Analysis of Major Characters
Badriyya, “Badriyya and Her Husband”
Badriyya is idealistic and naïve, and her hope that her marriage to Omar
will resemble a fairy tale is her downfall. She ignores Omar's shortcomings
because she still believes Omar will rescue her from the “long, dark tunnel” of
her life. When he talks about his big plans for starting his own café, she
thinks of him as “ambitious,” even though her uncle tells her Omar is all talk.
When Omar stays out late at night and comes home drunk, Badriyya believes his
explanation that he was scouting out possible sites for the café. Badriyya wants
so badly for Omar to be her knight in shining armor that she refuses to question
anything he says. The alternative to life with Omar is a life alone: if she
divorces him, she'll once again feel as though life is hopeless and dark.
Like many of Rifaat's female characters, Badriyya is sexually
unfulfilled—though married, she is still a virgin. She hints at sex, but Omar
tells her that he must concentrate on starting his café. Badriyya is completely
powerless in this marriage. However, she is eventually jolted from her
idealistic dream when a shopkeeper tells Badriyya that Omar is sleeping around.
Though she's unsure whether she'll have the strength to turn Omar away when he
tries to come home, she hopes she does. Her fear isn't rooted only in the end of
the relationship; the harder part is giving up her dream of being
saved.
The Wife, “My World of the Unknown”
The narrator, the wife of a government official, never explicitly
indicates that her marriage to her husband is unsatisfying, but because she is
so easily seduced by the snake-spirit that inhabits their home, she reveals the
extent of her unhappiness and dissatisfaction. The snake provides fulfillment in
every capacity. She satisfies the narrator sexually, lavishes her with youth and
vitality, and takes her to hidden spirit worlds. The adventure of the
relationship completely eclipses her domestic life. However, the narrator is
initially ambivalent about the snake. She is attracted to the snake, then she
tells her husband to board up the house's cracks so the snake can't enter, then
she yearns for the snake. Her request to her husband is significant. Though the
snake is female, it has a phallic form, and it eventually replaces the
husband in the role of sexual partner. When the wife asks her husband
to help keep the snake out, she is making a final attempt to impel him
to take action before she seeks sexual fulfillment in other ways. Later, when
the wife stops up the cracks in the wall, it is in a playful, teasing way, which
illustrates how she has changed from being fearful of her sexuality to embracing
it.
In the narrator's fantasy world of passionate sexual fulfillment,
adventurous romping through other worlds, and love with a companion who is
considerate and giving, we find the model of an ideal relationship—the only
clear representation of an ideal relationship in all of Rifaat's stories. Though
the events are likely only products of the narrator's imagination, it shows a
true understanding of what characterizes fulfillment in marriage.
Hassan, “At the Time of the Jasmine”
Hassan, an emotionless, rational accountant, left the small town where he
grew up and hardly ever returns to see his family. He is consistently guilty of
inaction, and he neglects his own emotional life. When he returns home for his
father's funeral, he can no longer ignore his feelings. Hassan's flashbacks
reveal his inaction, which he now regrets. He never brought his daughter,
Jasmine, to his hometown to meet his father, and now it is too late. Hassan is
as baffled as he is sad: he has suppressed his emotions for so long that their
reappearance is confusing.
After the funeral ceremony, Hassan offers to pay for a feast for the men
in the village. The men are grateful for his unexpected generosity, but it seems
as though Hassan is trying to compensate for the guilt he feels because these
men know his father better than he does. He again feels guilty when he discovers
that his father has left Jasmine some of his inheritance. Even though Hassan was
never considerate enough to bring Jasmine to the town, his father remembered her
and probably longed to meet her. When Hassan goes to sleep that night, he feels
truly exhausted and emotionally beaten down. The weight of what has happened
begins to sink in, but whether or not Hassan will be permanently changed because
of it is unclear.
