Guests Of The Sheik Essay Research Paper

Guests Of The Sheik Essay, Research Paper

Element of Gender:

A review of the Literature

Through out Middle East the lives of women appear to have no influencing role in society. Elizabeth Fernea provides an survey of the traditions of an Iraqi village in her book Guests of the Sheik. Within this book, Fernea explores the element of gender and its impact on the roles of women in Iraq, directly in the village of El Nahra. She also encounters the expectations based on the gender-specific social constructs of polygamous families. Another woman author, Leila Abouzeid, explores similar elements in the work Return to Childhood, which is based in islamic Morocco. Fernea, who the women of the harem call Beeja, presents experiential information about the life of both women and men and her role within her husband’s life as it reflects upon this eastern culture. This provides for an interesting perspective about the different roles of men and women in distant eastern cultures. Abouzeid also comments on family structure from the eyes of a child and how she viewed the role of the woman also within the eastern culture.

In Guest of the sheik,Fernea’s narrative comes from her stay, with her husband, Bob, on the outskirts of a Iraqi village, and the encounters that they experienced as a guest2

he sheik though the eyes of a westerner. Even though Fernea and her husband were both well respected westerners, Fernea

herself recognized that the role of a female within the Iraqi community would require her to conform to some of the gender-based social norms. This was evident in her expectations of their first meeting. After being invited by the sheik to lunch, Fernea reflected on the visit by stating that the invitation meant that “Bob would eat with the men in the sheik’s mudhif or guest house, and I would lunch in the Harem, or women’s quarters”(24).Fernea is also forced to conform to the dress appropriate for woman, the abayah, to avoid insults and her own self-conscious about how she was being view a woman. “They say an uncovered woman is an immoral woman” (24).Immediately, the reader is brought into the view of the different gender roles and the perspectives of both the western guests and the eastern community within which they would visit.

Within both communities spoken of these books, there are three elements of life that appear over and over and underscore the gender differences within eastern culture. These include: the relationship between women and the rearing of children, customs and the process of marriage and the preparation and consumption of food (including the feast of Ramadan).Within Fernea’s experiences, these elements repeat

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and continually provide greater understanding of the differences between western culture and the intricacies of the culture of the Iraqi village. These elements are also apparent when Abouzeid recalls the conversation and action of the men in and around her family.

Fernea experiences her understanding of the relationship between women and the of raising children through her exposure to the sheik’s harem. The women of the harem represent many different types and different ages, from the sheik’s earliest wives to his favorite wife of the current day. Though the sheik’s wives share the raising of his children, there appears to be a level of jealousy among the different wives, yet all accept Selma’s role as the immediate “leader” because of her favored status with the sheik. The women share not only their husband, but elements of bringing up a child and a concern for the social consistencies displayed by their interactions. Fernea is able to learn the importance of motherhood to the social constructs of the village through the presentation of Fadhila’s life. Fadhila, who is a wife of another village member, not the sheik, shares her greatest sorrow in life, her childlessness. Though no determination of her infertility was made, the societal norms pointed the finger at Fadhila as the woman and the bearer of children, rather than at her husband. Fadhila’s fate within the village is questionable because of

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her inability to conceive a child; within the culture of the village, “childlessness is verifiable grounds for divorce” (43). Even though Fadhila appears in good health and is a vibrant lively individual, her value as a woman and a wife is depleted by her lack of children . Many members of the village pity her husband’s poor choice even though it has never been determined that Fadhila’s infertility is the reason the couple cannot conceive. Through Abouzeid memories women are placed in the community,not to go to school and learn but to raise a family.” A girls destiny is marriage, pregnancy and breast feeding..” (36). This also can reinforce the understanding that women are not to excel but to be part of and serve their family and desires of their husband. The other women that Fernea encounters celebrate the bearing of children, and many even have had a number of the sheik’s babies. It is interesting that the members of the harem share a common understanding of the importance of children, but also attempt to dismiss the gravity of the loss of a child, accepting that it occurs within the scope of their child rearing process.

The ceremony and practices surrounding the wedding also demonstrated the differences between western culture and the culture of the