Tayeb Salih’s 1966 novel Season of Migration to the North is regarded as one of the most significant Arabic novels of the 20th century. Along with the many themes that the novel deals with, such as Institutional corruption, and the clash between Occidental and Oriental cultures, it is also a manifestation of patriarchy. The absence of democracy and civil rights harms women especially, and they are the most likely to suffer from abuse and violence. This novel is an example of the problematic nature of women’s rights in Arab societies. This paper aims at investigating the ways in which Hosna Bint Mahmoud is being abused and shows that the cause of women’s oppression is patriarchy.
Season of Migration to the North is a representation …show more content…
Wad Rayyes is forty years older than Hosna. His character has no regard for anything in a woman except for her sexuality. He is known to change the women he marries as he changes his donkeys. The fact that the community that he lives in compares women to donkeys is enough to show the way they perceive and treat women. Mahjoub says that Wad Rayyes is “like one of those people who are crazy about owning donkeys – he only admires a donkey when he sees some other man riding it. Only then does he find it beautiful and strives hard to buy it, even if he had to pay more than it’s worth.” …show more content…
After two weeks of her forced marriage, Hosna did not speak to him and when he approached her with violence, she did what she declared she will commit. The village found every inch of Hosna’s body covered in bites and scratches, one nipple of her breast bitten with blood all over. Deprived of her right to speak and stop this unwanted marriage, she stabs him more than ten times and then plunges the knife into her own heart. Through the act of killing, she is having the boldness to speak her mind, and challenging her marginal role. Hosna kills to make a statement, to assert that her rights were taken and to say no when no is not permitted. Hosna’s body empowered her and helped her to revolt, even when that was at the cost of her life. This shows her resistance and defiance against a patriarchist tradition in which she was brought up
Season of Migration to the North is a representation …show more content…
Wad Rayyes is forty years older than Hosna. His character has no regard for anything in a woman except for her sexuality. He is known to change the women he marries as he changes his donkeys. The fact that the community that he lives in compares women to donkeys is enough to show the way they perceive and treat women. Mahjoub says that Wad Rayyes is “like one of those people who are crazy about owning donkeys – he only admires a donkey when he sees some other man riding it. Only then does he find it beautiful and strives hard to buy it, even if he had to pay more than it’s worth.” …show more content…
After two weeks of her forced marriage, Hosna did not speak to him and when he approached her with violence, she did what she declared she will commit. The village found every inch of Hosna’s body covered in bites and scratches, one nipple of her breast bitten with blood all over. Deprived of her right to speak and stop this unwanted marriage, she stabs him more than ten times and then plunges the knife into her own heart. Through the act of killing, she is having the boldness to speak her mind, and challenging her marginal role. Hosna kills to make a statement, to assert that her rights were taken and to say no when no is not permitted. Hosna’s body empowered her and helped her to revolt, even when that was at the cost of her life. This shows her resistance and defiance against a patriarchist tradition in which she was brought up