The Civil War in the Story of Zahra and West Beirut - Essay Example

The Civil War in the Story of Zahra and West Beirut Introduction The story of Zahra demonstrates victimization of women by the patriarchal structure. Zahra in her quest to bring piece during the war allows the reader to understand the position of women in the masculinity world of men. In the story, she starts a relationship with a sniper as a strategy to bring the war to a halt, an action that sees her lose her life. On the other hand, the film, West Beirut is a representation of a civil war, which broke in 1975 between the Muslims and Christians. In this regard, the essay analyses the story and film and brings out the structure and the systems of patriarchy in the Civil War. Women are victimized in Zahra’s story; collectively, they are seen to depend on what comes as fate from men during the war, a destruction of individuals and society. Zahra’s father, a tyrant to his wife, Fatme, demonstrates this from a patriarchal point of view, which made her fear him (Knowles 16). Zahra’s father dealt with Fatme according to the grips of masculinity; she could just sit down and wail. He rejected his daughter because of the acne manifestation on her face. All the accounts in the story are a clear display of a male dominated war that fails to recognize the importance of a woman’s role in decision making within a society. The story further demonstrates the quest for the patriarchal structure to continue its oppression on the women within them. The purpose of the story brings out the voice of women in Beirut. The writings preserve the history of suffering of the women during the rule of patriarchy and shape the beginning of women advocacy into leadership and decision-making in the male dominated war. On the other hand, the film depicts how the civil war caused chaos in Beirut. Schools were closed when Tarek a major character was in high school. Initially, the Christians were in control of the entire Beirut and thus, the Muslim had no much say. Tension simmered between the two religious groups over the years and broke out in April of 1975. The Civil War in the Story The civil war in the story of Zahra and west Beirut presents her as a victim of both patriarchal and civil war in Zahra. It is evident in that the story presents Zahra’s father as a tyrant and a strong believer of patriarchy. The grip of the men’s dominancy in the opinion making concerning the livelihood of the society in Zahra is evident. For example, Zahra father was brutal and rejected her because of her looks. Evidently, personal destruction takes priority in the story. In the story, Zahra’s face was scarred; this is exhibited by the conflict at Zahra’s home. The continued struggle over the women bodies’ abuse and merciless beating was the norm (Al- Shaykh 201). This happened to Zahra when she was seen concentrating on her pimples. Her father thought that she would end up being a spinster because of her facial appearance. Her looks made her mother receive humiliation from her husband and her only hope was to see her daughter get married one day to eliminate the fear that was deeply entrenched by her patriarchal husband. The reason for the marriage was to fight for a space in the patriarchal system and eliminate dehumanization of women including Zahra and Fetma. Zahra felt isolated and cut out from the rest of the family as well as the society. In comparison, the war in Beirut was not gender based but religion-based, though Tarek as a star character is more featured. The war seems to have become worse as Tarek aged. The effects of personal destruction in Zahra’s life are evident when she begun self-mutilation; this is an indicator of rejection from her society. Zahra disfigured her beautiful face and her only reason for waking up was the pain from the wounds (Knowles 24). Women are made to fit into this society and to an extent are seen as mere sex objects creating a self-destruction to the person and eventually causing a lack of a good image in the society. The continued patriarchal system has taken a destructive path to Zahra in the story; she is seen sheltering away from the society, she stays in seclusion, in her bathroom (Knowles 27). This is the only safe haven from the tyrannies of her father, while she lived in Beirut and in Africa. Zahra seemed disturbed by the sexual experiences from Malek, her married colleague. She suffers another psychological drift upon remembering Majeds’ marriage proposal. She feels confused and cannot obtain answers concerning how she will cope with her husband ones she comes out of Beirut. Again, the psychological destruction continues when Zahra is married; her husband owns her own body. She desires to own her own body and be free from the mistreatments from his husband. However, in reality, she finds that her dignity was eroded. This happens when the husband learned that she was not a virgin. The society dictated that a woman must have sexual intimacy with the husband after the marriage, and the family members have to be present to proof that indeed the wife is a virgin. Unfortunately, Zahra was not a virgin and to the advantage of his husband, his family was not around to witness the disgrace. He uttered that “he thanked God that his mother was not present to witness the untainted sheets, would have him rebuked and dishonored” (Al- Shaykh 27). Apparently, Zahra psychological traumas were deepened by this encounter. She was viewed as a sexual object; she was proofing his husband’s worth in the act of intimacy. The civil war broke out in Beirut and consequently, Zahra attitude seemed to change as she started understanding the news, though with apprehension (Al- Shaykh 32). Zahra earched for the truth, as she had many answered questions concerning the front of war. As the Civil War in Beirut advanced, there was much need for the truth because it was not clear whether the numbers of the killed men was a true representation. In addition, there was a need to establish the truthfulness of the kidnapping claims. Other questions were, was the civil killings based on religion affiliations? This is because of the Muslim-Christians enmity. Were the fighters receiving orders from their leaders? Had Souk Al-Tawile and George a hairdresser as well as a neighbor turned against Zahra? All these questions encouraged Zahra to enter into the turmoil’s of the war. She was ready to discover the myth of the Civil War. She is not alone, as other women too fear discovering the depth of the war (Al- Shaykh 38). She pioneered women participation in the patriarchy rule. This is evident as Zahra is no longer confined in her bathroom, but she started hiding in other places and act beyond her mother’s fears. Collectively, the aim of the war was to destroy the society. The leaders who even failed to listen to the groans of the injured did not spare the sick in the hospitals; they even refused to stop the war or even end it. Consequently, Zahra spirit was jolted and her desire and quest to stop the war increased. she was determined to end it. Her efforts drove her to end the war through enhancing the understanding of the role of women and the need to stop the vagaries of the war. She tried to stop the killing of prisoners who hailed from Christian side (Al- Shaykh 40). She requested the military officers she knew to release the prisoners unconditionally. Eventually, her parents locked her from the outside world, as a measure to prevent her from receiving the wrath of the leaders (Al- Shaykh 114). The women’s role in the civil war was to appease the soldiers when they visited refugees in the camps; Zahra viewed the act as a humiliating role. The war hurt the society psychologically; a local newspaper had displayed a photo of relatives killed while playing cards. The photo was purposefully meant to collectively harm the society psychologically. Zahra did not wish for an end of the war as it was inevitable, but she was worried of her daily struggles to survive as a woman in a country torn with civil war. The war shaped her destiny, her finances, and even her own life. The war is collectively seen to benefit the larger patriarchy and masculine people in the society (Accad 53). Some of the men are beneficiaries of the Beirut war, as they feel proud of the way the system advocated for their actions and values. The war has caused a lag in the war-torn country. The system used to drug the soldiers to a point that they felt going to the war was better than staying with their women. The system caused brain drain even to the men themselves as they served the interests of their commanders. Zahra was astonished by the act by one of the soldiers who masturbates in her presence, showing the change in moral values. This effect of war is what Zahra was dealing with including the decadency of moral fabric and the effects of patriarchal system in an effort to champion equity in the society. Zahra is left by his father in Beirut creating a space to start a life (Al- Shaykh 121). She would not have otherwise lived alone because of the dictations of the system. She continued to reconstruct ways of affirming better living standards. She fell to a sniper in an effort of distracting him from his killing mission. The war had taken its toll on the psychological makeup of the sniper. Zahra knew that was the only way to humanize the persona of the sniper. This clearly shows how the war destroyed individuals who believed in the patriarchal system. Zahra seemed to understand the weak points of the masculinity and hoped to win at the end of the civil war by sacrificing her worth. In her act, she tried to answer a line of questions that crossed her mind; she pondered how such a man would volunteer to kill without conscience. She then felt a sense of belonging because for the first time, the sniper was the first person to accept and love Zahra. She is a strong believer of peace and that is evident in this story, she gave her body to the sniper. The purpose of the war was to destroy individuals and everyone collectively (Knowles 17). The patriarchal system had destroyed the hopes of women. The same was echoed by the reactions that Zahra received after the sniper realized she was pregnant. She received a masculine reply that she should have an abortion, although he later changed and reassured her that he would marry her. This action made Zahra conclude the end of the war, as the sniper for the first time acted legitimately with a human face. However, the pain and the struggles continued and Zahra experienced much misery. The reality was that the patriarchy and the rule by masculinity was not yet over. The self-destruction from the war affected Zahra as an individual in her survival in the turmoil of war as well as other women. Men identified with the oppression (Al- Shaykh 214). Clearly, the story of Zahra in Beirut as well as the civil war in Beirut demonstrates the purpose of the civil war. The war was created by the system to stamp their patriarchal energy amongst the women as well as the religious differences. They wanted to remain significant, did not see the need of recognizing women’s role in the society, and only viewed women as sex objects. Zahra and her mother fell easily in this trap. The men were highly worshipped and to proof one is worthy as a woman, one needed to be in a domain ruled by men. The oppression is ventilated by the harsh sectarian rule that favored patriarchy (Al- Shaykh 300). Fatme did not struggle to fight for her rights neither did she object to her husband’s harsh treatments to her child, but she sat, wailed, and hoped that her daughter will regain dignity through submitting to a man through marriage. She was distraught, drained all her believe, collapsed to the system, and her only hope was acceptance by the patriarch structures and systems. The destruction of the individual self is seen in the story of Zahra, at the end as she eventually died in the hands of the sniper. She has no hope and purpose of living alongside other women (Al- Shaykh 188). Analysis and Conclusion The story of Zahra depicts the structures of the patriarchal rule amongst the women. Zahra thought she could find a way out and liberate herself as well as voice the rights of other women, but she finds the system replay itself while she fell in love with the sniper. The war shows the unutilized energy in women. Zahra in her silence was able to survive through the system and sought to understand its ugly side. While determining the need for a war, women are sidelined and seen as destructive by the system, yet they are the ones that suffer the vagaries of war. Zahra’s actions show that women are aware of their rights and understand that their voice counts in the war. They are determined to end patriarchy as well as end the selfish demands of the male drive for war and violence. Zahra’s death clearly demonstrates the manifestation of masculinity; the efforts were cut shot. Consequently, this drives the purpose of humanity at large, the need for peace. It further shows what Arab women had to endure during the Beirut war. They were oppressed within the family unit and were not regarded with respect by the system, which was dominated by men. The cruelty of men depicts the collective destruction of women. The family unit in the patriarchal system is not cohesive, and fails to integrate the society, the women live in isolation, and they all have a common place in the male chauvinistic world, “oppressed.” The need to have a woman in this system is for a man’s gratification in fulfilling the dictates of the Islam. It was a religious war due to differences. A woman is preserved and married of as a virgin to a man not of her choice and she is expected to accept her place and role in the family. Zahra’s demonstrates the consequences of not being a virgin at the time marriage. Zahra is lucky that the sniper’s family was not present to direct what to do with her; she could have been seen as a disgrace who had striped the honor and respect of the sniper. The system spells out what to do in such a case. The war saved Zahra from further mistreatment but towards the end, her death demonstrates how powerful chauvinistic drives were in Beirut. The story demonstrates how women sheltered from the violence of the patriarchy. Zahra experienced all the vagaries of the war including violence; this is what the patriarchal system wanted. The war revealed the reason why the structure existed. Men were turned into killing machines and were serving the needs of their leaders. This further demonstrates that through the structure, a line of leaders were in control. They borrowed their harsh rule from the Islamic writings and beliefs; they justified the war with these writings and caused collective destruction to the men who were killing and maiming the innocent. In this process, Zahra met the sniper who killed discriminatory and without cause. The story thus shows the need for women inclusiveness in leadership. Women suffer sexual and emotional stress. Religious differences should not be used as the base for planning attacks on others, as is in the film. The purpose of the war was to destroy individuals; this is mirrored to all in that society. Through hope, the story creates a life of expectations and demonstrates the continuance of this story, not on the characters who remained but those championing the dream of Zahra by changing the system to that which suits the entire society. Works Cited Accad, Evelyne "Arab Womens Literary Inscriptions: A note and extended bibliography.” College Literature, 22 (1995): 172-179. Print Al- Shaykh, Hanan. The Story of Zahra: A Novel. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1995. Print Knowles, John. "Subversive Discourses in Hanan Al-Shaykh; Pushing out the boundaries of Arab feminism in the novel." Contemporary Womens Issues. 10 (1997). 15-20. Print Read More