Comparison of the Two Books
Bogary (1991) ‘The Sheltered Quarter: A Tale of a Boyhood in Mecca’ has given an
account of a Saudi boy. The story goes before there was any discovery of oil on
the land of Saudi Arabia. The boy was an orphan who was raised by his mother.
The name of the boy is Muhaisin AL-Baliy. The book is an account of the life of
this young boy who was an orphan and was a good student in the school. The boy
is a brilliant student who is also an avid reader. Other characters of the book
involve the Auntie Asma who is a friend of the boy’s mother's. The aunty feels
it her duty to answer every question being raised by the boy and the boy’
mother. The book depicts her as a strange figure, who is also involved in
superstitious beliefs and who practices odd rituals. The book also contains the
character of Amm Ustad, a freemason. It was this mason who actually led the boy
to see the world outside Mecca. It’s a book of family and relations as well as a
book on the religious values and practices. It gives an account of how people
perceive things like rituals and what do they expect from such practices. The
world as we see through the boy’s wanderings also gives us a rich account of the
outside world which for the boy. We also come to know more of the Middle East
and the traditions and religious practices there.
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The life of the boy was shown as something of a struggle right from the very
beginning when he was in the school. He used to be bullied by his schoolmates
but the boy is a success at school and on the contrary he becomes a very good
student despite the bullies. He was a poor boy whose house did not have proper
lighting facilities and he is shown as so fond of reading that he read in the
streetlights at night. The language of the book is very descriptive and uses
examples and phrases quite at suitable places. One comes to know of the internal
mechanisms of a ‘not so open’ culture of Saudi Arabia, the oil kingdom. There
are some notions that suggest that boys are preferred over girls in a family or
rather sons are given an upper hand on the daughters. The life of the boy as
revealed in this novel is very encompassing and interesting.
The other book is by Al-Kouloub (1994) Ramza. The daughter of a leader of a
religious order, the bejeweled Kout al-Kouloub (victuals of the hearts) was a
self-styled feminist who, among other things, wrote wooing prose in French (Zanouba,
Ramza, Harem). Actually the title of this book is on the name of the main
character Ramza. This is a very much feministic reading which is marred with the
liberal moves within a female against the so called tyrannical and not so free
rules of the society where she lives especially when it comes to choosing a
husband. Ramza is all about the life of an Egyptian feminist Ramza. Her father
is a liberal man who believes in freedom and allowing Ramza to do what she likes
to do giving her freedom of choice. He encourages her to obtain an education by
her own free will. He is shown as a very supportive person in the initial stages
of Ramza’s life.
The tragic move starts when Ramza is a grownup and ready to be married. Now
comes the question of the choice of a husband. One would expect the so-called
liberal father to let his daughter make this decision herself as well. But this
is proved wrong and the conservative side of the father shows itself and a
conflict arises between the father and the daughter. Ramza however, was not
ready for this response from her father and having gotten the initial taste of
freedom in her early life she was now used to making her own decisions. As one
would expect her to do, she rebels against this discrimination and decides to
choose her own destiny regardless of what her father chose for her. This is a
turning point for Ramza who then later on becomes a symbol of women's liberty in
Egypt. Though ancient Egypt treated its women better than any of the other major
civilizations of the ancient world. The Egyptians believed that joy and
happiness were legitimate goals of life and regarded home and family as the
major source of delight. But the decision to marry was not in the hand of the
woman but the elders or the man.
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In the olden days and still in some parts today in Egypt as well as in Saudi
Arabia or the rest of the Middle East countries, it was taken for granted that
the head of the house was the man. The true meaning of this fact for women
varied considerably from one place and time to another and the impact was much
greater if the law drew a distinction between a man and a woman. This is what
Ramza could not accept and fought for her right of choice and distinction.
Marriage and offspring are though always considered desirable, but in some
societies wives are simply domestic servants and offspring acquired importance
only when they grew up. This is exactly the situation depicted in both the
books. Ramza is among that number of very strong willed women who disregarded
custom and ruled their families with the sheer force of their personalities in
the past as well as in the present.
Ramza gives details of the harem life as well as a contrast to what she would be
indulged into and expected to live by for the rest of her life if she accepts
the conservative approach of her father. The word harem, which to western eyes
usually conjures up a host of exotic images, is simply the portion of the house
where women and children conducted their daily lives. Harem also signified a
man's wife or wives, and it connoted respect. In Egypt, as elsewhere in the
cities of the Middle East, between the upper and middle classes in the
nineteenth and early twentieth century women and men were kept apart. Women used
to live within the private compartments of their domestic quarters. When they
went out they veiled their faces, thus taking their seclusion with them. The
freedom was restricted. Freedom of dressing and the inner feelings of wearing
and showing the good clothes as well as moving freely around the globe were
thought to be almost impossible. The harem life as depicted above was untenable
for women like Ramza. There was growing tension even in Egypt in the early
years.
The two books show the two sides of a conservative society. One pertains to the
lack of freedom to a boy and the other the lack of choice and freedom to a girl
of seemingly liberal family. Bogary observes freedom inequalities in young
children and Al-Kouloub observes the differences that are erected for a girl who
wants to become a free willed person. The rest of the novel Ramza shows Ramza as
ideological and practically prepared. She demands respect from the fellow women
and fights for her rights. There are needs for thoroughly realizing the impact
of such a conservative approach towards women as well as the poor children on
the society as a whole. This may well be one of the reasons for the lack of
social awareness in the conservative societies such as those in Saudi Arabia and
Egypt as well as anywhere else in the Middle East.
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