Resisting the Norms…

1. Resisting the Norms… By: The Honey Badgers

2. Andree chedid • In her works, Andree does not stress large scale women’s resistance. Her work focuses on the day to day struggles of women and the subtle actions they can take to stand up to society.

3. The singing girl… • “But I was rescued by a song, a song as fluid as a slender silken thread…My room was floating outside in the serene country-side far from the bed in which I found myself. For a moment I forgot its horrible squeaking” (65). • The little girl that was singing was the only thing keeping Samya sane at the time. It was her own way of getting away from reality.

4. The singing girl cont. • “’Bitch! Bitch! I’ll teach her to keep people from sleeping!’…His voice crushed her song and I could hear only an occasional reckless note. Before he could move I was at the foot of the bed. ‘Don’t bother. I’ll go. We won’t hear anything now.’…The child’s song still reached me, but now only as a murmur. Yet I knew it was still alive and I felt that I protected it from a threat” (65). • Boutros, in his oppressive ways, can’t appreciate a little girl’s singing. It bothers him so much that he continues his search for her until she is punished. Throughout his pursuit of the girl, Samya continuously tries to stop him in order to prevent this girl from being hurt.

5. The village… • “All this made it impossible for me to visit the village. Nonetheless, I wanted to do it… One morning, tired of ambling about between my four walls, I decided to go for a walk in the countryside” (75). • Despite Boutros’ demands, Samya chooses to get out of the house to go to the village. As a wife, she knows that she should follow his will, but she has no respect for her “purchased” huband.

6. The village cont. • “He went on, his eyebrows rising as he scowled. ‘The wife of a Nazer does not hang around the village. It is no place for a respectable woman!’…’I will not eat this bread. It can give one all sorts of diseases. Throw it away! It’s fit only for animals’” (84-85). • After Samya had gone to the village, Boutros did not have it. Immediately after she got home, Boutros let all of his frustration out on her. But even after his fit, she still went to the village to see the Sheika.

7. The sheika… • “I felt at home in this cluttered room. To tell troubles to others and to listen to the troubles of others makes them lighter to bear, and that is sometimes relief enough” (96). • When Samya visits the Sheika, not only does it show Samya’s resistance to her husband, but it shows other women doing the same. The Sheika provides for the women what their husbands can’t: consolation, advice, and hope. So all together, these women accomplish more.