A Woman Is No Man

The theme of escape is prominent in the novel. Fareeda and Khaled escape the refugee camps. Sarah escapes the tyranny of Fareeda’s household. Why did all these characters see escape as their only viable option? What regrets do they have?

For millennia, cultures have relied on superstition to explain the unexplainable: gods creating the universe, battling giants to explain natural phenomena, etc. Fareeda uses the jinn to explain why Isra bears only daughters. How does doing so help Fareeda cope with her unhappiness? How does it absolve her culture of its responsibility to its women?

Etaf Rum rarely mentions the Israeli occupation of Palestine overtly, yet it hangs like a cloud over her characters’ lives. How does the occupation inform her characters’ lives and the decisions they are forced to make?

Sarah claims to prefer American and British fiction, saying it’s “more realistic” than Arabic fiction. How does Sarah’s preference speak to Fareeda’s fear of lost culture?

Rum uses a popular style of linguistic switching—mixing Arabic with English—when citing certain cultural touchstones: “sala,” naseeb,” “sharmouta.” What is the purpose of this style? Why not use the English “salon,” “fate,” and “slut?”

Explain the cultural opposition to female education. What is the benefit? Why are the women in the novel some of the most ardent supporters of this opposition?

Rum focuses on how Arabic culture impacts its women, but those cultural expectations impact its men as well. How do patriarchal obligations affect Adam and Khaled?

Some scholars have argued that some assimilation is necessary to maintain a certain level of national cohesion. Is it reasonable to expect immigrants to achieve certain benchmarks of assimilation as the price of citizenship? What should those benchmarks be? How much assimilation is too much?