Confusing Compliments

In the Muslim culture, a man has to provide for his wife, and the woman in return has to satisfy her husband's desires, all of them which do not harm her, or others. Their customs are to hide a woman's body with clothing most of the time only exposing her eyes for her to be able to see where she is going. This is done to prevent lustful thoughts in men, and it also eliminates the probability of choosing a mate based on physical attraction. To the Muslims, this lowers the chance of a divorce because marriages are nos based on the outside, but the inside (Islam the Eternal Path to Peace). But there is something in the XY chromosomes that makes men go crazy when a foxy lady walks by them. Yasin has too much of this, and has no idea of how to handle it.
About half way through the novel, Mahfouz shows us a little of Yasin's overexcited hormones. This is what was going through his head,
'Isn't it time yet, bitch? I've melted away, Muslims. I've dissolved like a bar of soap. Nothing's left but the suds. She knows this and doesn't care to open the window. Go ahead, play the coquette, you bitch. Didn't we agree on a date? But you're right to hold back ... one of your breasts could destroy Malta. The second would drive Hindenburg out of his mind. You've got a treasure. May our Lord be gracious to me. May our Lord be gracious to me and to every poor rogue like me who can't sleep for thinking about swelling breasts, plump buttocks, and eyes enhanced by kohl. Eyes come last, because many a blind woman with a fleshy rump and full breasts is a thousand times better than a skinny, flat-chested woman with eyes decorated with kohl. You're the performer's daughter and a neighbor of al-Tarbi'a Alley. The performer has taught you to flirt, and the alley has supplied you with its secret beauty potions. If your breasts have grown full and round, it's because so many lovers have fondled them. We agreed on this date. I'm not dreaming, open the window. Open up, bitch. Open up. You're the most beautiful creature ever to arouse my passion. Holding your lip between mine ... sucking on your nipple.... I'll wait until dawn. You'll find me very docile. If you want me to be the rear end of a donkey cart that you rock back and forth on, I'll do it. If you want me to be the ass pulling the cart, I'll do that. What a mishap, Yasin! Your life is destroyed, you son of Ahmad Abd al-Jawad. How the Australians gloat at your fate. Woe to me, expelled from the Ezbekiya entertainment district, a prisoner in al-Gamaliya. It's all the fault of the war. Kaiser Wilhelm launched it in Europe and I have become its victim here in al-Nahhasin. Open the window, delight of your mother. Open up, my delight...' (Mahfouz, 242)
Not much of a pick-up line, but it sure gives him a lot to talk about. When the reader takes a look at this passage the first thought that comes to mind is, “Is a woman supposed to reply positively to this?” If this isn't their first thought, it must be something along the lines of, “This is kinky.” Yasin gives Zubayda back to back backhanded compliments. He compliments the size of her breasts, but attributes it to the many men who have fondled with them. He also calls her a bitch right before calling her the most beautiful creature he has seen. Clearly, lust is a part of Yasin's life, and his religion doesn't seem to be very important to him. In the reader's eyes, Yasin might appear to be a good example of a bad Muslim.
Yasin's lustful comments to Zubayda wouldn't only confuse her during the attempt to decipher their vulgarity if she had heard them, but they also confuse the reader about his faith and his effectiveness. Yasin's XY chromosomes are way out of tune, and in order to get to any woman's heart, he is going to have to tone it down, and be aware of what he is saying.




"Marriage in Islam." Jannah.Org :: Islam the Eternal Path to Peace. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

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

Divorce

Throughout Palace Walk, we witness a lot of sexual tension, an urge for marriage, and divorce between both young adults and adults. Divorce is the one topic that really stands out. Ahmad has already divorce his first wife and then he throws Amina, his second wife, out the house for some time also. If a couple is not actually divorce, but separated for some time. What is she to the family?

When Yasin goes to his father, Ahmad, to tell him that his mother is going to re-marry, Ahmad is shock and angry towards the situation. He tells Yasin, “Didn't we vow to consider her a person who never existed”(107). From Ahmad point of view after divorce, an ex-wife is nothing. In fact, he act as if she never even existed. But, according to Yasin, she will always be his mother and be could no forget the fact she still exist. When Ahmad throws Amina out the house, her mom refers to her as a stranger. The narrator says the following paragraph below, when describing what Amina's mother thought about the temporary separation.

When the old lady found her silent or sensed that her daughter's thoughts were wandering, she would tell her, “Patience, Amina. I fell sorry for you. A mother away from her children is a stranger. She's a stranger even if she's staying in the house where she was born” (231).

Amina's mother says she feels sorry for her and that at long as she is away from home, she is consider a stranger. Amina is being referred to as a stranger, even though she is not officially divorce. But, according to her mother and mother who lives outside her husband house is consider a stranger no matter what. A stranger is somebody that you don't know exist. Some one you know nothing of, similar to what Ahmad thinks about his first wife. But, its her children that cannot let go of her. To them she will always exsit. Why is it that divorced mothers or mothers who live outside the house are considered bad? Is it an older generation view? To Ahmad and Amina's mother a wife out the house is nothing, but the children can't seem to let go of there mother, whether bad or good.

CNN reporter, Olivia Sterns, reports that when Egyptian women get divorce they are look at as being evil or something not right. She also reports that Egypt is a very male-dominate place. Being a male-dominate place, men always blame the women for all the problems. Which we see in Palace Walk. Men are in authority throughout the book; therefore, when divorce or separation is brought forth, people always wonder what the women did to cause their husband to kick them out. It is obvious throughout Palace Walk that men are in control and that they dominate the women. This causes a separation from men and women.

Another thing Olivia Sterns mentions is that divorce rate has gone up, because of women rights. In Palace Walk, women aren't allow to do multiple things. Women aren't allowed to go to school, have a job, or even rome around outside the house because it is frowned upon. With women rights, women have the right to education and employment. Therefore, women are less willing to accept an unhappy marriage. If Amina was allowed to education and employment, will she leave Ahmad?

I think that Amina would leave Ahmad is she had the right to education and employment. When Amina mother is talking to her, she say, “I feel sorry for you”(231). She said this because Amina was depressed and because Amina didn't have anything. She had nothing to hold her up. With a background educations and a job, she'll be able to support herself and keep busy. The narrator also says that even though she was raised at her mother's home, that house could not be consider her home. And with an employment she'll be able to get her own home and will be able to live without the help of Ahmad. She is not with Ahmad because she loves him, but because she has nowhere else to do or anybody to be with.

Sterns, Olivia. "'Let's Talk About Sex, Divorce' In Egypt." CNN World. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. .