“There are some who would say it is people like myself who are responsible for the terrible things that happened to this nation of ours. As far as I am concerned, I freely admit I made many mistakes. I accept that much of what I did was ultimately harmful to our nation, that mine was part of an influence that resulted in untold suffering for our own people. I admit this. You see, Dr Saito, I admit this quite readily.” In this quote, Masuji Ono admits that he took part in leading Japan into World War II by being patriotic. He was loyal to his country as his pupils are loyal to him. Loyalty is a major theme throughout this book. It is loyalty that led Ono to paint patriotic paintings that liberated the people to support this movement towards war. It is also through this loyalty that split the generations, whether it was unintentional or not. The younger generation despises the elders for destroying the reputation and prosperity of their country.
It seems to me that this book questions the nature of loyalty. How loyal must one be? According to this book, the extent of loyalty has caused incidents. The first is the influence of war, even though Japan shouldn’t have gotten involved. Many people from the young generation believe a war was pointless and that Japan shouldn’t have been involved. The second is the split between the generations. The younger generation resent the older generation for influencing the war. If it weren’t for the many paintings of misleading patriotism, Japan would have never joined the war. Thus, Japan would not have lost its prestige and honor. The third is that Ono has lost the respect of Mr. Kuroda due to the fact that Mr. Kuroda blames Ono for causing the war.
Showing posts with label influence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label influence. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Tuesday, March 2, 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..
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.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A father's Influence
Lauren F. Clemons
Yasin is the son of Ahmad and his first wife, whom both Ahmad and Yasin aren't very fond of. The strained relationship between Yasin's mother and Ahmad began when they were first married and she proved to be a woman who was a little too free for his liking. He divorced her with the intent of getting back together with her later on, but she only wanted to come back if he would promise not to beat her (107). He grew so angry with her for not crawling back to him that he finalized their divorce and never looked back. Years later, Ahmad still grows angry just by hearing the mentioning of his first wife (106) which to me is strange because they've been separate for eleven years now. What could possibly still be the problem with Ahamd and his first wife.
Ahmad's a very arrogant man, who believes that women should just flock to him, no questions asked. He expected nothing less from his first wife, and made sure of that in their marriage. When he decided to divorce her, he only had the intent of carrying it out for a little while, but things didn't go as planned. He believed that she should come crawling back to him carrying no stipulations are conditions. When she did, he grew embarrassed. He thought he was high, mighty and powerful enough to get her back without having to work on himself. When he didn't get his way, he left her alone without even being able to keep a relationship with her son. To do this, just because she only agreed to come back if he wouldn't hit her strikes me as odd. If he really cared about her, then simply agreeing to keep his hands off her shouldn't have been an issue. But with Ahmad, being married is not for happiness, but it's because he wants to be a man. He wants to only allow his wife certain freedoms, and make sure she understands that he's the man. He couldn't allow her to come back into his house if she even thought she could tell him what to do. So he ran off simply because he coudn't have his way.
The passage that made me realize this about Ahmad is on page 106, when Mahfouz writes about Ahmad's anger he still has inside. The sheer embarrassment he felt could still be seen eleven years later. This passage is also when we begin to see how Ahmad's feelings about his first wife have rubbed off on his son. On page 107, Mahfouz writes, “The woman was at least forty, and Yasin was fully grown and aware of his ability to defend his honor from harm and humiliation,”. His mother's remarriage probably isn't necessarily an extremely controversial issue at this time since he also says a little before that sentence that this marriage is one of her more honorable mistakes. Mahfouz states that Yasin simply believes “this anticipated marriage seemed more outrageous than the previous ones and more calculated to cause pain” (107). He sincerely believes, like his father, that she's doing these things to dishonor them and embarrass them. Ahmad's beliefs have influenced Yasin to a point where he doesn't even seem to care at all about his mother. When he goes to visit her, he can't even morsel up any small act of love to show to her.
Yasin is the son of Ahmad and his first wife, whom both Ahmad and Yasin aren't very fond of. The strained relationship between Yasin's mother and Ahmad began when they were first married and she proved to be a woman who was a little too free for his liking. He divorced her with the intent of getting back together with her later on, but she only wanted to come back if he would promise not to beat her (107). He grew so angry with her for not crawling back to him that he finalized their divorce and never looked back. Years later, Ahmad still grows angry just by hearing the mentioning of his first wife (106) which to me is strange because they've been separate for eleven years now. What could possibly still be the problem with Ahamd and his first wife.
Ahmad's a very arrogant man, who believes that women should just flock to him, no questions asked. He expected nothing less from his first wife, and made sure of that in their marriage. When he decided to divorce her, he only had the intent of carrying it out for a little while, but things didn't go as planned. He believed that she should come crawling back to him carrying no stipulations are conditions. When she did, he grew embarrassed. He thought he was high, mighty and powerful enough to get her back without having to work on himself. When he didn't get his way, he left her alone without even being able to keep a relationship with her son. To do this, just because she only agreed to come back if he wouldn't hit her strikes me as odd. If he really cared about her, then simply agreeing to keep his hands off her shouldn't have been an issue. But with Ahmad, being married is not for happiness, but it's because he wants to be a man. He wants to only allow his wife certain freedoms, and make sure she understands that he's the man. He couldn't allow her to come back into his house if she even thought she could tell him what to do. So he ran off simply because he coudn't have his way.
The passage that made me realize this about Ahmad is on page 106, when Mahfouz writes about Ahmad's anger he still has inside. The sheer embarrassment he felt could still be seen eleven years later. This passage is also when we begin to see how Ahmad's feelings about his first wife have rubbed off on his son. On page 107, Mahfouz writes, “The woman was at least forty, and Yasin was fully grown and aware of his ability to defend his honor from harm and humiliation,”. His mother's remarriage probably isn't necessarily an extremely controversial issue at this time since he also says a little before that sentence that this marriage is one of her more honorable mistakes. Mahfouz states that Yasin simply believes “this anticipated marriage seemed more outrageous than the previous ones and more calculated to cause pain” (107). He sincerely believes, like his father, that she's doing these things to dishonor them and embarrass them. Ahmad's beliefs have influenced Yasin to a point where he doesn't even seem to care at all about his mother. When he goes to visit her, he can't even morsel up any small act of love to show to her.
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