A Map of Home by Randa JarrarSensory reactionin A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
The scene that evokes sensory reaction in the novel is at the beginning of the story when Nidali’s father hopes for the birth of a baby boy and even goes ahead to accidently name her Nidal and later adds an “i” upon realizing the baby is a female. This scene is appealing to the sense of sight. The moment I read this, that which came into my view was how the women as well as the girl child suffer discrimination in the Arab World. I once remembered of the news I had been watching of how women in these countries are denied their rights ranging from necessities like not being allowed to drive cars or go to school. The truth of the matter is that women in the Arab World undergo a lot of suffering and the fact that Nidali’s father and mother is Palestinian and Greek-Egyptian respectively makes it evident that the father is aware of the suffering that women and girls go through and therefore, he only hopes for a baby boy.
In the scene, a number of words/phrases are evocative; however, the ones, which are most evocative, are as listed below: “…Baba realized that he didn’t know my sex for sure but that didn’t matter…” (Jarrar p.1). Another phrase that is most evocative is when the father was writing the name: “…he wrote with a quivering hand and in his best English cursive…” (Jarrar p.1).
Through evoking the sense of sight, I am able to reflect on the story in a multidimensional manner by putting the scenes in different contexts. In addition, I am able to understand the story more easily.
Reference
Jarrar, Randa. A Map of Home. Other Press, LLC, 2008.