Hanan Al-Shaykh, a Lebanese author from strict Shi’a family.

”The Woman’s Swimming Pool”

 This story is a mix of fiction and non-fiction. It’s about a girl from strict Muslim family living in a very conservative part of their country, Lebanon; whose dream is to go to the sea, “The Women’s Swimming Pool.” One day she gets her grandmother to take her into town to the sea; after hearing from her friend Samayya that there is a swimming pool for women. The city, Beirut, is very Western and the girl and her grandmother are very out of place in their traditional Islamic garb. In the end, the girl can’t get in the pool because the moment they arrived there, it was prayer time already and her grandmother was praying. That’s when she realized that this is a different world from the one she lives in. she realizes that she’s imprisoned by her traditional Islamic customs and that she has no other option, but follow it because of the love she share with her grandmother. I found the story kind of related to the author’s life experience. It’s very interesting because it points out the impacts of people’s culture, or traditions, and or religion have on their lives.