The story of Zahra -book review Essay Example

The story of Zahra -book review Essay The Story of Zahra written by Hanan- Al Shaykh, is an insight into the fractured psyche of a young Lebanese girl, scared by the unrequited love of her mother, the many meaningless relationships she entered into, the intimidating and critical social norms of Beirut and finally by her own intense confusion, disarray and low self esteem which further aggravated her fragile state of mind It is a story about a girl who is in search of fulfillment, in search of her self, terrified of the outside world and its menacing accusations and judgments. Ever since I can remember I have felt uneasy, I have never felt anything else .It is an iconoclastic story of a person who is able to find peace and ones true self in the midst of the anarchy and chaos of a civil war. It is a bizarre account of how while the ravages of war were destroying the lives and composure of other individuals such as her brother Ahmad, at the other end of the spectrum Zahra was discovering in this abnormality her strength ,se lf and the normalcy she had been yearning for. A large part of Zahras insecurity can find its roots in her relationship with her mother, which held many paradoxes and can perhaps be best explained as a love-hate relationship. She despised her mother for making her suffer by exposing her to her infidelity and disloyalty at such a young age, Yet at the same time she longed for her mother to shower her with the affection and love which she saw her mother was capable of possessing and expressing to her lover I would watch her when she was with me and study her when she was at distance , I thought all the while as I looked up at her of how much I wanted to draw her towards me , to draw myself closer to her I wanted to disappear into the hem of her dress and become even closer to her than the navel is to the orange! . But whenever I began to think in this way I felt bitterness towards her and shuddered. I carried this pain an