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.
I agree with your points that Saadawi uses the past tense to emphasize the effect men have on women and using the animal metaphor showed the oppressive and dehumanizing nature of society towards women. It is also an interesting point that you made that the chair she sits in supports her both literally and physically; first reading it, I did not think of that. The idea that men have domineering control over women has been a theme we have seen in other works we have read this semester, and this was an interesting perspective to see through Arab culture.
Hi.
You brought out an interesting post. I totally agree with you point. Despite the cruel and obvious injustice the guards have committed, this trial brings shame upon Leila’s family. Lelia’s father desires to express his pride for Lelia, but he finally fail to reputation in the community. Also, the community blame her family for lossing Leila virginity even she is victim. It reflect how important the reputation play in community and the female value in the society. However, the reputation in community was play more important than the gender equality.
There is a lot of interest points that you brought up in your post and i agree with all of them. In the reading i kept noticing that Nawal El Saadawi would usually change scenarios like going from the court to some memories of her childhood but then she would often come back with the fact that she was sitting in that wooden chair. Its interesting how you mention that the chair was her system of support literally and metaphorically, the chair didn’t just give her relief physically but it was also a way in which she distinguish her self as a human not an animal. You clearly explain the main theme of this story, how woman are seen in society, how being a rebel can affect them and there family and how metaphors helped the author express her thoughts.
I liked your analysis of her father’s point of view and the animal metaphor. I also noticed how societal views play a huge role in her father’s change of perception of his daughter. It is a drastic contrast of Leila’s mother’s view where she shows that she only wants to keep her safe. Her father, perhaps it is the reputation that he has to uphold or the mindset that society instilled into him or a combination of both, but societal views takes priority here, as you have mentioned. I also agree with your point about the animal metaphor. It was striking to see her compare herself to an animal. I believe this was used to show her inferiority to men in an extreme way. Both animals are females are subject to the power of men and in her eyes, they are similar. It also shows how minuscule their existence and life could mean to men.
I find it sad that the father valued the reputation of his family more than he cared about the injustice that was done to his daughter
I like how you analysis about the society’s attitudes toward women’ virginity. The guard who raped her told her that their way to torture women was to deprive their most valuable thing – their virginity. Her mother also told her that girls only need to think about marriage. Her grandmother thought it’s catastrophe for a child born as a girl and ugly. You also mentioned his father felt shame and dishonor about the rape. But I felt happy to see Leila didn’t regard virginity as the most valuable thing for a woman. She couldn’t be tortured for that. If it’s the article we read before, I think the women only have to die after loss their virginity by a so humiliated way. But women should not be the prey for something that is not their fault. Leila is a hero in this stupid society, she represents a freedom in women thinking.
Inferring to your title, do you believe that only because she was a woman she was punished, or do you believe that if a man was the one who called the king “stupid” he would have been tortured as well but just in different ways? I really like the points you brought up about how Leila Al-Fargani referred as people as animals, especially after the way she was treated and because seeing how people could be so blind to the unjust nature of her punishment. I also found the following quote by the father to be significant, “Death was preferable for him and for her now” because it showed how much it meant for men in particular, for a woman lose her virginity in such a way. He felt it was dishonorable that he preferred death himself. It’s depressing to actually think that these things can still happen in the modern age; that men can believe that the only thing worthy of a woman is her virginity and can criticize them in such a dehumanizing way.