Key Facts
full title ·
Distant View of a Minaret
author · Alifa Rifaat
type of work · Collection of short stories
genre · Women's literature, African literature
language · Arabic
time and place written · Early 1980s, Egypt
date of first publication · 1983
publisher · Heinemann Educational Books, Ltd.
narrator · Varies from story to story. Sometimes first-person narrative, sometimes
third-person omniscient narrator
point of view · Usually that of a Muslim woman, either a wife, widow, mother, or child
struggling against the restrictive norms of Islamic society or the
infidelity/inconsideration of her husband
tone · Serious, solemn, and/or melancholy
tense · Usually present tense
setting (time) · Twentieth century
setting (place) · Cairo, Egypt, and outlying provinces
protagonist · Usually a Muslim woman, either a wife, widow, mother, or young girl,
except in “At the Time of the Jasmine,” in which a middle-aged Egyptian man is
the protagonist
major conflict · Woman vs. the social constructs of arranged marriages, limited freedom
for women, and the infidelity and inconsideration of husbands
rising action · Varies for each story
themes · The importance of love in marriage; the tyranny of husbands; the impact
of death on the living; the cost of freedom for women
motifs · Daily prayers; religion in daily language; widows
symbols · The snake; the canal
foreshadowing · Varies by story
