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Abouzeid Discussion Questions

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Discussion questions for "Year of the Elephant" by Leila Abouzeid:

 

  1. What do you think is the significance of the title: Year of the Elephant?
  2. What kind of relationship is imagined by our protagonist between Rahma and magic?
  3. What role does popular religion (represented by shaykhs to a great extent) play in women’s lives?
  4. What kind of a tension is set up in the novel between authenticity and foreign mores?
  5. Discuss these following themes in the context of the novel:
    1. Property and women’s right
    2. Author’s ambivalence towards her mother
    3. Consequences of childlessnes
    4. Independence and nationalism - effects on women in particular
    5. eloquence and illiteracy 
Copyright 2009, by the Contributing Authors. Cite/attribute Resource. Afsaruddin, A. (2007, July 26). Abouzeid Discussion Questions. Retrieved November 07, 2009, from Notre Dame OpenCourseWare Web site: http://ocw.nd.edu/arabic-and-middle-east-studies/women-in-islamic-societies/lecture-and-study-materials/abouzeid-discussion-questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons License