"Manar of Hama" and Other Stories Literary Elements

Short story/Arab American fiction

Midwest America spring 1982, September 2001, 21st century

Narrative point of view varies, but whether first or third person, the perspective is usually that of an Islamic woman.

Varies considerably. The tone of “Manar of Hama” is one of persistent disgust by the Syrian refugee narrator toward American culture. On the other hand “The Girl from Mecca” is dominated by an satirically ironic tone. Even when the subject is darkest, however, the mood swings toward a lighter approach than melodrama.

Protagonist: the protagonists are Islamic woman, usually of Syrian or Palestinian descent. Antagonist: varies according to story from American cultural domination to Muslim stereotypes to domestic partners.

The most dramatic example of a conflict driving the narrative is in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa” in which the major conflict seems for most of the story to be that between a Syrian American husband and the wife he is allegedly abusing. The story eventually turns out to be one in which the real conflict is between American expectations of Muslim stereotypes and reality.

“The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa” climaxes with the protagonist successfully ridding herself of her unwanted (and only possibly abusive husband) by taking advantage of the anti-Islamic peak on September 13, 2001 when she locks him up in a stockroom and reports his violent behavior to nearby agents with Immigration and Naturalization.

The revelation that the allegedly abused wife in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa” is not quite as meekly submissive as she seems is quite creatively foreshadowed about halfway through the story in the vivid imagery of a scene—which quite literally could have taken place anywhere else in town—set at “Sister Bertille’s Hole-in-the-Wall” restaurant. Its name an décor featuring the image of Sally Field from her innocent TV days as Gidget and The Flying Nun foreshadow the revelation that the meek victim is much more fierce and independent through the power of implicit allusion.

“I just wish she’d stop the frightened rabbit deal. I wish she’d be angry” the friend who is acting as official translator to an abused wife says of her overly submissive attitude. This will turn out be quite an understated description of the woman later on when everything is revealed.

“The Girl from Mecca” is a master at manipulating stereotypes of Muslim women to work her own advantage. When the three traveling companions need quick money to fix their broken vehicle, she puts on a spectacularly one-woman performance as one of the most stereotypically put-upon Muslim women imaginable before a book club meeting hosted by the Agnostic Fellowship. The book that was to be discussed that evening was Voltaire’s classic, Candide, which is about one of the most famously gullible dupes in literary history.

“The Girl from Mecca” is a title that instantly conjures Middle Eastern imagery for most people. The author has a bit of fun with this early on when the title character slips up for a moment in keeping track of her litany of lies and deception. After telling one of her traveling companions that her parents had been killed by the Israelis who were fighting for the Palestinian cause, the other companion replies: “She told me they were killed by Klansmen. Dark-skinned Egyptians in the wrong neighborhood. A burning cross fell on their home. In Mecca, Indiana.”

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The events which are covered in the narrative of “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa” cover the period from August 3, 2001 to September 13, 2001. A parallel is implicitly drawn between the sneak attacks of the hijackers against America and the sneak attack of the protagonist against husband.

“Oklahoma City Bombing” which is explicitly a reference to the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by white supremacists is used metonymically as a metaphor for the hope that any major act of terrorism will wind up being traced to domestic sources even if the initial reports suspect Islamic terrorism.

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