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Punished for Being a Woman

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Nawal El Saadawi’s In Camera depicts a rebellious woman, Leila Al-Fargani, who was raped and tortured while in jail. Leila is on trial for expressing her beliefs on the unjust patriarchal society. El Saadawi, as an Egyptian feminist writer, portrays the lack of freedom women experience in Arab societies; she criticizes men, the judicial system, and figures of authority and the government.

Despite the cruel and obvious injustice the guards have committed, this trial brings shame upon Leila’s family. El Saadawi takes us into different points of views throughout the piece, one of them being her father. “Death was preferable for him and for her now” (1113). This portrays the higher importance of social reputation compared to the heroic actions of a female. Her father desires to express his pride for his daughter, but he is unable to due to fears of his dishonored reputation among the community. Leila was the victim, yet this society blames and dishonors her and her family for the loss of her virginity, which was deemed the most “valuable possession” by the ten guards.

Saadawi illustrates the oppressive and dehumanizing nature of society towards women with an extended animal metaphor. When Saadawi introduces the protagonists’ name, Saadawi only uses the past tense to emphasis the effect men have on women. “It was the name of a young woman named Leila, a young woman who had worn young woman’s clothes, had seen the sun and walked on two feet like other human beings… For a long time she’d been a small animal inside a dark and remote cave and when they addressed her, they only used animal names” (1108).Leila’s oppressors and guards stripped her of her identity, only referring to her as animal names. Principally, Saadawi portrays a young normal woman, but then the sentence quickly and shockingly transitions into a serious, dreadful tone. Leila compares herself to a small animal throughout the piece. After standing for an innumerable amount of time in jail, Leila seems to “resume her human form” after she sits down in a chair (El Saadawi 1106). She is infatuated with the chair, as it is her only sense of support both literally and metaphorically. Her identity has been reduced to nothing more than a nameless animal by the guards and society just because she was born a rebellious female.

Nawal El Saadawi’s In Camera aggressively calls attention to and condemns the domineering control men have over women in an Arab society. Saadawi creates a comparison between Leila and an animal to emphasize the abusive and dehumanizing treatment she received in jail for attempting to speak out against the government. The author also acknowledges the role of family and reputation in this society, depicting reputation as a higher priority than gender equality.

All Because of the White Man’s Religion

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While reading Chinua Achebe’s short story, I noticed the frequent digressions in “Chike’s School Days.” The most important tangent to understanding how Chike was raised was the backstory of Amos and Sarah’s marriage. This union, which was socially forbidden, portrayed Chike’s complex dual identity as a Christian and an Osu, an untouchable in the Igbo class system. Within this digression, Achebe illustrated the differences between the kinds of education and knowledge Chike will eventually learn. The two main differences pertinent to the digression is the character development of Mr. Brown and Elizabeth.

The white missionary, Mr. Brown, was the only person to support Amos in his seemingly “mad marriage venture.” Interesting to note that the only reason Mr. Brown was a respected figure in the town was due to the medication he provided and NOT because of his religious sermons. This further displayed the cultural divide in Nigeria, as the townspeople did not accept Mr. Brown or “the white man’s religion” but instead needed the dispensary and medical treatment.

Elizabeth, Amos’s mother, resorts to divination, which is considered an African sacred science, after pleading with Amos to call off the marriage. Using snail shells as a device for fortune telling, the diviner is described as “a man of great power and wisdom.” Achebe immediately illustrates a culturally traditional Igbo scene, where the diviner procures a ritual for Elizabeth to perform to prevent the marriage of Amos and Sarah. Elizabeth, a recent Christian convert, renounced Christianity and returned to the faith of the Igbo people.

Although the ritual the diviner set forth for Elizabeth was unsuccessful, this digression was important to the story overall because readers were able to gauge the cultural differences occurring in Nigeria at the time (1960) and better understand why Chike has three different names. I also thought it was interesting that all the characters had English names except for Chike…