Reading Response Assignment

Reading Response Assignment
Insert Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Due Date:
The novel begins with two women in a mental hospital in Jordan; they share a single room and under care of a Jordan staff and the English doctor. Maha and Um Saad reflect their sufferings in the mental hospital.
This novel presents how mildly independent Jordanian women are mistreated; they cannot enjoy doing things they want and capable of doing. In this story, Jordanian women are depicted as completely subordinate to men. Women are suffering from men, even though some men are worthless like Abu-Saad and Daffash dominate women. These women end up being discarded when they are older, neglected when they are widowed, raped or even brutalized by men.
Maha is the daughter of Maliha and Sheikh Nimer. She has a brother, Daffash. She and her father suffered when Maliha died. Although, Maha is a woman in a patriarchal society, she is hard-working, passionate, and tough. Her brother (Daffash) is a disappointment to his father. He is a lazy man who does not work on their farm (as Maha does). He does not go hunting with his father. He is a womanizer and enjoys the high life. Daffash rapes Maha’s friend, Nasra. This has a severe consequence on Nasra since she would never be married again because no Bedouin man is allowed to marry a woman who is not virgin.
Maha shares her experience about love relationship with her husband and her child in the midst of the British mandate. Maha has a fiancé, Harb, who has positive qualities that Daffash does not have. While Harb is fighting against the British forces, Daffash enjoys partying. Harb is brave and tough; he often goes fighting against other tribes and the British occupying forces. Maha and Harb eventually married one another. Maha is a hardworking and passionate woman and everything works well in her marriage. However, what disappoints her marriage is that fact that she fails to become pregnant. This is a serious predicament within the family and also within the tribe. She cannot get pregnant; she is infertile and arid. She defends herself claiming that she is not barren though nobody wants to hear her plea. Maha seeks help from a folk healer, who tries several interventions without success. Maha is troubled and faced w...