Social, Cultural And Social Changes In Kim Barnes's In The Kingdom Of Men?

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Barnes writes her novel exploring different Arab issues from a western point of view. In an email to the researcher Kim Barnes writes: In the Kingdom of Men, does indeed take place right at the time when the Kingdom and Aramco are in the throes of great change: nationalization and attention to unfair labour practices imposed upon the Saudis (and other Arabs) as well as the six day war…. It is fictional, of course, and the characters are not real people, but I did many years of research, and many of the situations and events are based on historical information….The story is meant to represent many aspects of the social, cultural and psychological changes of the time 1960s. [Characters] discuss issues of class, race, power and politics. (Barnes, “Rewrite: In the Kingdom of Men” email) The third …show more content…

Thus, one can say that Munif’s Cities of Salt was among the first to discuss the issue of urbanization scornfully and as a tragedy. Like Abdelrahman Munif, Kim Barnes’s In the Kingdom of Men incarnates the disastrous consequences of oil wealth. Barnes reflects on the social, cultural and political changes that occurred in Saudi Arabia after oil discovery through the story of a young American woman, Gin, who leaves the dusty farmland of 1960s Oklahoma to follow her husband to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia where she faces a life that she has never imagined to live. “She finds a world of wealth, glamour, American privilege, and corruption” (Barnes, Home Page). In an email to the researcher Kim Barnes comments: Gin observes and interacts with a Saudi driver and translator whose story is meant to represent many aspects of the social, cultural and psychological changes of the time (1960). They discuss issues of class, race, power and politics. (Barnes, “Rewrite: In the Kingdom of Men”

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