In my Asian Literature class we have been reading some Arabic writers as of late and one that we came across that also showed up in my reading list for this class was Ghassan Kanafani. We read All That’s Left to You in class and discussed it. It was a novella of sorts and then a collection of other short stories that would have been influential in our own class I think if we would have looked at them. They gave very detailed glimpses into the everyday average life of people in the Arabic nations. Folk tales and just everyday occurrences that we really have not gotten to look at too much. The title story though was a very interesting tale about a brother and sister who live together than have a falling out when the sister becomes impregnated by a less that desirable character. The brother, Hamid, has no choice but to marry his sister Maryam to the swine Zakkaria. The story is told in three different narratives, one being Hamid’s which is in bold face type, Maryam’s which is the regular type and the desert/time which holds the italics type. The three different story lines all verge on the same principle that time is all that’s left to you in this world when you have nothing left at all. How much time passes between a breath, a blink of an eye or a sunrise is what you have to hold on to when you have nothing left. The time it takes Hamid to cross the desert, or the time it takes for Zakkaria’s blood to drain from his body after Maryam stabs him. Time is the driving force in much of society and when you have nothing, it’s all that you have left to you.

Waltz with Bashir

The movie Waltz with Bashir was extremely confusing; perhaps it was because we skipped some parts or because there were so many characters, but I was struggling to really understand the concept behind it. I enjoyed it for its message and themes and the story line in general was interesting but it did not hold my attention very well. I gathered that the Israel army was protecting Lebanon from Palestine and that inside of that conflict the Lebanon Christian Army’s leader Bashir was killed and that led to the massacres of Shatila and Sabra. The Israel army then told them to stop though they took no action and therefore they cleaned their hands of the situation. I could be totally wrong in that summary and if I am please someone correct me!! Lol!! But I did enjoy the ending where it was live action and you could really appreciate the situation for what it really was. Those women were so heartbroken and it could have all been stopped if someone would have acted. That is one of the downfalls of society today as a whole, the inability to act when the time is right. It seems that so many conflicts could have been ended sooner or avoided all together is someone would have acted when the problem arose and acted in the correct manner.

Memories

When I found out that this story, Five Years of My Life, was a memoir of a man who had been treated the horribly by American soldiers, I thought I was going to be sick. The things that the poor guy went through were unbearable not to mention inhumane. He was only a tourist and because he looked different and spoke a different language than the soldiers he was singled out and taken to be interrogated. I thought things would turn around for him quickly but they did not. They simply became worse and worse and time progressed. I was very upset at the end of the story. Especially upset when it came time for him to be reunited with his family and he did not even recognize them. Though I disagree with the torture methods used in Guantanamo I have to say that we are in a war and sometimes things need to happen that are not exactly pristine. What I am not saying is that we need to destroy a person’s world by torturing them every day as was described in the story, but there should be times when we capture enemies and interrogate them for information. To get the truth sometimes you have to break a person’s will and there are ways to do that that are not as inhumane as what this man witnessed but are strategies none the less. I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes in extreme situations morals need to be pushed aside and not taken into account so that the general welfare of the nation and world as a whole is not endanger of complete annihilation.

War in the Land of Egypt

War in the Land of Egypt was an extremely interesting story to read. I was not able to read it in the beginning of the course but I did catch up on it during our snow day! I found it extremely frustrating that even though the Umda was a terrible man he was never convicted of his crimes because the government covered it up! The Umda was so worried about his place in society and that was his main motivation he could cover it up as much as he wanted, saying that he could not see to have his wife in pain, but the truth lies in the fact that he was in power and he did not want to lose that power. He had recently come back into his lost land and now that he was the top dog again he could not stand to see that leave him. He was a most despicable character and I was really annoyed with him at the story’s end. I have to commend Masri though for his actions. He went to war so that his family could keep their land though he didn’t want to. My observation of him throughout the novel led me to believe that after he had told his story he wanted to die a hero or come back as an honored veteran of the war. He charged into battle with a fierce determination and he ended up dying for a cause that really was not his. I was more or less upset with Masir’s father and the fact that he forced the situation upon his son. I would never have done something like that to my own family. I can understand his reasoning but his decision doesn’t place much emphasis on keeping a family together; keeping them rich and happy yes, but not together. The officials that were all easily corrupted leave me to think that the main force of political and social power in Egypt is money, which is not too different from America. I do not know of any cases to this magnitude but at the same time I do not put it past Americans to scheme their way out of things by using money as a motivational tool.

East meets West

Tuesday in class we discussed the book Does My Head Look Big in This? and I was intrigued by the plot of the story and can’t wait to read it. I was unable to get a copy in time to read the novel. We also had a guest speaker, Monica Eraqi come in a talk to us about her time in the Middle East and growing up as a Muslim in America. She had a lot to say and many opinions about the relationship between women and the hijab. I was intrigued by the story she told about her cousin and the student who both eventually stopped wearing the headscarf all together because they felt it made them feel to different, too much of an outsider. Which in some cases can be true of high school students and even adults, but I feel that those young girls did more to hinder their cause then fight for it. I know that I’ll never understand what it was like for them, but I also understand that being different can be scary, but if you don’t fight for your differences than you can’t expect others to understand that your differences are what make the world a better place. I also thought that it was strange that her father was trying to arrange a partner for her in a roundabout way, when he himself married outside of his faith. I wanted to ask if she ever felt pressured or if she felt he was being hypocritical, but she also didn’t seem to mind that he had done that because she was with someone that he had set up for her currently. So I didn’t press the issue though I wish I would have, it would have been interesting to hear her thoughts on that. I applaud her for continuing to study in Egypt even though the United States had just invaded Iraq. I would have been frightened beyond belief and probably not have gone, but she said it was one of the best decisions she ever made. Class was very interesting and I found out a lot more about how Muslim and Islamic men and women feel about living in the United States.

Talk to an Iraqi

During our discussion in class on Tuesday we watched a short film called Talk to an Iraqi-This American Life. It was a very interesting short film and I wished it could have been expanded upon and lengthened to include many more of the interviews that he had. I feel that many people would benefit from watching this or simply talking to an Iraqi about the situations. This is a great starting point I think for something much larger, possibly a traveling panel of some kind so that more perspectives of the Iraqis can be seen and heard on a much larger scale.

I found a link that leads to a little biography of Haider Hamza, the young man who put together the clips. It was very interesting to learn a little bit more about him as a person and to know why he wanted to do this segment. It is best summarized in the following quote.

Haider said, "I always wondered, what do people in American know of what is happening and do they feel responsible...did this war change their lives at all, since it has for sure changed ours dramatically."

His thoughts and curiousness are on a very basic human level. He wants to know what do Americans know about the war and how do they feel and by viewing the clip you witness that some do not know much at all and that an eleven year old girl has probably the most insight out of anyone that was involved. She apologizes outright for America’s presence and she sympathizes with Haider because her father is serving in the war currently. I felt this was a very important clip to show and I’m glad that we were able to gain a perspective that we don’t usually have the privilege of knowing.

Differences and Ignorance

In class we began watching the movie Arranged, and I finished it outside of class. I felt it was a very powerful movie. The scene that most stood out to me was when the children in the class asked the teachers if they hated each other because of their differing religions, Judaism and Islam. This struck me as odd because when I was that age I would have never made the conclusion between the two teachers and the fact that their religions opposed one another. The teachers handled the situation very well I thought in that they simply came up with an exercise to demonstrate that everyone can harmoniously get along as long as everyone kept an open mind and was respectful of other beliefs. The movie goes on to describe the difficult times the women are having with the concept of arranged marriages. Rochel, the Jewish women, is having an especially hard time with her religion in general because of the customs and regulations. Nasria is often in opposition with her family but they seem to be more understanding about her concerns than Rochel’s family is about her worries. Something else that comes to my mind when I think of this movie is, ignorance is bliss. The principle of the school is very ignorant towards the two teachers and their dressing habits. She is also concerned that she will lose them to their respective religions and that they are being dominated by their fathers. The two women make a joke out of it but at the same time it shows just how little Americans know about the situations that these women face on a daily basis. Rochel’s family also is quite ignorant when Nasria and Rochel begin spending time together. I would have assumed that they would have been more understanding because they are adults and their daughter is an adult but they still seemed to be very negative toward any contact Rochel had with Nasria. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I thought it was an excellent selection for the group!!! GREAT JOB GIRLS!!!!

On Thursday the group presented the film “Two Women”. I felt this was a very appropriate movie both in terms of the group and in terms of what we are trying to learn in this class. With the film being about two Islamic women in different parts of life you understand that while one is struggling to survive the other is floating along quite pleasantly. I however found some things to disagree with such as the male dominant society and the lack of credit the men give to the women in their lives. Fereshteh is quite educated yet she is subjected to this horribly patriarchal society that does not give her any credit and in fact looks down upon her. She tries in vain to stand up for herself and defend her rights and her own opinion yet she is not respected the way her counterpart demands respect from her. It is a very one-sided relationship when she gives him everything and expects so little yet he will not let her out of the house or even allow her to use the telephone. This movie intensified the ideas and thoughts I previously had about stereotypical males in the Middle East. It did show me some of the things that can result from women receiving a proper education, such as Roya the other woman of the story who ran a architectural business with her husband and supervised men at the worksite giving them jobs and other menial tasks to accomplish and they respected her and observed her wishes. That is the difference I believe between women who run their own lives and women who have their lives run for them, education. A woman with an education can think for herself and know that what is happening to other women is wrong. Women that have received little or no education do not understand that there are better thing out there for them and they settle for what they have or fight against it to no avail. Both lines of following were showed in this movie and Fereshteh at the end was quite confused on what to do, take care of her children or go to school or both. Women in the Middle East have gained over the last few years, though not without losing a lot in the process.

Women in Islam Speakers

I really enjoyed the speakers that came in and talked to us on Tuesday. It was a very informative discussion and very crucial to us as a class understanding the role of women in Islam. The speakers were very well prepared and answered the questions very effectively. I thought it was of particular interest that Gulnar did not question her daughter when she began to wear the hijab even though she thought it was not the appropriate time for this. It seems that in American culture when a child begins to dress differently parents are very prone to question their decisions if they feel that their child is in the wrong. I know that it is not exactly the same situation be the hijab is a personal choice, but isn’t a personal choice when children of America decided to wear baggier, tighter or shorter clothing and parents are all about the questions. I was also rather disappointed that we did not have more time for questions and answers it seemed that they spent so much time with the presentation that we did not have enough time to really ask some of the questions that we had. It would have been interesting to question about the control issue and how women are viewed as lesser because of their lack of control over child birthing and their menstrual cycle. Overall though I really did enjoy the speakers they were very articulate and informed on the subject, obviously.

Paradise Now

I watched Paradise Now and really enjoyed the movie. I felt that it was a good representation of the Palestinian suicide bomber side of things; however it did not represent the other side of the argument. It was simply about suicide bombers, but what about the other fights against the occupation. Why not show a movie about the fight that people can really respect and agree with. I know many people do not understand why suicide bombers act the way they do and this was a slight insight into their life and way of thinking. However much I understand it I still do not agree with it. So I want to see a movie that is anti-occupation but in a more neutral way. Such a movie is Life in Occupied Palestine it gives an in depth look at the occupation from an outside perspective. Yet it focuses on a nonviolent movement in the Holy Land.

Short Stories of Arabic Group 2

The Lawsuit seemed a bit odd to me. This story of a man whose father was married with children marries again and then dies. The second wife makes off with the money and then years later wants maintenance because she no longer can afford the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to. This seems entirely her fault and I have no sympathy for her at all. I would have liked to see what the verdict would have been in the case that would have made the story of much more interest to me. The thing I do not understand in the slightest is how people can live like this. Being a family and then introducing another wife into the household did this other wife cook and clean and take care of the household chores or was she simply a trophy for the old man. That is where arrogance and ignorance collide head-on, in the heart of an old man. He thinks that because he has money and wealth that this young woman would love him, but in turn she only ever loved his money. The family knew this, but the old man was oblivious and up until the very end of the story it is believed by the family that she was simply putting on a rouse.
Naguib Mahfouz tells an interesting story in A Long-Term Plan. The main character Isam al-Baqli is a very rugged, good-for-nothing man who mooches off of everyone he knows, especially his mother. When his mother dies he is left with nothing and no one so he begins a downward spiral into poverty and eventually is on the brink of starvation when a company offers him a grand sum of money for his house. He accepts the offer at the age of seventy and believes that everything is turning around for him. He gets new clothes, a new place to stay and gets completely cleaned up; however this is his last night alive. He dies directly after this happens and I do not think it was out of place. He had, his entire life, been no good to anyone, not even himself so in the end it made no difference that he finally had money and wealth because he did not get to enjoy it, and I do not think he should have had that opportunity.

Gold Dust

I enjoyed Gold Dust for its content and story line, though I was a little confused at some parts because of the pacing of the story and the way it moved around. Though I must say I completely understand Ukhayyad’s devotion to his piebald Mahri. He was a young man when he got the camel as a present and he knew it was a good animal and wanted everyone else to know about it too, what person would not do that? Granted he was foolish when he went out at night to spend time with girls and allowed his piebald to graze near the other camels and for his foolishness in the end his piebald was infected with mange. Ukhayyad’s response to this also showed great devotion, he would rather have his camel be driven mad than die from a horrible disease. Through the course of event that followed the two became closer than ever before and their bond that much more unbreakable. More trials and tribulations came at them and time and again Ukhayyad showed his devotion and undying love for his camel and the piebald returned the love he had for his master. Every time he was sent away he would come back quicker than before, this eventually led to his undoing, but still he was devoted to Ukhayyad until the very end of it all.

The confusing parts came to me when timelines would switch and there would be no real sign of a switch, this always makes it harder for me to really fall into a story and truly enjoy the mastery of the literature. Gold Dust did this a few times, and I had to readjust myself and my though process to really understand what was going on but it was a rather enjoyable story.

Picture Books

The two short stories that I read for class were strange to me, being that they were children’s picture books. As I was reading I was thinking about what I used to read as a young child, Sesame Street, Barney and other young aged books about being a good child and doing everything I was asked to do. They were always very vibrant with their colors and simplistic with their words. These children’s stories are vibrant with their words in contrast to the picture books I used to read. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret is a story about a boy who has learned to write his name in Arabic, but before he can show his family he must first fulfill his duties as a butagaz boy and deliver the cooking oils to his customers around the city of Cairo. Now, granted this story has a very child-like meaning behind it, with Ahmed being proud of showing his family he has learned to write his name, but the context of the story just bewilders me. He is a child doing a man’s job, this was never the setting for any of my picture books as a child and the sheer difference of that speaks volumes for how different the two cultures are.

In Sami and the Time of the Troubles a young boy is again the protagonist and this time he and his family are living in the basement of his uncle’s house for fear of being bombed. Again the setting and context of this story blow my mind. The fact that this children’s picture book is centered on a city being bombed makes me wonder what that can do to a child. If they grow up around violence and are being read violent picture books then what is their mindset going to be? In the story Sami and his friend Amir are playing with pieces of wood that resemble guns and Amir says to Sami “When we are older, we will have real guns.” Sami insists that the fighting will be over by then but Amir is doubtful. I used to play with toy guns when I was a child but the thought never crossed my mind to have real guns when I was older, the times that these children were raised in terrify me. I would never want that for my children and the mother of this story expresses that throughout the picture book.

These picture books were interesting because I gained a perspective into the lives of the children of the Middle East. Though I could never agree with the content of these stories they were still very interesting to read.

Choices

First off I want to thank everyone who wrote a blog on the movie that we viewed last Tuesday in class!!! The blogs were very interesting to read and I really enjoyed what you all had to say!!! In regards to choosing this movie I want to explain a bit for my reasoning. As many of you pointed out there are many parallels between homosexuality in the United States and in the Middle East. It is a very current social topic for both regions and cultures. I want to touch on that word social. I feel like a lot of what we have been viewing and learning about so far is the cultural aspects of the Middle East in regards to war and oil. I know that is a big part of that area but it is not the whole part. In Aunt Safiyya we gained a bit of perspective into the social workings of the Middle East, but it was not on a very current subject. So that is one of the reasons I chose “The Road to Love” it is very current and you can easily identify the main themes that are relevant in both cultures. I also chose it simply because of its content. There were many things to be learned by watching the movie and many things that I did not know myself. I appreciated very much those that went above and beyond just writing a blog post and doing some research into the subject themselves;(Angela and Chelsea) because it is relevant to the times and something that everyone should know a little bit about. So in closing I just want to thank everyone for having an open mind and be positive about a controversial topic!! Thanks!!

An Addiction

The film “Blood and Oil”, I found to be very interesting and though provoking. To learn that the United States has had a specific interest in the Middle East since the Roosevelt administration was rather startling. In the video it is stated that America has an addiction to oil and this statement answered a lot of questions that I had. To put the situation in terms of an addiction is very relevant, I feel, because then you can picture the America in a different light. Unable to get enough so they go to the extremes to get their fix. The United States’ interest in the Middle East has always been directly related to oil and to our assumed inherent right to that oil. It seemed to simply develop and grow through the continuing administrations until we felt it was our duty to go in and use military force to secure the areas. I understand that as a leading consumer of oil in the world that we felt it was important to protect our interests in that area for very specific reasons; I just think that we should have been using that same amount of time and energy to research renewable sources as well. I know that we’ve begun to expand our national research and funding in that area in the recent years, but to just imagine how much more advanced we could be in that department of our nation makes me rather ill. I really don’t agree with the statements about the United States having to be a world police, and protector of all. I think those reasons are scapegoats for the actual reasons for us to be in that part of the world with the influence that we have. It comes down to simply one thing they have the oil that we need and we’re willing to do anything to keep it that way. It was quite apparent in the movie that the government, in the first Bush administration, was aware that we would no longer be able to use the excuses of oil to protect our interests and soon turned to policing those nations because of suspected WMD and other dramatic reasoning. If you’re going to be in a foreign land spilling blood of Americans and natives alike, at least be honest about why you’re there.

"Only in London"

I recently finished “Only in London” by Hanan al-Shaykh and I was really interested in the way their stories played out.

Lamis, who was a recently divorced Iraqi who had moved to Najaf when she was very young, was the main character it seemed with most of the novel revolving around her and her situations. She initially went to London to get away from her parents and Dubai and she wanted to be closer to her son. She began a romantic relationship with one of the other main characters, Nicholas, and this was very detrimental to her and her situation. She felt that she shouldn’t proceed with her relationship with him, but she hadn’t been loved like this ever so she couldn’t just let go. She struggled with her identity, wanting to be more English than fearing she wouldn’t remember whom she really was. Her identity crisis takes her through many different paths and keeps the reader quite interested. I can’t say much more for fear of giving away a very good subplot!!!

Nicholas is a young Englishman who collects Arabic novelties for Sotheby’s, which is an auction house. He begins a relationship with Lamis and tries to figure out who she is, though she really doesn’t let him in. The majority of Nicholas’ story is intertwined with Lamis’ and together they form the bulk of the novel.

Amira probably has the most interesting story of all the characters. She is a prostitute who comes from a very poor family and never wishes to return to that kind of life. She visits her family several times through flashbacks in the story and her mother at one point says that she, Amira, can’t sleep with her younger sisters because they are still pure and she will taint them with her impurities. She impersonates a princess and gets away with many schemes so that she can become rich and powerful. Near the end of the story you begin to think that she may have changed her ways, but she doesn’t and she continues to lead a very promiscuous lifestyle.

Samir is a married man who begins in the story by smuggling a monkey to London for a friend’s brother. It is then made aware to the reader that Samir is homosexual, even though he is married. His story is centered on his obsession with blond boys and avoiding his wife and family who follow him to London. I found this story interesting in the fact that he showed no remorse for marrying the woman and having children with her. It was forced upon him and he wants nothing to do with them. He sends them money simply to keep them off his back and to be able to live without them. He views them as his curse and wishes to be rid of them indefinitely.

All of their stories show a different view of Arabic life in an English-dominated world, how they all try to fit in and their different endings. It was a very good read and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to read it, though it is rather sexually graphic at points, so a mature audience is necessary.

Origins

My group is the Arabic Literature group and I decided that it would be interesting to know some of the facts of Arabic literature and cinema.
Firstly Arabic literature originated in the medieval age of golden lyric poetry, from the 4th to 7th centuries. The poems were mainly personal odes with themes of love, fighting, courage and the chase. The most well-known of these poets are Amru al-Kais, Antara, and Zuhair. Arabic literature is mainly comprised of works by Arabic speaking Turks, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Jews, and other Africans and Asians, as well as the Arabs themselves. At the end of the 8th century a new group of poets emerged and created a new genre of poetry, the court poems. India and Persia were a great influence to the romantic styles of Arabic poetry. Printing began in the 19th century in earnest, centered in Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus. In this time period Arab writers tired to express themselves and their place in the modern world. One of the most notable 20th-century-early writers in Arabic is the novelists Naguib Mahfouz who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature.


Within the Arab world Egyptian cinema has always dominated the scene. By 1917 there were 80 cinemas in Egypt alone, but what historians consider the first film did not debut until 1925. With the introduction of sound in 1930 the cinema really began to take off and appeal to the masses. During the 1930s, the Misr Bank financed production by sending technicians abroad for training and setting up the Misr Studio in 1935. Arab cinema continued to expand and grow throughout the century. Cinema was a way for people to express themselves and have it appeal to the masses. More often than not a film would be played that would have some great effect of people throughout the surrounding nations and a ripple would fan out calling all attention to the times and crises. I imagine this to be the same as what happens in American cinema, though possibly more governmentally controlled.
Everything has an origin and just like American literature and cinema, Arabic literature and cinema can give us a perfect view into a world we never really knew existed.