In a culture where stereotypes are so common and thrown left and right, it’s not uncommon to hear someone say “That guy looks suspicious” or “You’re such a FOB.” However, we must be careful when it comes to these remarks or stereotypes because we must remember that what we are doing is simply feeding more into a closed minded society and contributing to the derogating of a mixed society. In all three novels, Throne of the Crescent Moon, Anatomy of a Disappearance, and Lebanese Blonde, all three male Arab characters have shown that they go against this grain of the stereotypical Arab male gender/ culture. Whether it’s Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, the ghul hunter in the city of Dhamsawaat, who’s simply trying to rewind after a hard days of work and enjoy his tea; Or Nuri el-Alfi, the young boy with an odd fascination for a woman who becomes his step-mom with a father who can only be described as mysterious; Or Samir Tammouz, the reluctant individual who never quite seemed to fully grasp what he was getting himself into till it was too late. These three Arab male characters in all three novels are distinct in their own way and that’s what separates them from the mainstream stereotypes of the Arab male gender/ culture. In Throne of the Crescent Moon, Doctor Adoulla Makhslood isn’t the stereotypical Arab elder. One that, often times in a white-male-dominated society envision these Arab elders as being surrounded by their grandchildren’s and wasting away what’s left of their life taking care and basking in the company of their children’s offspring. For Doctor Adoulla, what he is faced with (as an aging Arab man) is having continued his career as a ghul hunter due solely to the fact that he is considered the only ghul hunter in the city o... ... middle of paper ... ...e are a mix of colors and features. In all three novels, each one of the male characters is unique in their own way; which allows them to go against the stereotypes that are in place for them. Whether it was part of the author’s goals or not to go against the stereotypes in place for Arab males, it’s refreshing to see that they didn’t confine them to a set characteristic, personality, or feature. Each author allowed these characters to be free from the confinements of the stereotypes set in place; allowing for the readers to understand them in a way that’s different and unique to their own. Works Cited Ahmed, Saladin. Throne of the crescent moon. New York: DAW Books, 2012. Print. Geha, Joseph. Lebanese blonde: a novel. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2012. Print Matar, Histam. Anatomy of a disappearance: a novel. New York: Dial Press, 2011. Print.
In a more recent politically and culturally diverse world, many contemporary authors take it upon themselves to create novels exploring our diversity. In Paul Beatty’s The White Boy Shuffle, Beatty decides to critique our society’s strict and confining gender stereotypes and standards. Using irony and symbolism, Beatty crafts interesting characters, scenes, and dialogue to suggest that no one person is one-dimensional, and when society attempts to confine our multi-dimensional selves, many times we suffer from negative consequences. Through characters like Gunnar and Scoby, Beatty challenges the stereotypical masculinity expected of black males and what responses may occur as society attempts to box them in.
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
For instance, Amir is a Muslim who is ashamed of his true identity whereas his nephew, Abe, embraces his religion and his heritance. Even though they are both Muslims, Amir`s narration of Islam is completely different than Abe`s, so they both stand for different groups. Amir`s ideology of being an American is to embrace American culture, name, religion, and values while his nephew believes that Amir should support his people and their “cause”. Another smart choice is to insert an African-American and a Jew character because they are also minority like Amir. One would expect that Jody and Isaac, members of different minorities who have suffered from different issues, such as slavery and genocide, would relate to Amir`s problem; however, they seem to judge him based on stereotypes just like anyone else. In contrast, Emily is extremely supportive, and amazed by Islam and its values. Therefore, Akhtar`s smart choice helps to understand so many different
Many stereotypes present in modern day society portray Arab women, or more precisely, Muslim women, as having little to no independence or power. These stereotypes assert that Muslim women are oppressed both physically and psychologically, and that as a result of such outrageous treatment these women are psychologically weak. As with all stereotypes, this is a misconception. Blanket statements announcing one group of people as exhibiting the same characteristics are patently incorrect. The stereotype that Muslim women are all psychologically dependent can never be judged true, because there are always, always, exceptions to such statements. Thanks to the literary talents of three Muslim women authors who demonstrate they are the exception to such a rule, the lives of three powerful and mentally tenacious Muslim women are described in detail and reveal how strong Muslim women, or any woman for that matter can truly be.
The concept of Orientalism is one in which Edward Said, a renowned intellectual with a solid background in the field of Arab study, is particularly knowledgeable. If the concepts surrounding Orientalism are broken down into specific elemental degrees, then Said portrays the American conception of Arabic entities and their inhabitants with a plethora of stereotypes that generate a false depiction of the Arabic culture. This, of course, is only an extremely small portion of the grandiose Orientalist dilemma that is currently quite prevalent in modern day society. Yet, for this paper’s ultimate purpose, this sector will be the sole focus. As Said intimates, the lens that the Americans utilize in order to acquire information about Arabs is one that reflects perceptions falsely. This lens is skewed in order to protect and support certain interests, whether they be American or western based. Movies, particularly when generated through the Hollywood action- based genre, have an false generalization of the way in which an Arabic people are. In some respects, the Hollywood produced movie, Three Kings, is a pertinent acknowledgment of the former. In many portions of the film, the enumerated antics may cause for a feeling of disdain toward the Arab nation. Yet, compared to the majority of the typical Hollywood action-based films, Three Kings manages to break away from these abhorrent stereotypes and provide a more than average acknowledgment of the sheer complexity of the Arab people as individual, separate from Saddam Hussein. Therefore, Said’s primary proposed conception of Orientalism is challenged and the Arab is depicted as a person trying to fight Hussein.
The Sand Child is a novel written about a man born a girl discovering through their sex and gender the differences held within the social norms of men and women. Ahmed, the main character and conflict, in the novel guide the reader through a story of self-discovery on the social status spectrum. In Tahar Jelloun’s novel women play an active role in accepting and portraying themselves as lower in social standards, through this the idea that gender is an individual’s compliance with typical social norms takes form.
Pinault, David. "The Thousand and One Nights in Arabic Literature and Society." Journal of the American Oriental Society 119 (1999):536-537.
This is not intrinsically a problem, but the portrayal of this character undoubtedly is. In fact, the problem of characterization is apparent in the reader’s introduction to Hassan, in which adult Amir compares him to “a Chinese doll” (Hosseini 3).This phrasing places Hassan in a submissive, subservient position and robs him of any potential free will he may have had. Already Hassan is being objectified by his supposed “friend.” Dehumanization such as this, of course, leads to institutionalized apathy towards stigmatized groups and opens the door for cruelty and genocide. Again, a description such as this may not inherently be problematic, but within the context of the larger work it is worrying to say the
The purpose of this discourse is to first, examine and delineate the manner in which Arab women novelists portray or ‘write’ men; and second, to discuss the most relevant reasons why the women write them as they do. This will be accomplished by focusing mainly on three novels written by women from Jordan and Palestine with settings form Beirut to London.
Many in the Arab community still suffer from discrimination and harassment in society, religious establishments and even the education system.
Turn on the news and you are bound to see something about Islamic terrorist, you watch a movie about war and you bound to see Arab blowing up anything in their path to bits then they curse the western world. This image is spread throughout our country and has made a group of people singled out to be victimized. Before the attacks of september 11, 2001 Arabs in most roles of tv shows and movies were portrayed as terrorist, to stupid to understand how much money they had, they were overly attracted to American women and only seen women as objects. These stereotypes have been ingrained into American society and have been very detrimental to our country.
As an Arab American, a Muslim and a woman writer, Mohja Kahf challenges the stereotypes and misrepresentation of Arab and Muslim women. Her style is always marked by humor, sarcasm, anger and confrontation. “The Marvelous Women,” “The Woman Dear to Herself,” “Hijab Scene #7” and “Hijab Scene #5” are examples of Kahf’s anger of stereotypes about Muslim women and her attempts to fight in order to eradicate them, in addition to her encouragement to women who help her and fight for their rights.
Alienation is a concept that is universal to all people of all cultures in the world and throughout all time periods. These feelings of alienation, in some form or another, have affected every human begin that has ever taken a breath and will until the race is extinct. It is these feelings of alienation that influence so many of our activities, our thoughts, and the way we shape our lives and the manner in which we form our societies. It is these reactions to alienation that have played such a large role in the shaping of cultures and societies and for this reason it is important to study the alienation that is being discussed here. It is necessary to choose a group first of all and for our purpose here it will be women in the Arab culture. This is a very diverse culture and therefore we cannot deal with any specific society too in depth and so therefore we will look at examples provided from Arab women’s novels as well as look at the culture as a whole and over a large geographic region. We will be primarily concerned with the sources of alienation that bring these feelings and/or situations of alienation about and focusing on a socioanalytic evaluation of these sources. Also important in this discourse are the situations of the present that we will examine by looking at a few examples from the Arab women’s novels, but also the in-depth analyses of the situations and experiences. Finally, we will look at what these situations and analyses mean for the future of Arab women and the circumstances they may be provided with in years to come and how they might deal with new forms of alienation and at the same time different forms of dealienation or situations of being able to enter parts of society and the world that they have not been able to for numbers of years, and in some cases parts they have never experienced—historically speaking. In short, the purpose of this discourse is to understand the alienation that is a part of the lives of Arab women. This is not supposed to be a definitive analysis, but rather the introduction
“Look at that Arab!” a stranger points out to his friend as they walk past a darker skinned citizen. The year is 2001 and the fall breeze is in the air. Citizens still scared and on the lookout for any potential harm or threats that may be oncoming. The overall mood in the United States is cautious and angry, trying to force that anger on anyone who looks like a “terrorist.” What does a terrorist look like? The generalization and stereotype at the time was a Middle Eastern man, and this was a problem for Changez, the main character, in Mohsin, Hamid’s novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. (2007) Changez was from Lahore, Pakistan and moved to the United States to pursue a Princeton degree at the age of eighteen. Changez’s story is told by him to a man, an assumed American man, at a small Café located in Lahore. This man, Changez points out, is on a mission of some sort, however the stranger listens to every word Changez has to say. The ups and downs of his life, his love life, and the terrible conflict of being a foreigner in New York City after a deadly terror attack.
Usually differences of ethnics, cultures and religions lead to sorts of misunderstanding between people from different societies. People are usually judged according to their behavior in public spaces which might be a result of their culture, education, or social class. An article, “The Arab world” (1996), written by Edward T. Hall, an American anthropologist and writer, discusses the cultural misconceptions between Americans and the Arabs. The article points many of social behaviors acted by Arab individuals that seem weird and sometimes astonishing and inconvenient to the Americans and Westerners. In addition, Hall includes examples of plenty of social behaviors that he thinks are the theme of the Arabic culture along with few personal experiences that led him to conclude that it is really difficult for Europeans and Americans to understand Arabs. Despite the presence of some good points, the article is greatly biased and prejudiced against Arabs, and it is clearly noticed that the author has a misconception of the Arabic and Middle Eastern culture.