Turning the Tables: Exploring How Perceived Female Powerlessness can be a Survival Tool or Cause Submission in a Patriarchal Society
Hisham Matar’s novel In the Country of Men presents a young woman and mother, Najwa, who is surviving in a world ruled by men. Scheherazade, the protagonist of Richard F. Burton’s The Book Of The Thousand Nights And A Night, faces a similar predicament of trying to be successful in an intricately oppressive society. Examining the lives, choices, and actions of these two women reveal many commonalities and stark differences in how they handle their surroundings. Najwa and Scheherazade both appropriate a man 's world through their only viable weapons, words and beauty, to achieve their goals. Despite this similarity, Najwa resembles Scheherezade only in a sick, polarized, broken down way.
The two characters share a common goal to stay safe under unsafe conditions and use distinctly feminine tactics to protect what they care about. They both have a maternal motivation, which is inherently feminine, in order to protect their families. Scheherazade also desires safety for women in a land where …show more content…
After continuing a story for 1,001 nights, during this time bearing three sons, she finishes with a plea. She addresses the King as “O King of the time and unique one of the age and the tide,” flattering him while then putting herself in a humble and uniquely female position of “thine handmaid.” Before she pleads her case, she continues onto ask “May I then make bold to crave a boon of Thy Highness?” (Burton, 249). Scheherazade uses the same tactics as Najwa, for she speaks to the king as he would like to be spoken to, putting herself down and building up his sense of dignity and power so as to evoke sympathy for her and her children. The theme of sympathy and powerlessness in the women actually ends up being one of their greatest tools in manipulating men to their
Hisham Matar’s novel In the Country of Men presents a young woman and mother, Najwa, who is surviving in a world ruled by men. Scheherazade, the protagonist of Richard F. Burton’s The Book Of The Thousand Nights And A Night, faces a similar predicament of trying to be successful in an intricately oppressive society. Examining the lives, choices, and actions of these two women reveal many commonalities and stark differences in how they handle their surroundings. Najwa and Scheherazade both appropriate a man 's world through their only viable weapons, words and beauty, to achieve their goals. Despite this similarity, Najwa resembles Scheherezade only in a sick, polarized, broken down way.
The two characters share a common goal to stay safe under unsafe conditions and use distinctly feminine tactics to protect what they care about. They both have a maternal motivation, which is inherently feminine, in order to protect their families. Scheherazade also desires safety for women in a land where …show more content…
After continuing a story for 1,001 nights, during this time bearing three sons, she finishes with a plea. She addresses the King as “O King of the time and unique one of the age and the tide,” flattering him while then putting herself in a humble and uniquely female position of “thine handmaid.” Before she pleads her case, she continues onto ask “May I then make bold to crave a boon of Thy Highness?” (Burton, 249). Scheherazade uses the same tactics as Najwa, for she speaks to the king as he would like to be spoken to, putting herself down and building up his sense of dignity and power so as to evoke sympathy for her and her children. The theme of sympathy and powerlessness in the women actually ends up being one of their greatest tools in manipulating men to their