After analyzing our own cultures, our class was given a choice of books from Middle Eastern cultures. I think it is important that we read books set in the Middle East because in the past there has been a stigma surrounding Islam and Middle Eastern people due to radical terrorist attacks and fear mongering in the media. The truth is that these attacks do represent an extreme minority of these people. It is important to understand the culture so that we can empathize them instead of fearing or hating them.
The book that I read was The Green Bicycle. The Green Bicycle is a story about an 11-year-old girl who grows up in Saudi Arabia. She lives in a culture in which women are expected to always be modest and unheard, but it is the women who run the show in her life. Wadjda is not a modest, quiet girl. She is adventurous and wants more than anything to learn to ride a bicycle. She finds one that she likes and she does whatever she can to earn enough money to buy it. However, when her mother finds out her goal, she tells Wadjda she cannot ride a bicycle because it will jeopardize her modesty. Wadjda has to make a diecision to respect her mother and her culture or to be independent.
I was excited to read this text not only because it was a new and interesting culture to learn about, but I love to read books and support female empowerment. The main character Wadjda definitely did not disappoint and I could see myself in her personality and her values. Below I have my immediate response to the story:
The element of The Green Bicycle that struck me most was the intensity of the standards to which women are held in Middle Eastern countries, specifically Saudi Arabia. Before reading the book, I knew that women were expected to be far more modest than is the standard in our American culture, but I don’t think I fully understood the extent of it until I read this text.
Wadjda does not see the importance of the social norms of her culture, and she’s willing to go through hell in order to find happiness for herself. I was astounded by the fact that riding a bicycle was considered risky for her. She is only eleven years old, but that kind of rough play is not permitted for girls. Beyond that, I was shocked by the assumption that riding a bicycle would take away her virginity. The teachers even go as far as saying that girls should be careful of riding horses and playing tennis because of this. There is an incredible amount of value in virginity- so much so that to risk it by riding a bicycle would cause Wadjda’s worth to go down according to her mother and teachers. I found this very sad. No woman should feel unworthy of love or happiness because of her past, especially not a child.
I was also shocked about the way which men treated women in the book. The driver, Iqbal, was consistently rude to Wadjda’s mother. He was able to get away with cursing and yelling at her while she was paying him because of the expectations of women to be quiet in combination with the need for a male driver because women cannot drive. Similarly, despite wearing head-to-toe coverings (abayas), the women were gawked at and cat-called by men. This made me feel like there was no point in covering up anyway. The men were going to give the women unwanted attention no matter how they dressed. The problem stems from how boys are taught to treat women, not from the women dress in public.
