Character Analysis Of Midaq Alley

In the story “Araby” the protagonist is portrayed by the author to seem young, which limited his ability to see past his dull, dead-end neighborhood. The author explains the boy’s carefree mindset by describing how the protagonist and his friends would run through the back lanes of the houses and hide in the shadows when they reached the street again.

Mariam’s alienation prompted by her mother, father, and husband, in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, reveals the oppression and shame around being a woman in the society of her native Afghanistan. Mariam’s countless, inescapable struggles throughout her life were all regulated by the systematic dehumanization of women in a patriarchal society, which resulted in her living in constant shame and fear. Starting from her birth, she was seen as a bastard because she was conceived out of wedlock, from both her parents, Jalil and Nana, and her society. In her childhood, Mariam is marginalized, by living in a cottage far off from the public eye, because of her father’s fear of humiliation and her mother’s fear of Mariam experiencing the

Completely by different circumstances are the members of the middle generation shaped – Amir, Hassan and Assef. Their childhood covers the transitional part of Afghanistan’s 20-th century history. Of course, the boys are really different in nature, but Soviet occupation is what caused such different roads to be chosen by the three characters. And that huge change in their lives determined who they are going to grow into as adults.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

A classic example of the radical transformation of Egyptian state religion is found on the

The novel “Persepolis” shows many life changes during the Islamic Revolution told through the eyes of a young girl. “Persepolis” was based on Satrapi’s childhood experience in Iran. Throughout the span of the 1970’s to the early 1980’s, Satrapi experiences many changes in her life, not only with the government, or her education, but also with herself. Although she witnessed many violent acts right in front of her eyes, these experiences helped Marji (Satrapi) grow as a young child.

“Araby,” is a story of emotional passion carefully articulated by the author, James Joyce, to mark the end of childhood and the start of adolescence. It is told from the perspective of a young boy who is filled with lust for his friend, Mangan’s, sister. He lives in a cheerless town on a street hosting simply complacent families who own brown faced houses that stare vacantly into one another. The boy temporarily detaches himself from this gloomy atmosphere and dwells on the keeper of his affection. Only when he journeys to a festival titled Araby, does he realize that his attempt at winning the heart of Mangan’s sister has been done in an act of vanity. Joyce takes advantage of literary elements such as diction and imagery to convey an at times dreary and foolishly optimistic tone.

The role women play in this novel demonstrates a significant part in how Afghanistan is portrayed. The first most important part of a woman’s life shown in The Kite Runner is her reputation. The level of respect they get is dependant on their reputation of being a proper woman. Maintaining a good social status for Afghan women is a lifelong restriction because when they do something against the role of a good woman, their reputation is tarnished. One example of this shown through the reputation of Soraya Taheri in the novel. Soraya runs

Readers are told the story of Persepolis through the eyes and journey of Marjane (Marji). One example of the social reality of Iran that Persepolis presents to readers is women’s mode of dress. In the beginning of the novel, Marji states, “Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (1.4). At this time, Marji is only ten years old, yet she still resists the veil and somewhat realizes the gender inequalities present in her reality. Although both boys’ and girls’ clothes change within their separate schools, girls are the only ones who are required to wear the veil. The hijab is a piece of fabric that women are required to wear -- concealing parts of their face and all of their hair. Not only is this a significant part of the social reality, but this is a legal

The world stereotypes different types of culture, but real identity can be only defined by a person who has experienced the specific way of life. In Persepolis The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi, the author creates a graphic memoir representing her childhood growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Satrapi evokes perfectly regarding her childhood, her reaction towards the Islamic Revolution. She is rebellious to the Islamic revolution’s new regulations and enforcement and decides to take a secular approach to defend her rights. In Persepolis, the narrator illustrates the opposition against the Islamic Revolution and Shah’s reign and as well as her pursuit in a secular culture. Her opposition and desire allow the readers to reconsider on past stereotypes about the Middle Eastern culture.

Egyptian religion was unique, and some of its ways have been adapted by other civilizations.

When confronted with the obstacle of religion, Hamida yells “‘I don’t give a damn [about violating the Qur’an]!’” (Midaq Alley, P146). This complete disregard for her promises to both Abbas and religious icons portrays Hamida’s obsession with acquiring money as she consistently contemplates money, orients all of her actions around gaining money, and as she destroys religious obstacles in order to attain money. Later, Hamida’s obsession with money leads her into prostitution, emotional turbulence, and misery as she undergoes a moral degradation in order to satiate her obsession.

The characters portrayed by Leila Aboulela to a great degree vary vastly in their levels of religiosity. This novel showcases a wide spectrum of Muslim identities. Most of the devout believers follow Islam, as they are constantly expressing their faith, thru means of prayer, recitation or other adorations. These religious members are accepting of veil culture, because they have more to value than materialistic objects and western culture. For instance, the young school girls that wore tobes, while Najwa skirts to university. Also, the servants she had back home, as she would be coming home from a party at dawn, they would be make their absolution, “A light bulb came on. They were getting ready to pray. They had dragged themselves from sleep in order to pray. I was wide awake and I didn’t,” this quote from the novel, illustrates a young Najwa understanding the basis of Islam and the importance of prayer (Aboulela, 32) However, this is an evident class divide, illustrating that those with wealth are more secular and those with less are humbled towards their faith. In her time in London, Najwa befriends woman at the local mosque and develops an interest her recitation. Her realization and locality to religiousness triggers her spirituality.

This is a significant aspect of the course because the article examines the strengths and weaknesses of femininity through a cultural Muslim perspective and the reading is a prime example of how ideologies regarding race affect those involved. In class we have discussed the significances of social constructs and how assumptions are made on the basis of physical characteristics. In this situation, identity is related to gender as Muslim women are categorized as both good/respectful and rebellious/evil individuals because they are apart of a culture where they are both oppressed and liberated simultaneously.

Setting is used in literature in order to set the time and place as well as the mood within a literary piece. Mahfouz uses various settings throughout the novel in order to showcase the development of Hamida’s rebellious character. The different settings come together to deliver the important message of Hamida’s literal and metaphoric entrapment, loss of her identity, and the development of her rebelliousness. Since the novel takes place during WWII in the 1940s, it brings about the idea of modernization due to the colonization of the British, which shows that the setting plays a major role in portraying Hamida as a rebellious character. As Midaq Alley is a translated book from Arabic to English, it may have lost its original value in