Harem: Hopeless or Hopeful?
...o jump from the terrace on the roof to the neighbors next door. If the harem is located in the countryside, women are free to go out into the fields. However, if men see them, they are to cover their face. The culture has built or shaped women with restrictions and confinement to this enslaved world that provides little opportunity for freedom--physically or mentally. Women in this culture have been brainwashed, with laws “tattooed in the mind,” into living in submission to dominant male figures. Upon stepping into the house, you are instantaneously bound by invisible rules and regulations. These regulations thrive on a reward and punishment system. There are no clues as to what the invisible rules are until they are broken. Then, there is violence. The Harem world “was not concerned about being fair to women” (165). Men and women worked hard day in and day out. However, men are paid and women are not. The culture’s psychological framework revolves around these unwritten laws determined by such an oppressive culture. Mernissi points out how many things women find enjoyable in life were written in the forbidden category of the unwritten laws. Consequently, are women of this culture doomed to unhappiness? In the midst of this essay’s dark representation of culture, the “happiness did seem absolutely possible, in spite of Harems, both invisible and invisible” (166). There is but a “little square chunk of sky.” Yet, there is sky. This sky represents the physical opportunity of freedom which manifests itself in the recognition for potential mental freedom. It is the older women that, despite their being bound to harem tradition, encourage the younger women to seek happiness and not focus so much on the barriers, but rather on the opportunities. They demonstrate this desire for freedom by walking boldly to the front door instead of sneaking to the roof. Perhaps they seek to make a statement regarding women and their opportunities for freedom. This older generation urges the younger generation to seek their small piece of sky. This suggestion of mental freedom is most evident in the last paragraph of Mernissi’s essay where a Harem grandmother encourages her granddaughter to find happiness in achievements that she herself never dreamed of. The grandmother says, “You will learn foreign languages, have a passport, devour books, and speak like a religious authority. At the very least, you will certainly be better off than your mother”(167). The mere idea that women of this culture are aware of these ambitions provides hope for change through education. The grandmother explains that as illiterate as she is, she still has been able to find happiness in this hopeless life. She pushes her granddaughter to set her mind on not what is see...