In “The Women's Pool” by Hanan Al-Shayk, the picture is painted of a girl's journey to Beirut from her rural town in 1982. The political and social ramifications of her world creates the frustration and loss inherent in the constraints he finds himself in inherited from his family and society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In this story it is clear that the women the girl comes from are quite disadvantaged and held back by their religious beliefs and customs in stark contrast to the bustling city where “bare arms”, “tight pants” and “girl hair ” color the city of Beirut. Her rural origins limit her to the task of working in the tent "among heaps of tobacco". It is here that her strongest bond and relationship is with that of her grandmother, her only remaining family, who “has welded the girl so close to her that the girls in the village no longer dare befriend me.” Her family ties turn into a burden, holding her back from the joys of youth and friendship. In her city, her grandfather was "the famous religious scholar" and yet her grandmother weaves tobacco, highlighting the inequality found between the sexes, with women left to do menial jobs. Their beliefs were so deep-rooted that even “In this heat the girl still had to wear that dress with long sleeves, that headdress on my braids” . No matter the pain it caused, customs had to be respected. This pattern is depicted again as the grandmother hurts her knees on the sidewalk answering the Islamic call to prayer, “her knees kneeling on the cruelly hard floor” revealing “her tattooed hands lying on the earth.” The tattoo corresponds to the one on her chin, a marked woman, almost taken by the customs as ingrained in her as the tattoo itself which it symbolized. The girl convinces her grandmother to visit the city that is home to her beloved sea. This is where her "friend Sumayya had sworn that the pool she had been in had been reserved for women only." It is clear that the girls' belief systems did not allow for any mixing but rather a segregation of the sexes as this was not socially, religiously or politically acceptable, as were the circles that women had to go to to enjoy swimming, while men could simply dive straight into the ocean. The consequences “If anyone saw you,” exclaims the grandmother, “you would be finished, and so would your mother, your father and your grandfather. He was afraid of not going to heaven." There is a deep-rooted shame and “evil” power attributed to the sight of a woman's body, and strict religious consequences for such a sight. This places an extreme limitation on women's freedom in the girl's position, as evidenced by the difficulty of even finding this certain pool. When they arrived “it was immediately all too obvious that we were strangers in the capital”. The girl's culture is that of the rural south, not the progressive and liberal beliefs of those who live in the urban city of Beirut, and when she realizes this "she cries inside herself because she was born in the south" where it was more traditional and religious, without much freedom or opportunity to offer the young person. “He felt how far we were from these passers-by;” the alienation and isolation of tradition are felt deeply by the girl. Amidst the tension already felt in being in this new and wildly different place, when the girl accompanies her grandmother to finally go look for the swimming pool, it is evident the lack of awareness of such a thing is addressed to the people of Beirut, underlining the their lack of practices and concernssimilar religious. When they asked nearly everyone they saw and passed by where the women's pool was, "nobody knew where it was." Apparently, the people of Beirut are on different planes of existence and don't need to know things that didn't personally affect their lives. Once the girl finds the pool, and soon after finds her grandmother praying in the street, she has the feeling that her grandmother was "destroying what lay in my bag", ruining her dream and the sweet freedom that the cool waters would have had to bring. Weight, religious entrapments, and upbringing have held her back from the sweet and salty spray of opportunity and liberation. Meanwhile, urban expansion moves frenetically, without phases and with which one cannot identify. Analysis of Women's Pools by Hanan Al-Shaykh Stories of every size and genre tell a story, many times with a meaning that is deeper than the Pacific Ocean. The Women's Swimming Pools, by Hanan Al-Shaykh, would be one of those stories, as it focuses on the inequality that follows women along with the rigidity of the traditional role, while on the surface it is simply a girl who wants to go to a swimming pool. This topic is very personal and important to me as I am a woman and misogyny and unfair treatment towards us is still very much alive, despite efforts to reduce these behaviors. This tale builds on that message and how it is brought to life through the characters and their roles in the plot. Written in the first person, this story is deeply rooted in Lebanon circa 1990s. The protagonist, who in our opinion is Hanan herself, is a young girl who works in a tobacco field together with her grandmother, as we read in the exhibition. Our two main characters are well-rounded, dynamic individuals, who rightfully transcend into complex, lifelike beings. We immediately noticed different traits between the young girl and the grandmother who “has welded the girl so close to her that the girls of the village no longer dare to make friends with me” (1167). It is clear that her grandmother is very protective and restrictive of the girl, wishing she wasn't, which makes the grandmother our foil in the story, as she contrasts with the girl. The girl has a vision in which she wants to go to the pool that is in the sea itself, but is held back by her grandmother, who insists: "If any man saw you, you would be finished, and so it would be." your mother, your father and your grandfather, the religious scholar – and I would have ended up more than anyone else because I was the one who accepted this and helped you” (1168). It would carry the same weight as a sin or probable dishonor, and his family would be humiliated, simply because he was showing skin. Another part that resonated with this quote was that the inequality between men and women is evident. However, she accepts anyway and takes the girl to the city of Beirut, a more modern city with a relaxed lifestyle. Continuing, after the effort of finding the swimming pool among the many obstacles faced, the girl finds herself facing a decision and an internal thought. conflict: going to the swimming pool and quenching the thirst of his soul to be able to set foot in the fresh and liberating waters of the sea, or joining his grandmother in the moment of prayer as required by the traditional Islamic religion. At the height of the story, it's tradition versus secular; carry forward the imprinted visions of her entire life or finally be able to break away and create a new vision for herself. During the falling action and finally the resolution, the girl joins hands with her grandmother, which could signify maintaining tradition while exercising the right to her many freedoms. A crucial component of this story was in fact the.