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T.L.C. Madenyika
Arab Women Novelists
Professor M. Jiyad
Spring 2007
“Before we set off we all warned one another how, if you’re questioned, you must answer: “I’m Lebanese.” But he was a young man in the first flush of manhood, in his fifteenth year, in his fifteenth year. People had become weak with hunger, but his face had grown round and healthy. He’d got taller during the siege and his body had shot up in a quite uncanny way. On the way one of them stopped him and asked, “Lebanese or Palestinian?”
“Palestinian,” Jamal answered. A bullet to the head, just like that.
We passed by him-he’d gone on ahead of us because he was impatient. I just glanced at him, receiving such a shock my feet could no longer move forward or hold up my body. My nerves shattered, but I couldn’t stop or lean over him and touch him with my hand. If any of us were to stop by someone who’d been killed, they’d pick us out and finish us off at once. I couldn’t. We moved on, right past him.
I looked at him, stretched out there on his back, as if he was asleep or had fainted. There was no blood at all. Then because they…So I didn’t bend over him. I didn’t stop. I didn’t touch him with my hand.
My mother wasn’t with me at that moment. When she saw him she fell into the ditch, with my baby brother that she was carrying, in an indescribable state. She was a mother, the mother of Jamal who lay stretched out on the road as is asleep or in a faint. She couldn’t stop by him either. We went on, everyone totally stunned. I don’t have any clear memory of it. Death hovered over us all” (Badr, p.14, 15).
The haunting passage above is an excerpt from the novella entitled ‘A Land of Rock and Thyme’, which is one of the three that form the novel, ‘A Balcony over the Fakihani’ by Liyana Badr. The story is a poignant depiction of the journeys of a young Palestinian girl, Yusra, with her family as they flee Israeli raids. Subsequently, it also chronicles her marriage to Ahmad, a fighter in the resistance. The passage portrays the blatant disregard for human life that is common in times of war and conflict. Death is one of the unifying themes found among the novels “Pillars of Salt” by Fadia Faqir, and “A Balcony over the Fakihani”. Other recurring themes mainly found within these novels, (and to some extent in the other books read in the class), revolve around the loss brought about by death, separation, and being uprooted. This loss is both physical and emotional. Each individual woman’s heartrending cries from the agony of bereavement rings out, and continues to echo in the minds of readers long after the book has been perused from cover to cover. In spite of being dealt a heavy blow by the death of loved ones, women in these novels can be seen bearing each other up in times of crises. As a result of the support system women offer one another, solidarity as a theme is also evident, which in this case, encompasses all the other novels read.
The loss I have chosen to investigate in this paper is brought about largely as a result of the husband’s involvement in armed struggle. The women in these novels, Maha, Yusra, and Suad, are married to Harb, Ahmed, and Umar, respectively. These unions are short-lived, yet they are filled with joy and promise, despite the hardships faced as a result of the absence of their husbands. The lifestyles they lead are meager and humble, in comparison to those of Nadia, and Asya whose husbands are into business ventures that seek to capitalize on the opportunities brought about by the conflict of war. The men actively engaged in the fighting are portrayed as gentle and loving, warm-natured and passionate for the causes for which they lay down their lives. An example from ‘Pillars of Salt’, to substantiate this, is as follows:
“We attacked one of their bases at dawn. They attacked us with what looked like metal eagles. We lost many men,” he said with tears caught in his eyes…He buried his face in my chest and said, “We had to withdraw. We had to withdraw.”…”My love for you is frightening, Maha. Like Antar Ibn Shadad, I gallop towards metal eagles because I see a glimpse of your face there, our children’s faces and the high foreheads of the Arab” (Faqir, p.83, 84).
The men in this case not only dedicated their lives to the struggle, but in some instances even forsook part of their compensation for it. Ahmed confessed to Yusra that the sales balances for the organization’s accounts had failed to match up, and he had thus taken it upon himself to pay for the difference from his salary. Under their present circumstances, some (if not most) women would have been upset at their husbands for distributing a sizeable chunk of their income without consulting them. The couple had recently married, and were expecting their first child, and thus looking for accommodation. Ahmed seemed genuinely remorseful that he had not consulted her, but she ‘tried to show him that this didn’t worry [her]’ (Badr, p.24).
The men who are into commercial activities brought about by the war, Daffash, Abu Saad, Ihsan, and Saif are not outwardly loving and caring as the fighting men the authors introduced to us.
Daffash is viewed as a traitor who is desperate to gain wealth that he will dishonor his father, and join forces with the English who are killing off his people. He beats Maha to the point that she needs serious medical attention, all the while plotting to take over the farm that their father left to her in his verbal will in front of the village elders. He is conniving and calculating, and is easily swayed by the traditions of the colonial powers, and is already taken in by them
Ihsan on the other hand lives and breathes money. He uses his brother’s involvement in the war as a front for him to gain an audience with the influential business people. Having done so, he is fueled by thoughts of amassing more wealth and prestige. He thinks in money terms, and will only do something with it if he knows he will get some more in return. Were it not for Nadia, who had to convince him to give to the cause, he would never have done so on his own.
Abu Saad, the butcher, is an egotistical and greedy man. He does not treat Um Saad well, and has the audacity to bring into their home a younger woman, thus kicking Um Saad out of her bedroom. She is forced to sleep on the kitchen floor as a result, and is severely beaten when she tried to fight for her dignity and honor.
Saif might prove to be the exception to the rule. He is generous with his money, and he seems to love Asya, however, he is unlike that other men who went off to fight for their land, because he is not outwardly compassionate, and loving.
When juxtaposed with Harb, Ahmed, and Umar, Daffash, Ihsan, Abu Saad, and Saif seem to lack depth. The soldiers are represented in the novels as being driven by a purpose greater than themselves. Jalal in this case, though he was once committed to the Cause, and had the capacity of being gently and loving, had he maybe married Nadia. However, he became disillusioned with the principles and everything he stood for, after being led astray by the deals he and Ihsan began to do. Jalal would later have casinos and such affluence in places like Cairo and Greece. One therefore has to wonder what Jalal’s ideology was founded on initially, for him to have fallen away so quickly. He cites differences within the camp itself and infighting as explanations for wanting to put it all behind him, which is a valid reason. However, would he have been so keen to do so if he did not own a casino and probably millions waiting for him in the bank? I highly doubt that.
Women play an integral role in the armed struggle, from nursing the wounds of the injured, to opening up their homes like Abu Mahmoud (“Yamma”), in ‘A Balcony over the Fakihani’. Whether it be financial, psychological, or otherwise, support of any kind for a cause will undoubtedly fuel its efforts, and fan the flames of its fire in the people’s hearts. The Arab women in these novels did just that. They supported their husbands, and availed themselves for them. In addition, they assured them that their efforts to free their people were indeed appreciated, even though they may have seemed miniscule in comparison to the forces they were fighting against. Maha is a classic example of the ‘pillar’ she was to her husband.
“I pressed his head to my chest. I felt helpless. The village wouldn’t allow me to join Harb on the battleground. Harb needed my support. How could I fight the English? I must do anything to get pregnant.…Hands outstretched toward the forgetful sky, I ran behind Harb’s galloping stallion, invoking Allah, His angels, His books, and His prophets to protect my man, bring him back safe and wealthy and lengthen his life to see his children crawling around him” (Faqir, p.83, 84).
From this passage, it could also be interpreted that Maha viewed bearing children, among other things, as her way of fighting against the English. She urges herself to do whatever it takes to bear Harb some children. By giving birth to children, this would serve in a way to replace the ones lost from the hands of the English. She could then bring them up in to always remember how their father had died fighting for their freedom and their land. Therefore, the children’s legacy in some sense would be the battles fought by their forefathers who had them as well as their entire people in mind. In this case, the children would thus bear the burden of picking up where their forefathers left off.
By keeping a diary, Ahmed seeks to ensure that his words and thoughts continue to live on long after he’s gone. In his diary, under a small map of Palestine that he had drawn for himself, he wrote the phrase, ‘Remember. This must be turned into a reality’ (Badr, p.25). He very well wrote those words for himself, but any Palestinian reading it would undoubtedly have been inspired by the dedication and courage of those who chose to fight.
However, the other side of this interpretation could be that a vicious cycle could be perpetuated, where people will always seek to avenge their loved ones who were killed. In ‘A Balcony over the Fakihani’, as Yusra and her family fled war and persecution, people were killed off left right and center, like animals.
“I saw a woman dressed in deepest black, more than forty years old. She was hitting a man over the head with a piece of wood with a nail on the end of it, and a young man, perhaps a relative of hers, came up and helped her. She was taking revenge on us. I heard another woman, who was carrying a pistol, say: “I want to pick out the handsomest young men and kill them” (Badr, p.17).
Wherein, in most of the book, we saw women actively participating in helping those who were suffering, nursing them back to health, or providing food and shelter to those without. In this case, at the museum where Yusra went to look for her mother and siblings, women become the source of the ills of society. This Israeli-Palestinian vendetta feeds itself, because those who see their kith and kin being murdered to avenge the blood of people they know nothing of will most likely seek to do the same.
As aptly pointed out Tolstoy in War and Peace, ‘the factor establishing an army’s morale is hard to quantify scientifically, because it isn’t related either to the number of soldiers or to any other obvious cause’ (Badr, p.21). Therefore, it is suffice to say that soldier’s wives have a direct role to play in encouraging and strengthening their spirits.
Other women seen supporting their warring husbands, are Deena, in ‘In the Eye of the Sun’, by Ahdaf Soueif. She travels to England and takes on a waitress job in order to earn money to buy him books and humanitarian reports. In addition, she also wrote to her sister, and urged her to write to newspapers informing them of the torture and suffering going on.
Oftentimes, the wives were separated form their husbands, since they had to go away and either fight, raid, or be stationed where their organizations needed them. Umar and Suad made often had a regular schedule for when they would return home, since they were officially employed in the army. However, Harb was part of a band of raiders, and such could be gone for spells of time on end. For these women, this was something they had to become used to, and quickly. It must have been an immense emotional and psychological burden on them as they spent weeks and sometimes months without knowing whether or not their husbands were safe, alive, or dead. Whenever news came of enemy forces’ attacks, the uncertainty of it all must have been enough to cause them untold anxiety.
‘She shuddered, then began to weep helplessly, “I asked about him everywhere,” she cried, “and that’s what they all said!”
Where was he then? Where was he? I didn’t have the courage to believe her fears. He might come in at any moment, I thought, and he’d tell us what had happened and laugh at what he’d call our groundless fears. As she wept, I told her to try and be patient. “How much longer do I have to be patient?” she said…
We stayed up all night, and at three in the morning there was still no news – just the monotonous din of bulldozers and the searchlights; the hospitals and the injured; martyrs we couldn’t yet believe had become martyrs; families looking for lost relatives. …I couldn’t bring myself to believe he was injured, or …’ (Badr, p.74, 75).
We see Yusra lamenting that ‘death had become so familiar: there was nobody in al-Zaatar who didn’t anticipate their own’ (p.11). However, no matter how accustomed people might grow to being surrounded by the loss of human life, it is more difficult for people to become numb to the sting of death. Even though these women lived with the knowledge that their husbands could be killed at any moment, they were able to go through each day separated from them, as a result of hope. I think that one way wives of army personnel get by, when their men are away at war, is to not think about the possibility of them dying, as Yusra puts it.
‘[O]ne Thursday, two days before he was due home on the Saturday, he was killed in an Israeli air raid, from a wound to the head. I’d heard about the raid on Damour and Sidon that same day, but I’d thrust the possibility aside, banished the nightmare from my mind. I didn’t think he’d die, that he could possibly die; it never occurred to me even once’ (p.24).
However, death will happen to us all at some point. Yes, it might never have occurred to Yusra that Ahmed might die, or maybe it did she firmly brushed the thoughts aside, or changed her thought pattern with regards to that. Whatever, the case, the deaths of these valiant, passionate, and loving men shows the frailty of human life. In A Balcony over the Fakihani, Jinan wondered how Umar could have possibly died, when she went to the mortuary to see his dead body for herself. She grieves silently, ‘How did it happen, Umar? How could a few wounds and bruises bring you to this?’ (p. 83).
The solidarity as a theme is also evidenced by the comforting role they play. Maha and Suad were informed of their husband’s deaths by their friends. These women grieved for one another, and thus are shown as empathetic and caring. Women have the ability to bear burdens. Using the Art History perspective that a woman’s womb represents a vessel, and thus women can and often carry a significant weight within themselves for the troubles of others. News of death is never pleasant, and thus Maha and Yusra would need as much moral strength in order to take it in. However, their friends go about telling them the bad news somewhat differently.
Nasra is seen rushing to tell Maha the news of her husband’s death. She is equally shocked, but somewhat blunt and tactless in how she tells Maha what she saw. I also think that she should have spared Maha detail such as, ‘Slaughtered like sheep,’ and ‘Shreds of cloth and oozing flesh, our men.’ Nasra’s approach seems callous almost, however, it also represents an aspect of her character that is both impetuous and unassuming. Maha’s reaction to word of Harb’s death is portrays part of the death ritual in the Middle East.
‘I uncovered my head, undid my plaits, and shrieked, “Harb.” I yanked my hair and threw myself on the ground shouting at the top of my voice, “Harb.” I tore the front of my dress, filled my palms with soil, and threw it over my head. My outstretched hands and the dust-covered head begged to be buried. “Harb, the twin of my soul,” I howled, and the echo of my wounded voice broke over the ridges and the tops of mountains, then slid down the deaf sea’ (p.112).
In the above paragraph, we are confronted with the pain of death, as well as the sting of both physical and emotional loss. Harb was Maha’s soul mate, they were compatible on so many different levels and for him to die out in the open, while his body was pecked by vultures is a horrifying thought for Maha. The author’s choice of words, such as ‘yanked’, and ‘howled’ reveal the depth of the anguish felt by Maha.
In A Land of Rock and Thyme, the author does not mention how Yusra came about knowing that Ahmed was dead. However, she also has an army of women to support her though the difficult time she’s in. She is seen thrashing from side to side on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably, while the women urge her to eat something since she’s is three months pregnant. It is also interesting that Maha was also pregnant at the time of Harb’s death, but did not know it.
In Suad’s case the women gathered around her as well, and broke the news to her gently, and embraced her one by one as she cried. The new life these women carry symbolizes the perpetuation of hope and spirit through life.
‘It was Fakihani, and everyone was gathered round her. The tears rolled down her cheeks. One by one, in a long line, everyone came forward to embrace her. There was no sound, except for the noise of the piles of concrete collapsing as the bulldozer pushed them about; three was nothing around us but rubble and hurrying feet and the pain of the ordeal that everyone was trying to keep under control’ (p. 78).
What makes Maha, Yusra, and Suad strong? Is it because they are married to fighting men, and therefore, have grown to become strong and independent in their thinking since they are left on their own for extended periods? Is it because they were already strong in their own right, and this now simply compliments their husbands’ purpose?
We are first introduced to Yusra as a young girl dodging bullets, all in an effort to fetch water for her family. That seemed to be her part to play in the unfolding war with the Palestinians pitted against the Israelis. Before she became married to Ahmed, her actions reveal her to be a dedicated and brave young woman, who strived to be strong in the face of danger. Maha is also introduced to us as passionate, and no easily influenced. She has a mind of her own and is not afraid to use it, even if this goes against the norms of society.
Therefore, this shows that these women were not made strong because they became married to men of valor. Both the men and women became stronger individually in their marriages, because they were able to harness certain qualities from each other, as well as give back to each other. Their relationships were fulfilling, and nurturing, as opposed to stifling, such as the one between Nadia and Ihsan.
Pillars of Salt is the only novel that chronicles the life of a martyr’s widow. Maha did not have the same freedoms as before when she was married, therefore, especially now that she was a mother, and had to return to her father’s house and take care of him, since he was ill.
Without Harb to defend her, and protect her against the society, Maha was eventually separated from her son, Mubarak, as well her farm, which her father had left for her. She was uprooted from everything familiar to her, as a result of Daffash’s greed and was thrown into a mental hospital, all because she had stood her ground where her child and property were concerned.
The loss experienced and endured by these Arab women, adds immensely to the strength of their characters. They are the epitome of strength, dedication, and determination. Through their courage, the readers develop an appreciation to the struggles endured by Arab women, all for the sake of love, family, honor, and life.