Western Influence and Women of the Middle East

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Western Influence and Women of the Middle East The omnipresence of the American and European culture in the countries of the Middle East is a universally recognized phenomenon. The culture, thoughts and status quo of the people have been and continually are being changed and challenged due the mass spread of American goods and ideas. The American national culture largely revolves around the wants, needs and goals of the individual. As the one of the greatest superpowers of the time, its influence on the global community towards the focus on the individual is nothing short of inevitable. The movies, clothing and new age mentality of America are sending all people regardless of age, upbringing and locale, into a grand scale social transition. The Arabs and Muslims beliefs, traditions and entire state of being are no longer as they were 20 or 30 years ago. The women of the novels, Nadia, Fatima, Umm Saad, Maha, Asya, and Su’ad, each living in various Arab countries with unique situations of their own, all are united on the common ground of American introduced idea and concepts of individualism through such venues as feminism, capitalism, sexism and consumerism which adversely affect their society. Religious values of the predominately Muslim culture in Nadia al-Faqih in A Woman of Five Seasons are at a point where their practice will bring great adversity to her new found way of life. Nadia is married into a life of luxury where her husband Ihsan is in a constant state of yearning for greater wealth and lusting after other worldly gains. She is pushed into a life where what she should want, the latest fashions, perfumes, and celebrity magazines are constantly thrust in her face. He took that good book from my hands and pu... ... middle of paper ... ...ious way of living could possible the better of the two ways they could possibly choose. With all things said one can understand that the values and ideals so highly prized do in fact have a great influence on the cultures and societies they involve themselves with. Understanding that power and wealth, both of which America greatly possess, gives people impression of the counties superiority, it is undoubtedly that this influence will affect them in such a way that America, to them, is the definition of fruition. Thus in there societies they too will impose the norms and social as well as economic values upon their people in order to attempt to attain the same great achievements. In every one of these books it becomes apparent in at least one way that the women and those around them, whether it is realized or not, have been greatly affect in the most adverse way.

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