Exploring Arab Women

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Exploring Arab Women

In Liyana Badr’s novel, A Balcony over the Fakihani, the reader witnesses Yusra’s experience with water as she proclaims that, “I’ll [she’ll] stay till I’ve [she’s] filled my [her] jerry can [even] if I [she] die[s] doing it! (Badr, 10)” While Maha the main female character in Fadia Faqir’s Pillars of Salt, and her husband “immersed our [their] bodies in the warm water,” (Faqir, 54) of the Dead Sea as they share their first love making experience. Yasmina teaches granddaughter Fatima of the liberating power of water in Fatima Mernissi’s lyrical coming of age account of harem life in Dreams of Trespass. While Asya, the primary female character in Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun, jet sets between the pools of the posh and exclusive Cairo country clubs and summer cruises in the Mediterranean. Yet, Leila Al-Atrash’s female character Nadia only mentions water in passing as she showers to avoid the presence of her husband. While one woman is desperate for a drop of water and willing to risk her life to achieve it, others use it as a vehicle to outsmart a dominating first wife, while another fully engages with water in the convenience of her home. This variation in the Authors’ usage and need water reflects the greater diversity in the identity of the Arab woman . In the five literary works Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir, A Woman of Five Seasons by Leila Al-Atrash, A Balcony Over the Fakihani by Liyana Badr, Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi, and In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif, water can mean different things to different people and these differing views of water reflect the diversity of class, societal expectations, education and socio-economic status that exists in Arab women. Therefore, these authors are establishing a multi-faceted view of Arab women, and challenge the reader to abolish their own social constructions and stereotypes about the Arab woman. In an effort to organize and disaggregate the wealth of experience and knowledge relayed through these novels this discourse ic compiled to consider the following: what is the historical image and portrayal of Arab women? How do the images represented by these authors challenge this historical image? What are the implications of a singular image of Arab women? What lessons does one learn from the multi-dimensional view of Arab women in relation to Western feminism?

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