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Mernissi seemed to have a happy childhood. Shespoke fondly of many of the memories she shared in Dreams of Trespass. Thishappiness was threatened though, by the more liberal women that lived on theterrace. In their quest for women's liberation, Mernissi's freedom wasjepardized. One of the things Merniss spoke most fondly of was the amount offreedom the children had. Since they saw everything the women on the terracedid, the children had a lot of leverage, which Mernissi speaks of in chapter18, American Cigarettes: Grownups committed worse crimes[than fooling around inolive jars], such as chewing gum, putting on red fingernail polish, and smokingcigarettes, although theses last two took place rarely, given the dificullty ofattaining such foreign items in the furst place...Since we children could havegotten any of the adult criminals in trouble with Father,Uncle, and Llala Maniif we described what we saw, we were treatted with exceptional indulgence, andenjoyed an unusually comf!ortalbe position on the terrace. No grown up couldboss us around without us threatening to realiate by informing the authorities.And indeed, the authorities relied heavily on us when they suspected somethingfishy was going on, for they belived that "c
no one to play with."(220) She then quickly replies"Skin first! Samir." "With those fatal words which were to bringabout big changes in my life, I proceeded down the shakey laundry poles. Samirheld them for me without a word. Once down, I held them for him, and he sliddown in silence. We stood facing each other for a while, and then shook handswith a great deal of solemnity, just as we had seen Father and Uncle do...Thenwe parted in awesome silence."(221) Mernissi and Samir's friendship is notso much threatened by the liberal women of the Mernissi household, but hinderedby the lack of it. If there had been a little more of a push from the liberalstowards the two children not to let their differences seperate them, then theywould have had an easier time saying close friends. Many of Mernissi's fondmemories of childhood were jepardized by a great deal by the liberal women ather home. Through all the struggle she still has a happy childhood. Going to the movies was also one of the things from herchildhood Mernissi loved. One of the things that made it so exciting was therarety of any of the women getting to go. The young men of the house wentfrequently which made it even harder for Mernissi and the rest of the women andchildren. Only when a film was a big hit, and the entire population of Fezturned out to see it, were the Mernissi women allowed to go too(116)....Andgoing to the movies was a thrill, from begining to end(117)....Once in thecinema, the whole harem would sit in two rows having tickets for four,in orderto leave the row in front, as well as the one behind unoccupied. We did notwant some mischievous, irreverent cinema-goer to take advantage of the darknessand pinch one of the ladieswhile she was engrossed in the movie plot.(122) Thewhole reason the movies were so exciting was that just going was a hugeproduction requiring hours of preparation, followed by a large processionthrough
Some common words found in the essay are:
Samir Mernissi, Aunt Habiba, Llala Maniif, Mother Chama, Fezturned Mernissi, Mernissi Samir's, Cigarettes Grownups, Trespass Thishappiness, Hind India, Aunt Habibahad, liberal women, aunt habiba, threatened liberal, lived mernissi, happy childhood, threatened liberal women, mernissi household, adult women,
Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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