unconcealed annoyance" (237). My question at this point is whether Khadijah should be happy for her sister instead of annoyed and jealous with her. I mean, earlier in the book, on page 144, everyone was excited for her when they thought she was potentially going to get married, but now that it's shifted to her sister, she refuses to be angry. This contrast in behavior made me think about why is it so expected for older sisters to get married first. According to this website, I know that the marrying age for females in this culture is 16 and for males it's 18, but both Aisha and Khadijah are over that age. (Egypt) So why is it so important that Khadijah be married first? According to the book, they see Khadijah not being engaged as being bad luck, which I also don't understand. I think they should be happy that she got proposed to in the first place, and not complain about the order it's done in.

Also, putting so much emphasis on seeing that Khadijah be married first, creates a strained relationship between Aisha and Khadijah. Khadijah now feels resentment towards her own sister, who doesn't deserve to be treated that way. It's not like Aisha in some way made it so that she could be married first, yet Khadijah treats her like it was somehow her fault (237). She also begins to lose faith in her family and how much did she mean to them. She starts to believe that her father no longer loves her the way he used to. She loses sight in the love that keeps their family together anyways (238).


1. Egypt. Emory, 1998. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. .

2. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

Amina's accidental Ahmad's reaction

This second section of Palace Walk has been very interesting. There have been many important things going on with every single character. One of the characters, Amina, experienced a particularly significant incident. This incident was how she got run over by an automobile after visiting al-Husayn’s shrine while her husband was out. While I was reading about this incident I kept thinking about how Amina’s husband was going to react when he learned about it. I thought that he might would probably beat her and hurt her more than the automobile had. However, his reaction truly surprised me. The passage that shows his reaction and that I will focus on begins on the forth paragraph on page 183 and goes on to the end of the next page.

After the doctor came to see Amina and assured everyone that she had just suffered from a fracture and would be completely healed in three weeks, everyone’s mind shifted towards what they were going to tell Al-Sayyid Ahmad. Yasin, who felt very responsible for the incident since he was the one who had proposed Amina take a walk, urged his mother to not worry. “’I assure you that we’ll think of something to tell him’” (178). Then Khadija proposed that they tell him Amina fell on the stairs. The family agreed this on and everything seemed solved.

However, when her husband arrived home and asked her what had happened to her, she froze. “At that moment all the ideas she had collected in her mind evaporated” (182). Feeling defeated se confessed the truth. This is when Al-Sayyid Ahmad gave us a surprising reaction. He stayed silent a while and then instead chastising her and shouting angrily he asked, “’What did the doctor say?…. How serious is the fracture?’” (183). Surprised with his reaction Amina assured him that there was nothing to worry about. Al-Sayyid Ahmad wanted to ask more questions but resisted his desire and left the room saying, “’Stay in bed till God heals you’” (184).

The question that comes to my mind when I think about Al-Sayyid Ahmad’s reaction is why? Why did Amina’s husband react like this when many other times, for the smallest incident he would grow angry? Why when he learned that his wife had disobeyed him, left the house when he was away when he can’t stand for anyone to look at his wife even when he is with her, did he react so graciously? One possible answer is that when he learned about the incident Amina had he overlooked her mistake and prayed to God that she recover. Even though he does treat her very harshly, Al-Sayyid Ahmad loves Amina and when he learned that she was injured he was genuinely concerned. Another thing that could’ve affected his reaction was that the reason Amina had left the house was because she had visited al-Husayn’s shrine. She wasn’t doing anything immoral, on the contrary she was doing something to express her faith. Although Al-Sayyid Ahmad usually acts as a very strict and harsh man, here we see a different side of him.

Spirits

At the beginning of Palace Walk, Mahfouz describes how Amina sees ghosts and spirits during the night while her husband is partying. Amina believes that her house is possessed by demons and that she “frequently hears their whispers”(3). This part of the book seems very odd to me because she is the only one in the house who hears these whispers, which makes me think that maybe she is just imagining these spirits. Her children don’t hear the whispers and neither does her husband. I think that Amina just feels lonely and this is why she wants to make herself believe that there is something else in the house with her, even if they are evil. Or perhaps it could be that the boring and monotonous life she has to deal with, the one that makes her want to believe in something else. It could also be the “fears and sorrows”(4) that have always haunted her. In an article I read about the jinn, I noticed that some people believe that if you don't follow the jinn's orders, the jinn punishes you. Maybe Amina has done something that she thinks was wrong and this is her conscience reminding her of her sin. People tend to think a lot more during the night and maybe her thoughts are the ones that make her believe that she hears the spirits. These sprits could be just a reflection of how she feels without her even knowing it and that’s why they only show up when she is given time to think about her life. She could also be trying to make her husband seem better than what he really is by believing that he is the only one who can make the spirits go away. Amina recites verses of the Qur’an and yet the spirits are still there. It is nonsense to believe that one man can make the spirits go away and God can’t. Amina desperately wants to believe that her husband is good to make up for the way he leaves to drink and have fun with other women.

"Jinn." Encyclopedia Mythica. 2010. Encyclopedia Mythica Online.
02 Mar. 2010 .

Women's Role

So far this book has been pretty interesting although nothing has really happened. Up to this point the author has been basically been giving us background information about the society in which this family lives. As with the novel we read previous to this, An Artist of the Floating World, I experienced a little culture shock when I learned some of the customs and traditions of this society.

I already knew certain things about this culture from geography class before I began reading this book, but after I did begin reading it, I realized that things weren’t exactly the way I thought they were. What I’m referring to specifically is the way women are treated in this society. Before reading this book I thought women in this society were treated in a very restricted kind of way; they were forbidden to do many things and their only role in society seemed to be submissive to and serve men. But I also thought that although they were supposed to be submissive to men they were respected in way; for example, it seemed to me that in certain occasions in which they were forbidden to do certain things it was because they were too highly regarded; too good to do it. However, after beginning to read this novel I found that I was wrong. I still saw the restriction women were subject to that I had learned in previous classes but I didn’t see any respect for them. Instead I saw many instances and comments made about women that disrespected them. The level at which they were disrespected was what gave me the culture shock that I received when I began to read the novel. Since we were asked to pick a certain passage, and concentrate our response defenses on it I picked one that exemplified this disrespect for women. This passage is the first full paragraph on page 9.

The first thing I would like to talk about in this paragraph is this quote: “She returned to the room, closed the door, and pulled a pallet form under the bed. She placed it in front of the sofa and sat crossed legged on it. In a good conscience she did not think she had any right to sit beside him (9).” The woman speaking is Amina; she is telling us about one of many, very frequent, occasions in which her husband went out partying and returned home very late, and intoxicated. Instead of speaking about how disgraceful, immoral, and vulgar behavior this is, she speaks of it like it’s a very normal activity for her husband to do. She also tells her about her ritual in which she wakes up in the middle of the night, waits for him until he gets home, and helps him get ready for bed. As if this weren’t enough she tells us that she sits on the floor because she did not think she had any right to sit beside him. To me this is what crossed the line; I was expecting submission and restriction but a woman not being able to sit next to her husband because she doesn’t think she’s good enough, that’s a whole another level. This makes women not even seem human, it makes them seem like dogs, like filthy dogs that can’t sit next to their owner because they don’t have a right to.

Another thing I would like to talk about in this passage is the following quote: “Time passed without her speaking. She waited until he invited her to speak; then she would (9).” In this quote Amina shows us another example that how women in this society are not respect at all, in fact they don’t even seem like members of a society. When I hear members of a society I picture people who are actively involved in their community and trying to change it (if it needs change) for the better. As we can see from this quote, women can’t even speak without permission; what kind of members of society are they? Also, this whole don’t-speak-until-you-are-spoken-to-thing seems even stranger when we remember the fact that the person Amina is speaking about is her husband. How is it possible that a woman can’t have a carefree conversation with her husband? A woman’s husband is supposed to be her partner in life to whom she can talk to about anything. This makes it seem like women in this society are married to perfect strangers.

After reading this first part of the book I realized that even though I understand that the way I view other societies is shaped by the one I live in, it’s still harder for me to step in the shoes of a person living in other society because our societies are so different. To me it seems like a complete abhorrence the way women live in this society but to them their lifestyle is completely normal. However, this makes me wonder if the only reason these women are ok with their society is because their used to it, and if they were exposed to a society in which they were unrestrained and not submissive they would like it. This curiosity is strengthened even more when I think about my own society a couple of years ago; it didn’t have a lot of rights for women. I guess I just can’t get around the idea in my head about the way they live.

If you would like more information about women's role in Islam see this Wikipedia article.

Women

“Then, the children arrived, one after the other. In their early days in the world, though, they were tender sprouts unable to dispel her fears or reassure her. On the contrary, her fears were multiplied by her troubled soul’s concern for them and her anxiety that they might be harmed. She would hold them tight, lavish affection on them, and surround them, weather awake or asleep, with a protective shield of Qu’rans suras, amulets, charms, and incantations. True pace of mind she would not achieve until her husband returned from his evening’s entertainment” (3).

This passage really impacted me because its found on the third page of this novel. The author was able to include a lot of things in these few sentences that are fundamental to the whole understanding of the Egyptian culture and this book. Mahfuouz, makes it seem as if women are married young and find themselves serving no purpose until their children are born. He makes me feel that their only purpose in the Egyptian culture is to be a care giver and provide comfort to the family. I believe this was okay back then because times weren’t this different like they are now, and women were only married to procreate and take care of their husbands. I don’t think that women should be treated this way. They need to have their own rights. They need to be free to make their own decisions and not be submissive to their men and wait for them until they “return from their evenings entertainment.” They need to want to be more than just wives. The problem that I see is that Amina doesn’t really know what to do with herself aside from being a mother and a wife and that’s a problem. Women think so little of themselves because the men are much more dominate but don’t realize that they are the ones that do the work. They take care of the entire family and always make sure that the men are ready for whatever they have to do. They should be the ones taking the credit for being the best caretakers. They make things possible they make things happen. I think that he portrayed the women to be so submissive to make us think and debate weather we agree with how this society works. I believe that it must let us explore how we see women as being equal to us now.

Do you think its fair for women to be treated this way during this period?

To have no real authority or rights? To just be mothers and wives?

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.

Does she really love him?

“The carriage proceeded along Palace Walk, and her husband headed for their door. She left the balcony for the bedroom. Picking up the lamp, she went to the sitting room and then to the hall to stand at the top of the stairs. She could hear the outside door being slammed shut and the bolt sliding into place. She imagined his tall figure crossing the courtyard as he donned awesome dignity and shed the mirthfulness which, had she not overheard it, she would have never thought possible. Hearing the tip of his walking stick strike the steps of the stairway, she held the lamp over the banister to light his way” (7).

This passage struck me because it related to my family the most. I noticed how she would wait for her husband to get home from his “night of entertainment.” At first in the book, I thought she waited for him so much because she wanted to hear the stories he could bring home and tell her about so that she could educate her family, but as I continued reading I noticed that there was more to it. She actually loves him, and I think this passage shows that.

Of course as Americans, who don’t practice arranged marriages we think that you must love someone in order to marry them, well, in most cases. But, in arranged marriages, they don’t always initially love the person that they marry. With this presumption that Amina and Ahmad’s marriage was one of these, I was surprised when I saw signs that she actually loved him. It’s very evident from the first couple pages of the book that she cares deeply about her family, but her compassionate love for him wasn’t really shown. Later in the book, she talked about how she liked him better when he was in a better mood and would talk to her and this could potentially be the reason we don’t see this. The fact that at one point in the book she admits that she lived to see him return home from his night of entertainment, made me see just how much she really did love him and worked to please him and make him happy. Amina works all day with her daughters to make sure he has a nice home to return to.

I think this passage is evidence to how much she really cares about her husband and wants to see him happy. Amina does a lot of work to prove her love and devotion to her husband and makes it clear through this passage and other things she’s said in the book, that she really does care about her husband.

Here's a link to more info about women in Egypt:

http://www.islamfortoday.com/ramadan07.htm