Intercultural studies Finding Nouf - Research Paper Example

Intercultural studies “Finding Nouf” Introduction The novel “Finding Nouf” is set in Saudi Arabia and it depictsthe Muslim culture. It is a Muslim culture in the sense that the story indicates the generational differences witnessed in the contemporary Saudi Arabian society. The two generations represented therein are Wahhabist Sunni and younger generation. Wahhabist Sunni are the older traditional Arab men who are much more observant while the younger generations are the younger women who appear less observant. Further, some evidence of Muslim culture is the mention of Sharia law which controls the actions of the characters therein. Synopsis The basis for major events in the story is when Nouf, a sixteen-year-old girl goes missing thereby triggering her family to organize a search. The family seeks for a lead from Nayir Sharqi, regarded as a desert guide, to help the search party. After 10 days of search, anonymous desert pilgrims discover her body just when Nayir was to give up. The test carried by coroner’s office indicates that the cause of death was drowning. The family’s dissatisfaction by the coroner’s investigation triggers Nayir to sacrifice on a journey of finding out what transpired at the time of death. The journey to determining the cause of death makes Nayir to seek for help from Katya Hijazi, who is one of the workers at the coroner’s office. Katya Hijazi is courageous enough to carry her own investigation even though her partnership with Nayir was at stake because of the cultural beliefs. Nayir has to antagonize the cultural limitation and his desire for a partnership with a female character. Cultural patterns The writer presents a society which enshrines discrimination by its cultural patterns. Intuitively, the presented society is deeply rooted in their Muslim culture which serves as the influence of the themes presented in the novel. The writer presents the culture as having different forms of patterns which serves in modeling the relationship between the people. Generally, one of the major cultural patterns presented is the need to shun any partnership between men and women. This is evident when Nayir goes to work in partnership with Katya to realize the cause of death (Ferraris, 23). This article considers cultural patterns, discrimination as one of the major problems affecting interpersonal communication in the world; and an application of love theory serves as the healing. Discrimination refers to the act of making a distinction in favor or against an individual. There are many forms of discrimination which makes it major vices in the list of every country. Age and gender discrimination, are the major aspects, presented as distinct social episodes governed by the specific cultural rules as presented by the writer. The two form major menace, considering that they act in determining the personality of an individual in the society. Gender discrimination may also mean sex-based discrimination whereby there is distinction in favor or against based on the sex of an individual. This form of discrimination always features in the work and educational institution. Most of the employers always prefer favoring men over women because of the preformed idea that the former is superior to the latter. The preformed idea about the superiority of men leads to the harassment of women in the public places. The writer provides best understanding for the cause of gender discrimination and the way forward for reducing the incidences. In this context, there are two halves to represent the man and the woman (Nayir and Katwa) in their pursuit to make up with one another. As illustrated, man and woman have not yet met one another leading to the looking down upon one another (Ferraris, 40). Meeting the other half, means that man should be ready to share their views and work together with woman without considering their sexuality. They should consider that they are uniform, and whatever one can do, the other can do. The situation in the contemporary world, gender discrimination, arises because the two (man and woman) are lost from each other’s sight. They are different in their perception about what they can do and where they can be. The writer illustrates that the contemporary world contains a man who does not want work together with woman leading to the discrimination. This leads the writer into proposing that instilling love, friendship and intimacy will help in harmonizing the man and woman’s perception without regards of superiority. The successful working relationship between Nayir and Katwa shows that man and woman will always be there for each other and the society will not discriminate against women, even for a moment. Age discrimination is also evident as a cultural pattern which affects the interpersonal communication in the society presented by the writer. This is a form of discrimination resulting from favoring individuals based on their age. This is detectable in the working environment, between Nayir and Katwa, whereby the former is old while the latter is young. In this society there is preference for the adults because of the experience they associate with them while others also prefer youths because of the energy. This means that there will always be discrimination in the place of work, unless there are harmonized views about the old and the young. Age discrimination becomes disadvantageous to a youth who is both energetic and experienced but he cannot secure employment because of the perception by the employer. There is need of avoiding age discrimination to allow the employers to use the recommended tests in determining the ability of a new employee. The only way to avoid age discrimination is through love as indicated when Nayir goes to work with her younger Katwa. Roles on interpersonal communication The impact of the stun religious beliefs depicted in the society shows a strong relation to other societies who also have their own beliefs for instance, Christianity and Buddhism. The difference between the beliefs can stir problems in case of interpersonal communication since each individual has their own beliefs. This leads to religious discrimination which refers to the act of judging an individual based on his or her religious background. The world contains variety of religions including, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists. This means that continued discrimination based on religion have a higher impact on how individuals relate to each other. Muslims will tend to favor their fellows while Christians will also do the same (to their Christian brother). Even though the Muslims considered themselves holly, they cannot contain fighting the Christians. This means that without love among the religious individuals, holiness cannot direct an individual in doing good deeds. The presence of love in every human being means that at one time all the religious groups were in harmony with each other. The two represent varying perceptions about life as held by the religions. The differences existing between the religious groups is the main cause of the religious wars existing in the contemporary world. He asserts that the religious groups should consider embracing love to allow for the harmonization of their different perception about religion. All the religions worship one God, meaning there is no need for them to put differences in their ways of worship. The religious leaders from the different religions should be able to teach their followers about love for one another. The writer goes on to state that harmonizing the perception of the various religious groups helps in healing all the differences resulting from nature. The different religions should merge to form one religion manifested through love. As stated in the religious books, love forms the biggest element that the believers should not abandon in their virtues. This means that discrimination based on Muslims religious beliefs is an illustration of absence of love; consequently, they have always gone against their own believes. Work cited Ferraris, Zoë. Finding Nouf: [a Novel]. Boston: Mariner Books, 2009. Print. Read More