Fatima Mernissi's Dreams Of Trespass

Textual Analysis of Leila Ahmed’s “Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate”

The first night's story in Arabian Nights is that of the Merchant and the Demon. Told by Shahrazad, the story offers a remarkable parallel to her own situation as she faces immanent death. Thus, the story of the Merchant and the Demon is told as a parable within the frame story, presenting a poignant analogy for Shahrazad's own situation. The Merchant and the Demon is a short tale but one filled with themes such as power, guilt, justice, and moral responsibility. Through the clever analogy with her own situation, Shahrazad also explores the theme of creative problem solving in tricky situations. Moreover, the story illustrates the core differences between pre-Islamic and Islamic values in Arabian society. Because the theme of gender roles and norms are not present within the Merchant and the Demon, the story shows how sexism is simply a form of general political and social oppression.

Writing Women's Worlds is some stories on the Bedouin Egyptian people. In this book, thwe writer Lia Adu-Lughod's stories differ from the conventional ones. While reading, we discover the customs and values of the Bedouin people.

Her whole life the Marquesa “lived alone and she thought alone” (Wilder 14). The Marquesa grew up without love and happiness in her childhood. When she married “a supercilious and ruined nobleman” (Wilder 14) she bore a daughter who she “fastened upon her idolatrous love” (Wilder 14). She chose to bestow upon her daughter all of the love that she didn’t receive. Her daughter Clara was like her father in many ways and regarded her mother “with astonishment and repulsion” (Wilder 14). When time of marriage came she “deliberately chose the one that required her removal to Spain” (Wilder 14). The Marquesa’s whole existence “lay in the burning center of her mind”(Wilder 15) and revolved around writing her daughter letters after she moved to Spain. She chose to become more secluded and to devote her time trying to connect to her daughter who would never return her

The narrator grows up through the memory of a women named Mai Ling. In the excerpt “Kuraj” by Silvia Di Natale, Mai Ling to whom is noticed as a mother figure. The excerpt how the people from this environment admires and values the action of being protected; therefore, the narrator felt that Mai Ling was he/shes protector. “I know that I dreamed about her and it was Mai Ling with her almond eyes in her pale face.” The narrator describes the appearance of Mai Ling by using the literary devi

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

One of the most controversial topics concerning Muslim women’s rights is the idea of the veil. It is believed by some Muslims that the veil is an Islamic obligation that all Muslim women must adhere to. But nowadays, the veil can have different meanings that are not necessarily religious. In her article “Reinventing the Veil,” Leila Ahmed addresses some of the different meanings that the veil can have. Marjane Satrapi explores one of those meanings in her animated autobiography Persepolis (2008). In Persepolis, Marjane tells the story of her rebellion against the Iranian Islamist regime that takes over Iran, oppresses women, and forces them to wear the veil. What was interesting to me was seeing Marjane wear the veil without being oppressed, although she does not believe in it, and is being forced to wear it. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi escapes being a subject to the Iranian Islamist ideology by establishing her individual identity through transforming the veil from a means of oppression into a means of feminist rebellion.

It is difficult for Fatima to comprehend the American way of living especially from a woman’s perspective. She sincerely believes that her way is better. For an Arabic woman, particularly in the rural Iraq in 1950’s, marriage is the only goal and

Egalia’s Daughters and “Sultana’s Dream” both portray examples of what it would be like to have gender roles reversed in societies. They both criticize gender roles and show people how gender discrimination leaves the submissive gender in suppressed conditions. Poking fun at gender role reversal was one way these books helped in educating the readers. “Sultana’s Dream” has a time of setting of the early twentieth century.

Through out Middle East the lives of women appear to have no influencing role in society. Elizabeth Fernea provides an survey of the traditions of an Iraqi village in her book Guests of the Sheik. Within this book, Fernea explores the element of gender and its impact on the roles of women in Iraq, directly in the village of El Nahra. She also encounters the expectations based on the gender-specific social constructs of polygamous families. Another woman author, Leila Abouzeid, explores similar elements in the work Return to Childhood, which is based in islamic Morocco. Fernea, who the women of the harem call Beeja, presents experiential information about the life of both women and men and her role within her husband 's life as it reflects

At the beginning of the book Mariam marries Rasheed against her will, which was another obstacle Mariam had to face. “Then the mullah asked Rasheed if he indeed wished to enter into a marriage contract with Mariam. Rasheed said, ‘Yes’” (Hosseini 52). “’Yes,’ she said shakily” while looking at Rasheed and being frightened by his appearance (Hosseini 53). After the ceremony is complete Mariam and Rasheed hopped on a bus and went directly to Kabul, where Mariam spends the rest of her life. At first Mariam is not very comfortable in Rasheed’s home, but eventually makes it her home too. The house really starts to feel like home to Mariam when Rasheed showed kindness towards her. When Mariam first gets settled into Kabul Rasheed buys her presents to make her transition to her new home easier and to show

Brooks uses the sources to bring the thesis together and to help get her point across about the oppression of Islamic women and the pride and power of their male figures. An Islamic law states that women are not to commit adultery, but their husband can have more than one wife. When Brooks learned the story of Rehab and Mohamed and how Mohamed left Rehab for Fatima, it really opened her eyes on how different the treatment of married women of the Islamic world.

Even with that said, Fatima could still be loosely based on

The women of Saudi Arabia have been oppressed by the men of the country for generations due to the ignorance of the people, their Islamic faith, and the government. They have no rights and they must receive permission from their husbands or fathers to work, travel, and receive medical attention. The memoir Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson, is an excellent example of the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and the literary devices of characterization and setting help to bring the oppression to life.

The Romance of resistance is an article which is written by Lila Abu-Lughod in regard with the different forms of resistance among the Bedouin women and the traditional structure of power among the Bedouin Community in the Egypt's Western Desert. She arrived in late 1970 to begin a fieldwork, and she discovered different forms of resistance among the Bedouin women. In this Article she emphasis on how the Bedouin women resisted the decision of their fathers, uncles, and older brother, how the resisted the sexually segregation, and sexually irreverent discourse. Furthermore, it also talk about how local communities are being incorporated into modern states and integrated into a wider economy.