Written Homework Assignment #10: “Guest and Daughter” (from Veiled Sentiments) and The Tent
As you read “Guest and Daughter” from Veiled Sentiments and The Tent (chapters 1-7) for Monday’s class, please consider the questions below and write a 1-page response (Times 12, one inch margins) to the question assigned to you. Be prepared to share your response in class and to discuss the questions not assigned to you as well.
Questions:
Looking at “Poetry and Sentiment” from the anthropological account, Veiled Sentiments, what role does oral poetry play in the lives of bedouin women? How is this reflected in the fictional novel, The Tent? What other socio-cultural details of bedouin life described in “Guest and Daughter” are manifest in The Tent? (Kathleen, Nataliah)
In “Guest and Daughter”, how does Lila Abu-Lughod critique previous works of Middle Eastern (and specifically, bedouin) anthrolopology? Can you read The Tent as a fictional corrective to equivalent oversights in the Arabic literary record? In other words, how is The Tent different in terms of perspective and setting from previous novels that we’ve read? (Oakley, Kizzy)
How are reality and “the dream world” of Fatima intermingled in The Tent? How do the two worlds relate to one another in her imagination? What does this intermingling between reality and dream communicate to you? In other words, how does this novel explore the limits of realism? (Alex, Lorenzo)
Can you read The Tent as a work of literary commitment? If so, how? If not, what do you believe Miral al-Tahawy is communicating to her readership through the absence of “commitment”? (Rubi, Jordan)
How does the encounter with the foreign “other” play out in The Tent? How does the character of Anne resonate (nor not!) with Lila Abu Lughod’s account of her own residency amongst the Awlad Ali in Veiled Sentiments (“Guest and Daughter”)? (Mayed, Toni)
How are the dynamics of socio-economic class and race acted out in The Tent? What is the socio-economic background of Fatima’s family? What is their relationship to other socio-economic groups represented in this novel? Where in all of this do Fatima’s “dream family” (Zahwa, Sigeema, and Musallim) fit? (Becca, Clair)