A Woman Is No Man

Deya tries to convince her sisters to run away with her, but they refuse, too afraid to leave the house alone. Deya must strike out on her own. She asks Sarah to take her in, but Sarah says running away is not the solution, as she risks losing her family entirely. Better to stay in the house and openly defy Fareeda, she suggests. Deya seeks concrete answers, but Sarah offers none beyond “fight for what you want” (284), a far too vague response for Deya.

Sarah will graduate high school soon, but Fareeda has not found a suitor willing to propose. Still convinced Sarah is cursed, Fareeda takes her to a “jinn sheikh” who recites an incantation and pronounces her free of evil spirits. She is perplexed as to why suitors so reluctant when Sarah “has been trained for wifedom her entire life” (289). Nadine is pregnant with her second child, and Fareeda has given up hope of Isra ever bearing a son. Fareeda sits on the front stoop in the rain, determined to figure out why Sarah has no proposals. She asks Isra if Sarah has confided in her and if she might have any information, but Isra says no.