Florence of Arabia - Book Report/Review Example

Background information: Christopher Taylor Buckley, who was born in the year 1952, is generally regarded as a political satirist. His career as a writer is fully dedicated to the context of political satire, through which he made use of political incidents and controversies to ignite thought and laughter among his readers. For instance, in the novel Little Green Men, Buckley satirizes the different agencies under the government, and in another novel named as Thank You for Smoking, Buckley’s target was the relationship between tobacco lobbyists and politicians.

So, one can see that Buckley chooses controversial issues as the themes for this works. As pointed out, the main reason for Christopher Buckley to write Florence of Arabia is to lead the readers towards the atrocities faced by womenfolk in the Middle East and to examine the grass root level reason behind the same. One can easily identify the fact that religious extremism in the Middle East provides less room for women in the public domain. Besides, this leads to large scale violation of rights and marginalization.

Analysis: The analysis section is broadly divided into three: satire on medieval legal system in the Middle East, criticism on Islamic extremism and related atrocities faced by womenfolk, and the need to integrate democratic system in the Middle East. Satire on medieval legal system in the Middle East In the novel, the novelist attempts to deal with the medieval legal system in the Middle East in a satirical tone. To be specific, the fictitious Royal Kingdom of Wasabia is symbolic of the medieval legal system in the Middle East, under the direct control of conservative Islam.

In addition, Wasabi laws and regulations are totally against human rights. In Wasabia, even the prince is allowed to marry more than once and is allowed to keep more than two wives. In the novel Florence of Arabia by Christopher Buckley, the narrator stated that, “Wasabia’s population was booming, owing to the fact that every man could take up to four wives” (N. pag.). Within this context, none can expect the rule of law. Still, the prince’s wife (Nasrah al-Bawad) tries her level best to escape from this condition.

She considers that her life in the US with her husband as an escapade from the inhuman laws which prevailed in Wasabia. On the other side, the king of Wasabia never tries to change the laws and regulations because he is aware of the fact that his attempt may infuriate the religious leaders. Instead, the king and the prince utilize the legal system to extract more revenue from oil trade. All these factors lead Royal Kingdom of Wasabia to accept religious laws and regulations put forth by the religious leaders.

In short, the novelist makes use of the fictitious kingdom of Wasabia to satirize the lack of proper legal system in the Middle East and its consequences. Criticism on religious fundamentalism /extremism and related atrocities faced by womenfolk The religious and political contexts of some of the Middle Eastern nations are under the control or religious fundamentalists/extremists. Within the context of the novel, the kingdom of Wasabia provides less freedom to the womenfolk. The narrator in the novel