I have just finished Dreams of Trespass and I just have to say it was an amazing story. I wanted to talk about the ending of the novel when Fatima, who is the narrator is starting to realize that she is becoming a women and soon she will not be able to be friends with Samir any more. She starts to talk to Mina about it and Mina tells her the reason why women and men are seperated as they get older. She also, tells her that there is two sides the ones with the power and the powerless. I thought the novel was perfectly ended when Fatima asks Mina "how would she know what side she is on?" and Mina answers her telling her that, "if she can not get out, she is on the powerless side." The ending describes how most of the Muslim women's lives were in the past and for some in the present.
here is the ending passage from Dreams of Trespass:
"Suddenly I felt sad for no reason, and I went up to Mina on the terrace and sat by her side. She stroked my hair. "Why are we so quiet today?" she asked. I told her about my conversation with Samir, and also about what had happened in the Hammam(this is bathroom in arabic). She listened with her back to the western wall, her yellow headdress as elegant as ever, and when I had finished, she told me that life was going to be tougher from now on for both me and Samir. "Childhood is when the difference does not matter," she said. "From now on, you won't be able to escape it. You'll be ruled by the difference. The world is going to turn ruthless."
"But why?" I asked her, "and why can't we escape the rule of the difference? Why can't men and women keep on playing together even when they are older? Why the seperation?" Mina replied not by answering my questions but by saying that both men and women live miserable lives because of the seperation. Serperation creates an enormous gap in understanding. "Men do not understand women," she said, "and women do not understand men, and it all starts when little girls are separated from little boys in the hammam. Then a cosmic frontier splits the planet in two halves. The frontier indicates the line of power because whereever there is a frontier, there are two kinds of creatures walking on Allah's earth, the powerful on one side, and the powerless on the other."
I asked Mina how would I know on which side I stood. Her answer was quick, short, and very clear: "If you can't get out, you are on the powerless side." (Dreams of Trespass p. 242)
Muslim Women
OH YESS!!! We are going to learn about the true beauty of women behind their veils.
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2 comments:
That passage is so powerful! I really like the idea of powerful and powerless being the only two things to exist; there's no middle ground. I also see why the separation of the girl and Samir is sad to her because I kind of went through something similar. Though the separation wasn't as clear as the separation between men and women of Islam, I wasn't able to hang out with one of my guy friends as much as I used to be able to when I turned a certain age. My mom told me it was because boys and girls are different and they can't control themselves. I laugh at it now because it didn't really stop me from playing with my friends but I guess that, in that separation, there is some truth (just not what my mum said exactly =P)
hahaha I know what you mean I went through the same thing. They try to make up these excuses and go around the subject instead of gettin to the point.
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