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Abstract

In the patriarchal tradition of the Arab world, women are often treated as commodities, and their autonomy and choices are disregarded. Family honour is tied to women’s virginity, leading to strict control over their desires and sexuality (Khan 3). Moreover, women are confined to roles as biological and cultural procreators, reinforcing a narrow understanding of femininity (Chouiten and Khireddine 40) and tightly weaving womanhood with motherhood. This essay examines Fadia Faqir’s novel Pillars of Salt (1996) by using a feminist framework, particularly Adrienne Rich’s theory of motherhood. The narrative reveals the brutal realities faced by Arab women, particularly those incapable of bearing children. This paper examines how gender, infertility, and involuntary childlessness intersect to compound the profound suffering experienced by women in a patriarchal society. Set against the backdrop of 1920s Trans-Jordan under the British mandate, Pillars of Salt vividly portrays the tragic fate of Arab women trapped within the confines of traditional patriarchal communities in Jordan. Narrated through the perspectives of Bedouin Maha, Urban Um Saad, and the male wanderer and storyteller Sami Al-Adjnabi, the novel describes the lives of two Arab women, Maha and Um Saad. Maha, initially grappling with infertility, and Haniyyeh (alias Um Saad), a mother of eight sons, both end up in a mental hospital in Fuhais after resisting violent patriarchal forces. Their stories mirror the silent struggles of millions of Arab women who are stifled and denied their rights by social and religious indoctrination wielded by patriarchal hegemony and repressive powers. Faqir’s narrative is a powerful lens through which one can examine the complex interplay of gender, motherhood, and societal oppression in the Arab world.

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