Ahmad transforming Zaynab

Even though we are now more than halfway through the novel Palace Walk the way Ahmad views women doesn’t cease to amaze me. In this particular section what shows us how he feels about women is how he reacts when Yasin sleeps with his wife’s personal maid, Nur. When this occurs Ahmad is enraged but not at the fact that Yasin has slept with a woman that isn’t his wife; he’s enraged because of who that woman is. Also, he strongly critiques Zaynab’s reaction when she finds out that Yasin has cheated on her. He goes as far out as to say that the way Zaynab reacted was a greater mistake than that which Yasin committed by sleeping with her personal maid.

When Ahmad learns about the affair that Yasin had with Nur he is enraged but not because he has cheated on his wife, Zaynab. He is enraged because of who he cheated on her with. He explains why giving us examples of his own affairs

Just as he loved beauty in the abstract, he loved it in its glittering social framework. He liked to be noticed and to have a widespread reputation…. This social use of his love did not require him to sacrifice beauty, for in his circle beauty and reputation went hand in hand, like an object and its shadow. Beauty was most often the magic wand that opened the door to reputation and noteworthy status. He had been the lover of some of the most famous entertainers of his time. Not one of them had disappointed his yearning for beauty or his craving for loveliness. For these reasons he thought scornfully of Yasin’s conquests. He repeated disapprovingly, “Umm Hanafi! … Nur! … What a beast he is (391)!

With these statements Ahmad is basically saying that he disapproves of Yasin’s conquests because they weren’t beautiful, distinguished, or influential. Yasin had no criteria to choose his mistresses; when lust blinded him he would be content to lie with any woman. And this was exactly what enraged Ahmad; he didn’t like that his son was a savage willing to sleep with any woman regardless of what she looked like or who she was. He was not at all concerned with the fact that Yasin had just cheated on his wife.

Another notion that shows how low Ahmad thinks of women is how he disapproves of Zaynab’s reaction when she finds out that Yasin was cheating on her. He thinks, “It was not appropriate for a good wife to implicate her husband in a scandal as she had, no matter the circumstances. How she had wailed! How she had screamed! What would he have done if Amina had surprised him one day in a comparable situation? But what was she compared to Amina? …Yasin had made a mistake, but she had made an even greater one” (389). Here Ahmad makes it clear that he thinks Yasin was in his rights to sleep with Nur, and that Zaynab shouldn’t have complained at all. He compares Zaynab with his wife, Amina, who is very compliant with everything that Ahmad says and does. He believes that Amina is a good wife and all women should be like her. In Ahmad’s eyes, Zaynab made a greater mistake than her husband because she complained about his cheating on her.

Because of the way Ahmad views women I agree with Lauren's Blog when she says that it’s very difficult for Zaynab to adjust to living in her new home. Zaynab was raised in a household with more progressive views towards women so it’s difficult for her to adjust herself to the strict ways of Ahmad’s home. When she was younger she was allowed to go out and see the world with her father. Now she has to stay in the house all the time. This and the way Yasin’s affair with Nur was treated are examples of how Zaynab is being transformed into Ahmad’s image of a perfect wife.

Source Citation

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

It's NOT love

“He glanced at Zaynab. He found her examining his face with a look that seemed to say resentfully, ‘Why are you so inattentive? Why are you so glum? Doesn’t my presence cheer you up at all?’ Yasin felt her resentment in the fleeting moment their eyes met, but he did not respond to her sorrowful criticism. To the contrary, it annoyed and riled him. Yes, he disliked nothing so much as being forced to spend a whole evening with her, deprived of desire, pleasure, and the intoxication on which he relied to endure married life.
He began to look at her stealthily and wonder in amazement, ‘Isn’t she the same woman? . . . Isn’t she the one who captured my heart on our wedding night? . . . Isn’t she the one who drove me wild with passion for nights and weeks on end? . . . Why doesn’t she stir me at all? What has come over her? Why am I so restless, disgruntled, and bored, finding nothing in her beauty or culture to tempt me to postpone getting drunk?’” (378)
Naguib Mahfouz demonstrates the loss of love in a marriage in his novel, Palace Walk. Yasin and Zaynab’s relationship is clearly at a loss of love in this section of the novel. Yasin has become “bored” of his relationship and no longer looks at his wife for pleasure. But, why could this be? Could this be that Yasin has just grown tired of his wife? Could it be because he feels no connection to her? Could this be a result of an arranged marriage? Does this tend to happen in all arranged marriages? Are they an exception to the so called, “success” of arranged marriages?
Yasin and Zayanab’s marriage was a customary arranged marriage and, at first, Yasin was quite enthusiastic. But, as the novel progresses, we see that Yasin loses interest in his wife, Zayanab. On page 378, we see that he begins to question his feelings and why he no longer feels the same way for her that he once did. According to Dictionary.com, the word “lust” means, Intense or unrestrained sexual craving, an overwhelming desire or craving, a lust for power, or an intense eagerness or enthusiasm. This definition allows me to assume that the feelings that Yasin once had for his wife weren’t any sort of love feelings, but feelings of lust. The eagerness that Yasin had to marry and his raging hormones caused for him to marry someone who he wouldn’t be very happy with as time progressed. In Dee’s blog, “Yasin has gone crazy!” she explains the attitude that Yasin has towards women and how the Lust he has for them came to be.
In my research, I found that countries that practice arranged marriages have higher success rates than those countries that don’t. One thing that the author wrote was that the reason that most marriages that aren’t arranged fail is that the couple bases their decision to marry on the belief that love will conquer all and that everything will be okay just as long as they’re in love, but when push comes to shove, love isn’t everything and their marriage ends up failing (Seabastian). But, what about Yasin and Zaynab’s marriage? It was arranged and had nothing to do with love yet it is still coming apart. Could it be that Yasin just wants to be with more than one woman? Or, could it be that he wants love and not just lust? Yasin and Zaynab's marriage is an example of how arranged marriages aren’t always as successful as people make them seem. Sure, some learn how to deal with one another without being in love, but some don’t and what happens then? Is it okay for Zaynab to leave or should she stay in a marriage where she’s not happy simply because it’s the “right” thing to do in her society?

Bibliography
Dee. "Yasin has gone crazy!" 17 February 2010. diggingevendeeper.blogspot.com. 04 March 2010 .
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
Seabastian. "Arranged Marriages - Past and Present 78." February 2010. HubPages.com. 4 March 2010 .

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. .