The Theme Of Society In Only In London By Hanan Al Shayek

With or without knowing, every single person in this world is born into a specific society. That person has no say in which society they are born into, or the beliefs, language or customs that they are taught from this society. And without knowing the long term effects, a society will shape a person’s personality and their actions. Society is a hard term to define but it does impact someone very much. Society is a theme that is constantly dissected in novels because they make a good platform to look into society and its effects on people. In the novels, Only in London by Hanan Al Shayek, NW by Zadie Smith, the women in the storylines are often stuck with a decision between two societies. Some of them are pulled one way because of their culture

Al-Shaykh shows this through the sexualizing of the English language and the romanticizing of the Arabic language. When Lamis and Nicholas have sex for the first time, Lamis describes the English as a third member in the intimate act. “His English words were flowing into her ears. They broke up into separate letters and slid in, one by one, feeding the little hairs with delicious food so they demanded more,” (98). Her liberty and freedom that she has founded and pleaded for in London can also be equal to her want of a sexual liberation. A traditional Iraqi woman who openly desires sex is very taboo. This is written as a new and exciting thing to her but when writing about the Arabic language, it’s written as if it was an old romantic

“The letter s was like a wave of the sea, a carnation flower, a bird’s wings…her heart pounded with affection for her language,” (124). This is a turning point for Lamis in her decision between two societies. She is between the new and sexy and what she knows to be real and true. Later, Lamis refuses to move in with Nicholas due to her complicated family life and her cultural ideals. She also refuses to let him meet her son. He then accuses her of only wanting a sexual relationship. Although this might be true about only wanting a sexual relationship, the biggest reason why they didn’t work at that time was she didn’t want to blend her two cultures together yet.

Eventually Lamis realizes all the things she still loves about her Iraqi culture and she stops thinking that “being Arab was an obstacle in her life,” (125). She eventually even thinks she is silly for trying to decided between two different cultures and two different societies, when she now knows she can blend the two. She realizes how severe it was to give up her culture, “Had she really once considered substituting these for others and doing away with her heritage, no longer seeing, hearing or speaking, and consequently ceasing to breathe?”